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Virtual Terminal

Securely process donations on behalf of donors, including online payments and offline gift records, using Anedot’s Virtual Terminal.

The Virtual Terminal allows you to record and process donations received outside of your digital fundraising pages. Whether accepting credit cards, bank drafts, or logging check and cash contributions for internal tracking, the Virtual Terminal is a centralized tool for offline giving.

Table of Contents: 

Secure Internal Processing

Unlike browser-based entry forms, Virtual Terminal is designed for secure data entry that does not save donor information to your web browser. It’s ideal for staff, volunteers, or call center teams handling donations directly.

Virtual Terminal Use Cases

The Virtual Terminal is ideal for internal teams, events, and back-office operations that require secure, flexible donation processing. Below are common ways organizations use this feature:

  • Process Phone-In or Mail-In Donations:Staff or volunteers can securely enter credit card or ACH donations received by phone or mail.

    Example: A supporter calls in to make a $100 gift with their credit card. Your team uses the Virtual Terminal to process the donation in real time without storing sensitive data in the browser.

  • Record Offline Contributions for Accurate Reporting: Log check, cash, in-kind, or offline card gifts to ensure all contributions—regardless of payment method—are included in your fundraising totals and export reports.

    Example: After a fundraising dinner, your team collects $2,500 in checks and cash. These are entered into the Virtual Terminal using “Check” and “Cash” types to reflect total raised without affecting the bank balance.

  • Schedule Future Donations via Pledges or Campaign Commitments: Use the Process Date field to schedule a one-time future donation that aligns with donor pledges or campaign timelines.

    Example: A donor pledges $500 to be given on the first of next month. You enter the commitment using the future date, and the transaction is automatically processed on that day.

  • Consolidate Manual Donations into One Place: Centralize internal donation processing across your team with one secure system—no need for separate spreadsheets or third-party tools.

    Example: Your finance team prefers tracking all manual entries in one place. Using the Virtual Terminal ensures consistent data formatting, real-time processing, and seamless inclusion in exports and reports.

Supported Payment Methods

The Virtual Terminal supports:

  • Credit Card

  • Bank Account (ACH)

  • Check

  • Cash

  • In-kind

  • Offline Card

Non-balance Affecting Payment Methods:
Check, Cash, In-kind, and Offline Card entries do not affect your Account Balance, but they will be included in transaction exports and summary totals. These non-balance-affecting records can be edited after submission.

PIN-Based Payment Methods:
If a donor’s payment method requires a PIN or additional authorization, they may need to contact their bank or card issuer directly to authorize Anedot as an approved merchant.

Process Transactions through Virtual Terminal

Virtual Terminal

  1. Navigate to the Finance > Virtual Terminal tab in your account

  2. Use the Donation Page dropdown to select the page you'd like to process donations through

    • Note: Internal processing is currently available for Donation Pages only (not Lead or Event Pages)

Need a walkthrough?
Check out the Virtual Terminal Overview on Anedot Learn

ACH (E-Check) Donations

ACH - CHECK

Anedot supports ACH transactions for donors preferring to give via their bank account. These electronic check donations are compatible with all U.S. banks and have no daily transaction limits.

Fraud Prevention & NACHA Compliance

Transactions over $200 require bank account verification to comply with NACHA regulations and reduce fraud and ACH returns.

International ACH not supported:
Anedot does not accept overseas bank transfers via ACH. We recommend credit card donations for international supporters.

Using the Process Date Field

The Process Date field allows you to define when the donation should be recorded or processed.

Type Behavior
Past Date Used for recordkeeping only. Credit card and ACH donations still process on the current date.
Present Date Should only be used for offline gifts (Check, Cash, In-kind, Offline Card). Leave blank for real-time credit card or bank draft transactions.
Future Date Creates a Submission record instead of a live transaction. The donation will process on the selected future date.

How Future Donations Work:

  1. The record will appear under Actions Pages > Submissions
  2. On the future date, once processed, it will move to Finance > Transactions