Receiving gifts as a mentor

After a session with you has taken place, the person you met with is offered the chance to give you a gift, on that session's page. They can give once for each session, up to $500. Nobody can give you a gift from your profile, and nobody is asked to give before or during a session.

A gift is voluntary and comes after the session, never as a condition of it. The Mentor Agreement (section 4) asks you not to use your ministry to solicit money, so please do not ask anyone for one. GraceBook never names an amount.

A gift is charged directly to your own Stripe account. It does not pass through GraceBook, and GraceBook does not hold it or pay it out. It is a gift from that person to you, not a donation to GraceBook, and it is not tax-deductible for them.

The Terms of Service allow GraceBook to keep a percentage of gifts to sustain the platform. Today that percentage is zero.

Stripe pays your balance out to your bank account on its own schedule, usually within a few days. You can see and change that schedule in your Stripe account.

If you ask for gifts on your application, we open a Stripe account for you when your application is approved. All we give Stripe is the email address on your GraceBook account and your country. Your approval email then asks you to finish setting it up from the Gifts tab of your mentor dashboard.

If you decide later, tick “Let seekers offer me a gift” in the Gifts tab and press “Set up with Stripe”. Nothing is created until you do.

Stripe asks for your identity and bank details itself, on its own pages. GraceBook never sees them. If you already use Stripe, you can sign in with it during setup and reuse the details you have there.

Your account is with Stripe, under Stripe's Connected Account Agreement. Stripe decides whether to accept it, may ask you for more information, and may pause or close it under its own terms. Stripe may contact you about it directly. GraceBook cannot overrule Stripe's decisions about your account.

Stripe takes its standard processing fee from each gift, from your Stripe balance. You pay it to Stripe directly. GraceBook pays none of it and receives none of it. Stripe lists its fees at stripe.com/pricing.

Refunds. Someone who wants a gift back asks you, not GraceBook (Terms of Service, section 13). Whether to refund it is your decision, and you do it from your Stripe account. The money comes out of your Stripe balance.

Chargebacks. If the person's bank reverses a gift, Stripe takes the amount, and its dispute fee, from your Stripe balance. You can answer the dispute in your Stripe account. If the bank decides in your favor the gift is returned to you; Stripe's dispute fees are not always returned.

If your balance is not enough, Stripe takes the rest from your bank account. Anything it still cannot recover is between you and Stripe: GraceBook does not pay it and does not collect it from you.

Gifts can be disputed for months after they are given, so money that has already been paid out to your bank can still be taken back.

Once you have set it up, “Open your Stripe account” in the Gifts tab takes you to Stripe, where you can:

• change the bank account your money is paid into
• see your payouts and change how often they are made
• update your personal and tax details
• refund a gift, or answer a dispute
• download your tax forms
• close your Stripe account

Stripe sends a code to your phone or email each time you sign in. You can also sign in to Stripe directly at connect.stripe.com/express_login, which keeps working if you ever leave GraceBook.

Your taxes are your own responsibility, as the Mentor Agreement says (section 8). Stripe sends you a Form 1099-K if the gifts you receive reach the IRS reporting thresholds. GraceBook cannot advise you on how gifts are taxed; a tax professional can.

To stop receiving gifts, untick “Let seekers offer me a gift” in the Gifts tab. Your Stripe account stays as it is, so you can start again later without setting it up again.

To close your Stripe account, do it in your Stripe account. Stripe applies its own rules about any money still in it.

If your mentor profile is suspended or you delete your GraceBook account, no new gifts can be given. Money already given to you is yours, and your Stripe account stays yours: we never close it.

Questions about your Stripe account, a payout or a dispute are for Stripe, from your Stripe account. Anything else, write to contact@thegracebook.com. You can read the Mentor Agreement and Terms of Service section 13 at any time.