01The principle
Gifts are processed into each community's own connected Stripe account; Givana doesn't hold the money. Refunds, though, always go through Givana: a community or a giver asks, Givana reviews the request, and Givana issues the refund through Stripe. That keeps every refund consistent, recorded and safe, and means givers never have to chase a community for their money.
02Who issues refunds
Givanaissues every refund, through Stripe, against the original gift. Communities don't refund gifts directly; they request a refund from Givana, and Givana decides.
Because the gift was paid into the community's account, the refunded amount is taken back from that account and returned to the giver's original payment method.
03When a refund applies
Common, reasonable cases for a refund:
- Duplicate gift: the same gift was submitted twice in error.
- Wrong amount: a clear typo (for example, an extra zero).
- Unauthorised charge: the donor did not make or approve the gift.
- Wrong fund: where the community prefers to refund and re-take rather than reallocate.
Gifts are generally non-refundable once knowingly given. Givana looks at each request with the community, and may decline one (for example, a gift given as intended), saying why.
04How to request one
If you gave a gift, contact Givana (not the community) at the address below, with the details from your receipt. We'll bring the community in if we need to.
If you run a community (owners, admins and finance):
- Open the gift in Dashboard → Donations and choose Request a refund.
- Pick all or part of the gift, a reason, and add a note for Givana.
- Givana reviews it, usually within one working day, and approves or declines it with a reason. You're notified on the dashboard and by email at each step.
- On approval, Givana issues the refund through Stripe and the gift shows as Refunded once Stripe confirms it.
05Timing & fees
Once issued, refunds typically appear on the giver's statement within 5–10 business days, depending on their bank.
- A refund returns the gift only. All fees are non-refundable: Givana's platform fee, the card-processing (Stripe) fee, and any fees a giver paid on top of their gift. Stripe doesn't return its processing fee on a refund, so neither does Givana.
- If your community pays the fees, the giver gets back the gift minus those fees, and exactly that is taken back from your community, so it never gives back more than it received. For example, a £10 gift reaches your community as £9.15 after Givana's 50p and Stripe's 35p. A full refund returns £9.15 to the giver and takes £9.15 back from your community. A partial refund can be any amount up to that.
- If givers pay the fees, they get the gift back (£10), not the fees they added, and the £10 your community received is taken back.
- Givana doesn't charge anything extra to process a refund.
- If a refund is issued after the gift was paid out to the community, it's recovered from the community's Stripe balance, then from the bank account it pays out to.
06Disputes & chargebacks
If a giver disputes a charge with their bank instead of asking for a refund, the bank and Stripe run the chargeback process. Givana shows the dispute in the community's dashboard and notifies the owner so they can respond with evidence in time. Stripe's dispute fee (about £20) is passed to the community along with the disputed amount.
We encourage givers to ask Givana for a refund first. It's faster and simpler for everyone than a formal dispute.
07Contact
Givers and communities: ask Givana for refunds, and for any question about how they work.
Email: legal@givana.uk
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