WI Masons Bonterra + Stripe Integration Roadmap

Overview

The Wisconsin Masonic Foundation is building toward a fully automated grant purchase-to-fulfillment pipeline by connecting their Stripe payment account with Bonterra (their CRM/donor management platform). The near-term implementation uses a WooCommerce store with Stripe and a two-step capture flow; the longer-term goal is to have Bonterra consume Stripe transaction data directly, eliminating manual data entry and reducing the foundation's 1.5-person staff burden.

This article documents the planned architecture, the constraints driving design decisions, and the open integration work remaining.

Current State (Pre-Integration)

• Payment processor: Square (no ACH support)
• Grant fulfillment: Manual — lodges photograph a check, mail it in, staff deposits it and contacts FSS (the fulfillment supplier) separately
• CRM: Bonterra (used for grant tracking and donor records)
• Email: wimasons.foundation domain forwarded through Google → quarantined by Grand Lodge's Office 365

Pain points:
- Square cannot process ACH payments, forcing lodges to use paper checks
- No automated notification to FSS when a grant is approved
- Every matching grant form submission arrives in Office 365 quarantine due to Google forwarding
- Staff must manually reconcile grant applications with payments

Target Architecture

Lodge fills out grant form (WooCommerce / existing grant form)
  └─> Stripe captures payment (reserves funds, does not charge)
        └─> Staff reviews grant eligibility
              └─> Staff completes charge in Stripe
                    └─> Stripe webhook fires
                          ├─> Email to FSS (Rick) → triggers product shipment
                          ├─> Email to foundation staff (Adam, Erica, Christina)
                          └─> [Future] Bonterra receives transaction via Stripe integration
                                └─> Grant record auto-updated in CRM

Key Design Decisions

Two-Step Stripe Capture Flow

Rather than auto-charging on form submission, the store uses Stripe's authorize-and-capture pattern:

1. Lodge submits grant form and provides payment details
2. Stripe captures (authorizes/reserves) the funds — no money moves yet
3. Foundation staff reviews the grant for eligibility and budget compliance
4. Staff manually completes the charge in Stripe
5. Webhook fires, notifying FSS and sending confirmation emails

Rationale: Grant rules are complex and frequently changing — medical grants cap at $3,000, all others at $1,000, and per-lodge annual maximums apply. Full automation would require encoding all these rules in code that would need constant maintenance. The two-step flow preserves human oversight while still automating the fulfillment notification step, saving significant staff time vs. the current all-manual process.

"It's just somebody going through and clicking through the screen and making sure everything's okay is all it really is." — Peter Tourville

ACH via Stripe (replacing Square)

Square does not support ACH payments, which is the preferred payment method for lodge-to-foundation transfers. Stripe supports ACH natively. Adam Rigden has already built Stripe payment links for the initial product set (AED, FST, Jump Bag) with ACH enabled.

Webhook-Driven Fulfillment Notifications

Adam identified the need for a webhook endpoint URL on the Stripe account to trigger outbound emails on payment completion. The webhook listener will fan out to:
- FSS contact (Rick) — fulfillment trigger
- Foundation staff (Adam, Erica, Christina) — internal record

This replaces the current process where staff must manually contact FSS after verifying a check.

Bonterra Integration (Planned, Not Yet Active)

Bonterra Pay is planning a native Stripe integration. Once available, completed Stripe transactions will flow directly into the Bonterra CRM, automatically updating grant records without manual data entry. This is the primary long-term automation goal.

"The purchases will go right into the CRM. So it's taking people out of the process." — Adam Rigden

Store Scope

The WooCommerce store will be small by design:

The store is not intended for general public purchase. Access control approach: grant form as a natural gate (general public will not complete a lodge grant application), plus lodge number as a required field. Full password-protected login was discussed but deferred given the operational overhead of managing lodge credentials.

Open Work Items

Related Constraints & Context

• Staffing: Foundation operates with ~1.5 FTE. Any solution must reduce, not add, manual steps once implemented.
• Grant rule complexity: Rules change frequently (dollar caps, match ratios, eligible categories). Hard-coding them in automation logic is fragile; the two-step capture flow is the pragmatic alternative.
• Regulatory separation: wimasons.foundation domain is intentionally separate from wimasons.org (Grand Lodge) to maintain IRS charitable status distinction. This affects email routing and branding decisions.
• Email quarantine (interim): Until the MX record migration to Office 365 is complete, Peter will whitelist the website's sending address (peter@wimasons.com) in Office 365 Security settings to stop immediate quarantining of grant form submissions.

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