To create a NationBuilder Payments account, follow our comprehensive guide.
Why is Canada different?
Due to industry-wide updates to Canadian verification requirements in 2023, additional documentation is required by Stripe to verify the identity of the individual or organization opening a NationBuilder Payments account.
This documentation was created to specifically help Canadian political organizations set up their NationBuilder Payments accounts. If your organization is not a political entity in Canada, then this will likely not apply to you.
What type of account should I create?
Review Stripe’s Types of business and structure guidelines in Canada documentation to determine which account type is best-suited for your organization.
If you are a political organization in Canada, we have some recommendations to help this verification process run more smoothly.
When creating a new account:
Choose Country = Canada
Choose Type of business = Non-profit
Choose Business structure = Non-profit organization.
This is the type of account Stripe recommends for Canadian political organizations.
What should I expect regarding Stripe verification requirements?
When you create a non-profit account type, you’ll be required to verify your organization immediately. We highly recommend you gather the required documentation prior to creating your NationBuilder Payments account.
A current and valid municipal, provincial, territorial or federal government issued document that contains the entity name and address
Depending on your exact campaign, this might be the letter confirming the candidate's candidacy from the relevant electoral regulator (Elections Canada, for instance, for federal candidates.)
Corporate profile report
Notice of Assessment issued by the Canadian Revenue Agency - dated within 12 months
Articles of Incorporation or Association
Notice of Articles
Company Summary
Search for an entity on the register
Business license
Partnership agreement or registration
A signed resolution confirming the individuals opening the account on behalf of the organization have the authority to do so (non-profits only)
Utility bill - dated within 12 months
No matter which of the above you choose, you’ll need to be sure that the document includes all of the following - this is required by Stripe:
Full company legal entity name that matches the legal entity name in your Stripe profile
Company address that matches what’s in your Stripe profile
In most cases this is the address of your Authorized Agent, the same as you would use to open a bank account.
Please be sure to have this documentation ready to be uploaded prior to creating your NationBuilder Payments account.
When should I expect Stripe to enforce these requirements?
View Stripe’s verification requirements, and the timeline in which they’ll be required, for Canadian non-profit account types below:
⚠️ Items are due either at the time of the first charge or first payout.
What if I already have a NB Payments account, and Stripe is now requiring this verification documentation?
NationBuilder Payments accounts created before the requirements changed may notice that they are now required to update this information in their Stripe account.
The verification process will require you to:
Log into your NationBuilder Payments account
Go to Settings > Payments Processors > Select the NB Payments account you want to log into > Manage account
2. Log into the Stripe Dashboard
3. View the requirements specific to your account
4. You’ll see a banner asking you to update required information, like this:
5. Click ‘View account status’ to view the requirements for your account
⚠️ If you see requirements referencing 'Update your business documents', you’ll need to choose a document from Stripe’s Acceptable forms of legal entity verification to verify your organization with Stripe.
6. Add the required information or documentation that Stripe is asking for.
If you are having issues getting verification documentation accepted in the Stripe dashboard, most times Stripe support will be your best point of contact. If you also need NationBuilder Support, please copy [email protected] on your Stripe support request.