Recording Payments

Recording a payment is how you tell Campflow that money was received from a family. You can record payments from a family’s detail page or directly from the Income page.

How to Record a Payment

1. Go to the Families page from the sidebar.
2. Click on the family you want to record a payment for.
3. Scroll down to the Payments section.
4. Click New Payment.
5. Enter the Payment Amount.
6. Set the Payment Date (defaults to today).
7. Choose a Payment Status:
   • Accepted — The payment has been received and confirmed.
   • Pending — You are waiting for it to clear (common for checks and ACH).
   • Promised — The family said they will pay but the money has not arrived yet.
8. Select a Payment method from the list of methods your camp accepts.
9. Click Save.

We will automatically update the family’s balance. If the status is Accepted and you left the Send receipt option on, we will also email a receipt to the family.

What Happens for Each Payment Method

The payment form adjusts based on which method you choose:

Credit Card and ACH (Bank Account)

For online payment methods, Campflow will actually charge the card or bank account when you submit. Credit card payments are approved or declined instantly. ACH payments may take a few days to settle.

When recording these from the admin side, credit card payments default to Accepted since they resolve instantly. ACH payments default to Pending since they take time to clear.

Note

For ACH and credit card payments processed through Campflow, the payment status updates automatically. ACH payments may take a few business days to settle — once they do, the status updates to reflect whether the payment cleared or was returned.

Check

When you select Check, additional fields appear:

• Check number — The number printed on the check.
• Check date — The date written on the check.
• Check images — If your camp requires it, you can upload photos of the front and back of the check.

Zelle and Venmo

When you select Zelle or Venmo, you may see:

• Transaction ID — The confirmation number from the transfer.
• Transaction screenshot — If your camp requires it, you can upload a screenshot of the completed transfer.

Cash and Other

These are record-only methods — you are simply noting that money was received. No additional fields are required beyond the amount and date.

Editing a Payment

You can edit payments that were not processed through the online payment processor. Online credit card and ACH payments cannot be edited — you would need to issue a refund and create a new payment instead.

1. Open the family’s detail page.
2. Find the payment in the Payments section.
3. Click the edit icon on the payment row.
4. Make your changes (amount, date, status, method, notes).
5. Click Save.

Adding a Note

Every payment has an optional Note field. Use it to record context that might be helpful later — for example, “Paid at the office” or “Covers first two months.” Notes are visible in the payment table and on the family’s detail page.

Good to Know

• Only Accepted payments reduce the family’s balance. If you record a payment as Pending or Promised, the balance will not change until you update the status to Accepted.
• Campflow automatically sends a receipt email when a payment is recorded as Accepted (you can turn this off for individual payments by unchecking Send receipt before saving).
• If a family does not have an invoice yet for the current season, Campflow creates one automatically when you record their first payment.
• You can update multiple payments at once using the payment table’s bulk edit feature — select payments and use the Edit action to change their status or date in one step.
• When a payment method charges a processing fee, you will see a fee preview before saving. The fee is added on top of the payment amount.
• To record a donation or pledge on a family’s account, add a charge (fee) on the family’s Financial tab for the donation amount, then record a matching payment against it. There isn’t a dedicated donations feature, but this approach keeps the ledger balanced and gives you a clear record of what was pledged and what was received.