How Stripe and MapleGather billing work together
This page explains the relationship between MapleGather and Stripe — who handles what, what it means for your data, and why MapleGather never takes a cut of your payments.
The short version
Section titled “The short version”MapleGather handles your membership records, invoices, and subscription schedules. Stripe handles the actual money movement — collecting card details, processing charges, and depositing funds into your org’s bank account. The two systems work together, but they have distinct jobs.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”Your Stripe account, your money. MapleGather uses Stripe Connect, which links your own Stripe account to MapleGather. Payments from your members go directly into your Stripe account (and on to your bank). MapleGather never holds your funds or takes a platform fee on any payment.
Card data never touches MapleGather. When a member enters a card, they do it through a Stripe-hosted form (Stripe Elements). The card number goes directly to Stripe. MapleGather only receives a token that represents the card — not the number itself. This keeps your org within Stripe’s PCI SAQ-A compliance scope (the lightest possible PCI burden) without requiring any security certifications on your part.
MapleGather owns the subscription and invoice layer. Stripe knows about charges and customers. MapleGather knows about membership levels, renewal schedules, invoices, dunning policies, and member status. When a renewal is due, MapleGather tells Stripe to charge the card; Stripe reports back whether it succeeded or failed; MapleGather updates the member’s status accordingly.
Receipts and status updates flow back automatically. When Stripe processes a payment, it sends a webhook notification to MapleGather. MapleGather uses that signal to mark the invoice as paid, update the member’s status, and fire a receipt email — all without any admin action.
Why it works this way
Section titled “Why it works this way”Zero platform fee. Because you connect your own Stripe account directly, you pay Stripe’s standard processing fee (approximately 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction) and nothing else. MapleGather doesn’t add a fee on top.
You keep your Stripe history. If you migrated from another system that already used Stripe, your members’ saved cards and subscription history stay in your Stripe account. MapleGather can adopt those existing records so members don’t need to re-enter their card details.
PCI SAQ-A scope. Card details never pass through or rest on MapleGather’s servers. This keeps your compliance requirements minimal.
Edge cases & boundaries
Section titled “Edge cases & boundaries”- MapleGather requires Stripe Connect Express at M1. Stripe Standard Connect (for platforms that want more control over the Stripe experience) is a future option.
- If Stripe is not connected, members cannot pay online. Manual and offline payments can still be recorded.
- If you disconnect Stripe, all active subscriptions pause immediately. Reconnecting within 48 hours restores them automatically. After 48 hours, subscriptions remain paused and must be resumed manually.
- Stripe’s processing fees (approximately 2.9% + 30¢) are between you and Stripe. MapleGather lets you choose whether to absorb those fees or pass them to members as a surcharge.