How do I get a refund for a donation, a ticket or a membership?
You request a refund from your donor area, at dashboard.donoor.org: it is then the organisation that decides whether to grant it, up to the amount it actually received. Donoor cannot make that decision on its behalf.
This article explains how to send your request depending on what you paid, what happens once it has been sent, and why it is better to use this request rather than a bank chargeback.
Requesting a refund from your donor area
The process is carried out in the same place as the payment concerned:
| What you paid for | Where to go in your donor area |
|---|---|
| A donation only | My donations, on the line for the donation concerned |
| One or more tickets for an event | Events, on the card for the ticket concerned |
| A membership | Memberships, on the card for the membership concerned |
| A purchase in the shop | Shop, on the order concerned |
- Log in to your donor area (see creating or recovering your donor account if needed).
- Click Request a refund on the donation, ticket, membership or order concerned.
- For a ticket, a membership with several people or an order with several items, tick the items that apply to you: the amount requested is shown live.
- Choose a Reason from the list offered (for example “Incorrect amount”, “I was charged twice” or “I don't recognise this payment”), and add a message if you wish.
- Click Send the request.
Good to know: sending a request does not automatically invalidate your ticket or membership. As long as the organisation has not refunded you, you remain registered as normal.
What happens after you send your request
Your request receives a short reference, for example “DR-3F9A21”: note it down if you need to write to the organisation about it elsewhere. The organisation receives your request by email, with your reason and your message. It may reply without yet refunding you, decline while explaining why, or refund you directly: your request then closes automatically. You receive an email at each stage, and you can follow the full exchange from your donor area, not just the latest reply.
| Status of your request | What it means |
|---|---|
| Awaiting response | The organisation has not yet replied. You will receive an email as soon as it does. |
| Response from the organisation | It has replied without (yet) refunding you: read its message. |
| Declined | It has declined, with its reason. You may send a new request with a different reason if your situation has changed. |
| Refunded | The money has been returned to your original payment method. |
| Cancelled | The request has been cancelled. |
If your payment concerns a ticket or a membership, the refund does not automatically cancel your place or your membership card either: it is a goodwill gesture by the organisation, which may choose to let you keep access despite the refund.
A monthly donation that keeps being taken
If you want to stop a recurring donation rather than be refunded for a direct debit already taken, the process is different: see setting up, changing or stopping a monthly donation. You can of course also request a refund for a direct debit already made, using the same process as for a single donation.
Why use this request rather than your bank
You can always dispute a payment directly with your bank. However, this route is more burdensome for everyone: the organisation then loses the amount of the donation and may be charged dispute fees by its payment provider, while its subsequent bank transfers are put on hold until the situation is resolved.
Tip: if the payment corresponds to a donation, ticket or membership that you recognise, always go through the refund request before considering a bank chargeback. If, on the other hand, you do not recognise this payment at all, also see how to report an unknown payment or a suspicious donation.
And your tax receipt?
If the organisation had already issued you a tax receipt for this donation, it is automatically cancelled once the refund has been made. If you are only partially refunded, a new receipt may be issued for the amount that remains genuinely tax-deductible. If you had only added a voluntary contribution to Donoor on top of your donation, refunding it changes nothing on your receipt: that contribution was never part of the tax-deductible amount. To find out more, see how to obtain your tax receipt.
Key takeaways
- The refund request is made from your donor area, in the same place as the payment concerned: My donations, Events, Memberships or Shop.
- It is the organisation that decides whether to grant or refuse the refund, never Donoor.
- You follow the full exchange and receive an email with each reply.
- A refund does not automatically remove access to a ticket or a membership.
- Always prefer this request to a bank chargeback, which is more costly for the organisation and slower for you.