Real answers, from people who understand the parish books.

No. The parish is the merchant of record, and donations settle directly and in full into the parish's own Square account. Stewardvine never accepts, holds, escrows, or transmits donor funds — it is not a bank, money transmitter, or payment processor. Stewardvine sits off to the side of the gift entirely.

Two fees, always shown separately — never blended into one headline number:

• Square's processing fee, paid to Square and settled within your own Square account.
• A separate ~1% Stewardvine software fee, billed by Stewardvine on its own monthly invoice — never deducted from a donation.

See the worked example on the pricing page.

No one. Card data is captured inside Apple's Secure Element via Tap to Pay on iPhone and encrypted directly to Square. It never touches Stewardvine's servers, so there is nothing for anyone at Stewardvine to see.

Yes. Because the parish is the merchant of record, the parish holds its own Square account and donations settle directly into it. If you do not have one yet, you will create your own during setup — and it stays yours.

No. Stewardvine provides a transaction record — a confirmation of the gift — not a tax receipt. The parish issues the official IRS contribution acknowledgment, just as it does for basket and check giving. See the donation & tax disclaimer.

None beyond an iPhone — typically a volunteer's own device. There are no terminals, kiosks, or stands to buy, store, or maintain. A staff member or volunteer simply holds the iPhone during or after the offertory.

Typically [to be finalized]. The sequence is short: connect your existing Square account, add administrators with MFA, brief your volunteers, then run your first weekend and reconcile. See the full walkthrough for parishes.

Yes. Stewardvine works alongside your existing Square account and church management software (ChMS) — it complements your tools rather than replacing them. Its reconciliation exports tie line-by-line to your Square deposit batches, so your count sheets and finance reports reconcile to the bank. For dioceses, optional roll-up reporting is available without any custody of parish funds.

Because the Square account and the funds belong to the parish, your giving continues independently of Stewardvine. You can export your donor data at any time in one click, so you are never locked in — whatever the future holds for us.