Churpay (Pty) Ltd (registration 2025/605178/07) provides software for churches, church staff, members, and guests to manage giving, receipts, church finance records, church operations, events, communications, check-ins, pastoral care, volunteer coordination, and related administration.
Churpay is not a bank, wallet, deposit-taking institution, or money remittance service. Churpay never holds a church's money. Payment processing, card authorization, bank verification, and settlement are provided by Paystack, which pays settled gifts directly into the church's own verified bank account.
Accounts and access
Users must provide accurate account information and keep login details secure. Members may join a church with a church join code or by claiming a profile prepared by their church. Guests may give without an account. Churches and staff are responsible for ensuring that staff access, roles, member records, child check-in workflows, pastoral-care workflows, kiosk and device accounts, and communication tools are used only for authorized church purposes.
Church onboarding and administration
Churches must provide accurate organization, administrator, settlement, subscription, and verification information. This can include church registration documents, bank account details, bank proof, church logo, admin contact details, selected plan, and payment-provider setup information. Churpay may approve, reject, pause, or request more information before enabling or continuing payment collection, direct settlement, or paid-plan access.
Payments, giving, and receipts
Members and guests may give to church funds, projects, event tickets, church shop items, giving links, recurring gifts, saved-card flows, cash records, or other supported giving flows. Payment is by card or instant EFT through Paystack. Before checkout, the app or website shows the amount, the fund, the Churpay platform fee, and the total that will be charged. Paystack processes the payment details. Churpay records payment intents, transactions, provider references, receipts, fund allocations, platform fees, provider-fee information where available, settlement status, and reconciliation data.
Where saved cards or recurring giving are enabled, Paystack stores the card authorization. Churpay stores limited authorization metadata needed to identify and use the authorization, such as provider authorization code, authorization signature, card brand, card type, last four digits, expiry month and year, and revocation status. Churpay does not store full card numbers or CVV values.
Cash, manual, and statement-imported records are operational records and may require church staff review or confirmation. They are not proof that external cash was physically received unless confirmed by the church.
Refunds of gifts
A gift is made to the church, not to Churpay. A giver who wants a gift refunded should ask the church. An authorized church administrator can request or carry out a refund in the portal, and the refund is returned through Paystack to the payment method that was used. Paystack's processing fee and Churpay's platform fee on the original payment may not be recoverable. Churpay may refund or reverse a payment where it is required by law, by Paystack's rules, or to correct an error or suspected fraud.
Fees for giving
Churpay charges a platform fee on each successful online gift: R2,50 plus a percentage set by the church's plan (1,5% on Starter, 1,25% on Growth, 1% on Church+). The platform fee is added on top of the gift and paid by the giver, who sees it before paying. Paystack charges its own processing fee, which is deducted from the amount settled to the church and shown on each payout. Cash gifts recorded in Churpay carry no fee. Current plans and fees are published at churpay.com/pricing.
Plans and subscriptions
Starter is free. Growth and Church+ are paid plans, billed monthly or annually at the prices published at churpay.com/pricing, unless Churpay has agreed a different price with the church in writing. A new church may receive a free trial, and Churpay may grant a longer free period. Nothing is charged during a free period, and Churpay tells the church in advance when it is ending.
A church can pay for its plan by card through Paystack, in which case the plan renews automatically at the end of each period until it is cancelled, or by invoice and EFT, in which case the plan is extended once Churpay confirms that payment has been received. Churpay issues an invoice for every plan payment, and invoices are available in the portal.
If a plan payment fails or an invoice is not paid by the end of the paid period, the church has a grace period of 30 days in which paid features stay on. After that, paid features are suspended until payment is made. Giving keeps working throughout, and the church's records are kept. A church can cancel its plan at any time in the portal; cancelling stops future renewals.
Fees and plan prices can change when product, payment-provider, tax, or regulatory requirements change. Churpay gives churches at least 30 days' notice of a price increase. Churches remain responsible for payment-provider fees, plan fees, and their own accounting, tax, and governance obligations.
Tax certificates and church records
Churpay helps churches prepare receipts, statements, Section 18A certificates, payroll documents, and finance reports from the records the church keeps. The church is responsible for its own registration, its eligibility to issue Section 18A certificates, the accuracy of its records, and its filings with SARS and other authorities. Churpay does not give tax, legal, or accounting advice.
Communications and consent
Churpay supports in-app notifications, push notifications, email, WhatsApp messages, and SMS where a church has enabled them. Churches and staff are responsible for sending truthful, lawful, authorized communications and for respecting contact, data, and messaging consent settings. Users may manage supported notification and messaging consent settings in the app.
Acceptable use
Churpay may only be used for lawful church giving, church operations, membership administration, event payments, ministry communications, pastoral care, and related administration. Users must not use Churpay for fraud, deceptive fundraising, personal cash-out activity, stored-value wallets, gambling, prohibited goods or services, sanctions-related activity, harassment, unauthorized access, or any activity restricted by payment partners or applicable law. The Acceptable Use Policy at churpay.com/legal/acceptable-use forms part of these terms.
Data, security, and records
Churpay's servers and database are hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa. Churpay uses role-based access controls, authentication controls, audit trails, technical safeguards, and operational controls to protect data. No system can be guaranteed completely secure. Users must report suspected unauthorized access, compromised credentials, incorrect records, or payment issues promptly. The Privacy Policy at churpay.com/legal/privacy explains how personal information is processed.
Financial, tax, audit, legal, security, and payment-provider records may be retained even after an account is closed where retention is required or reasonably necessary. Donation history visibility can be limited or removed from a member account, but transaction records may remain for church finance, audit, reconciliation, regulatory, dispute, and support purposes.
Service and liability
Churpay works to keep the service available and publishes its status at churpay.com/status, but does not promise that the service will be uninterrupted or free of errors. To the extent the law allows, Churpay is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, for loss caused by a payment provider, a bank, a network or a device, or for decisions a church makes from its records. Nothing in these terms limits rights that the Consumer Protection Act or other law does not allow to be limited.
Changes, suspension, and termination
Churpay may update these terms as the product, payment providers, legal requirements, or risk controls change, and publishes the date of the latest update on this page. Churpay may suspend, limit, or terminate access, pause payment-provider setup, request supporting documents, or disable features where activity appears unauthorized, fraudulent, high risk, unlawful, inconsistent with these terms, or harmful to Churpay, churches, members, guests, or payment partners.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.
Support
Questions, disputes, privacy requests, and account deletion requests can be sent to support@churpay.com. Churches should also direct members to the appropriate church administrator for church-specific records, receipts, pastoral-care records, membership details, and finance queries.