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Setting Up Stripe for Your Club or Organisation

This guide explains how a sports club, community group, charity, or volunteer-run organisation can correctly set up a Stripe account to accept online payments.

You will learn:

  • What Stripe is
  • What you need before starting
  • How to choose the correct organisation type
  • How to complete onboarding and verification
  • How to avoid the most common setup mistakes
  • Troubleshooting steps if verification fails

1️⃣ What Is Stripe?

Stripe is a secure online payment platform used globally for processing card payments.

It provides:

  • Safe payment processing
  • Fraud and compliance checks
  • Direct payouts to your bank account
  • A dashboard to review payments and transactions

Stripe is commonly used by:

  • Sports clubs
  • Charities
  • Community groups
  • Volunteer-run organisations

2️⃣ What You Need Before You Start

Before opening a Stripe account, gather the following information.
This prevents delays or verification failures.

✔ Organisation Details

  • Official club/organisation name
  • Organisation address
  • Contact email and phone number

✔ Bank Account Details

Stripe will deposit funds into your organisation’s bank account.

You will need:

  • Account holder name
  • Sort code / routing number
  • Account number or IBAN

Tip: The bank account should belong to the organisation, not to an individual.

✔ Responsible Person (Verification)

Stripe must verify one individual associated with the organisation (e.g., treasurer, chairperson).

You will need:

  • Full name
  • Home address
  • Date of birth
  • Photo ID (passport or driving licence)

Why Stripe asks for personal ID

Financial regulations require Stripe to verify one real person connected to the organisation
(KYC — Know Your Customer).


3️⃣ Choosing the Correct Organisation Type (Important)

This is the step organisations get wrong most often.

✔ Most clubs should select:

  • Non-profit / Charity
    OR
  • Unincorporated Association (if available in your country)

These apply to:

  • GAA clubs
  • Football/Rugby clubs
  • Youth sports clubs
  • Community sports groups
  • Volunteer-run organisations
  • Recreational groups

❌ Do NOT select:

  • Individual / Sole Trader
    → Treats the account as belonging to one person
  • Company / Corporation
    → Stripe will ask for company registration documents you may not have

If your organisation is not a registered company,

do not choose “Company.”


4️⃣ Step-by-Step Stripe Setup

Step 1 — Start Stripe Onboarding

Go to Stripe’s registration page and enter your email address.
You will create a login.


Step 2 — Enter Organisation Details

Stripe will request:

  • Organisation name
  • Organisation address
  • Industry / category
  • A short description of what your organisation does

Example description:

“A volunteer-run community sports club providing youth and adult training programmes.”


Step 3 — Add the Responsible Person

Provide the committee member’s:

  • Full name
  • Home address
  • Date of birth
  • Photo ID

Stripe may ask for proof of address if required.


Step 4 — Add Your Bank Account

Enter your organisation’s bank account information.

Stripe uses this for payouts.


Step 5 — Submit the Information

Stripe will review the information.
Most accounts are verified within minutes.


5️⃣ Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Selecting the wrong organisation type

Most common error — leads to verification failure and requests for documents you don’t have.

❌ Using a personal bank account

Even if the treasurer manages finances, Stripe expects an organisation-owned account.

❌ Uploading unclear or incomplete ID

Blurry photos or cut-off IDs will fail verification.

❌ Using mismatched names

The name on the ID must match the name entered exactly.