Newspack uses WooCommerce to process donations and financial subscriptions, using Stripe as the payment processor. Publishers should view and manage this reader revenue though WP Admin -> WooCommerce and not through Stripe’s interface. For brevity, this document will use “donate” and “donation” to include financial subscriptions.

Before managing the information, it’s helpful to get familiar with some terminology and understand what happens when a reader makes a donation.

For the donor:

  1. Their donation will be processed through Stripe and made available to you.
  2. If one doesn’t exist, a new account will be created on your site in the donor’s name.
    • The “Sign in” button in the site header will change to “My Account” for them.
    • They will remain signed into the site as long as they visit at least once every 30 days.
    • The My Account page lets them manage their payment methods, pause or cancel a reccurring dontation, and get a receipt, among other things.
    • If they subscribe to newsletters, they can manage those choices as well.
  3. They get a thank-you email from your site.
    • You can edit, style and brand that email by following these instructions.
    • You can also explain that they have a new account and let them know they can set a password. The link to that password set/reset is on the My Account page. This is not required of the donor or subscriber.

For the publisher:

  1. A Customer or Subscriber is created in WooCommerce.

    If a reader makes a payment, a User account is created for them. If it was a one-time payment, they are given the role of Customer. If it was a recurring payment, they are given the role of Subscriber.
    • The Customers list, accessed through a submenu under WooCommerce, provides key information for both Customers and Subscribers, such as how many times they’ve donated and what their total donations are.
    • You can break down Customers and Subscribers by going to your Users page and selecting the appropriate role at the top of the list.
  2. An Order is created in Woo Commerce. An Order is a single transaction.
    • If a reader makes a recurring donation, a new Order will be created every month or every year.
    • Clicking on the Order number will bring you to a detailed report.
    • Clicking on the icon next to the Order number (it looks like an eye) will bring up a quick-look summary of the order. The Edit button in that summary gets you to the detailed report.
  3. A Subscription will be created only if a donor made a recurring donation (monthly or annually). The Subscriptions page, a submenu under WooCommerce, provides basic information. Clicking on the Subscription number will bring up detailed information.
    • Note: A Subscription is simply a method for taking recurring donations. It does not provide access to restricted or gated content without being tied to a Membership, which is managed separately.
  4. The Reports page has tabs for Orders, Customers and Subscriptions.
    • All reports can be downloaded in .csv format.
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