Luminate Donation Using Blackbaud Checkout and Payments API (one-time and recurring gifts)

Cornershop Creative
Cornershop Creative
Sixth Anniversary Facilitator 1
in Merchant Services APIs
Hi support!


I was wondering if it is possible to use Blackbaud Checkout along with Luminate? In particular, I'm attempting to setup a custom donation form on my website that uses the SKY API's Blackbaud Checkout and the Luminate API.


I was able to get my donation working with Blackbaud Checkout and the payment information appears in Blackbaud Merchant Services but I'm also attempting to get my donation data into Luminate as well to link a donation with a constituent. I was thinking of using the addOfflineDonation method Luminate API endpoint http://open.convio.com/api/#donation_api.addOfflineDonation_method to add the donation to a constituent record BUT I don't see any sort of parameters to supply the transactiontoken or the card_token that Blackbaud Checkout gives you.


I would also like to get recurring donations working with Blackbaud Checkout and Luminate. I don't see any sort of parameters in the Payments API that lets you setup recurring donations. I came across these discussions https://community.blackbaud.com/forums/viewtopic/503/49635 and https://community.blackbaud.com/forums/viewtopic/503/49952 about setting up recurring donations by utilizing the Payments API card_token value but both of these recommend having my own application be the one to take care of recurring donations by keeping track of the original donation date and then hitting the CreateTransaction endpoint to charge the card on a recurring basis. I do not wish to keep track of that information. I would like for either Blackbaud Merchant Services or for Luminate to be the one handling the recurring donation and charging the constituent every month.


I know that it is possible to create a Luminate Pagebuilder page and use Blackbaud Checkout according to the documentation https://www.blackbaud.com/support/howto/coveo/luminate-online/subsystems/donation_management/content/concepts/Admin_Online_Giving_SecureCheckout.html and I have done this before. When the donation occurs on the Luminate Pagebuilder page, the donation data is captured in Luminate and is stored in the donor's constituent record, similar to a regular donation (see: https://www.blackbaud.com/support/howto/coveo/luminate-online/subsystems/donation_management/content/concepts/Admin_Online_Giving_SecurePayFAQ.html , in particular the question "How are transactions captured in Luminate Online for donations processed through Blackbaud Checkout?" under the Donation Processing heading).


My questions are.
  • Is this an undocumented feature or is there an undocumented parameter or endpoint to make this happen? Since Luminate itself does it, I'm assuming it is technically possible to be able to do it myself (i.e. add my Blackbaud Checkout transaction token to a Luminate Constituent record and then have Luminate take care of recurring donations)
  • How does Luminate use Blackbaud Checkout's transactiontoken or card_token to be able to add the donation record to a Luminate Constituent record?
  • Is there a parameter that I can pass to either the donate method or the addOfflineDonation method in the Luminate API? In particular a parameter where I can pass Blackbaud Checkout's transactiontoken so I don't have to pass the credit card parameters
  • Is there some sort of special privilege or code that Luminate is using to make this happen?
  • And has anyone done something similar?
  • Do I have to use RE NXT and the Gift API to process recurring donations like this forum suggests https://community.blackbaud.com/forums/viewtopic/503/49635 ? And if I have to use RE NXT to do recurring donations, how do I get the donation record back into Luminate and attach it to a Constituent record?
Sorry for so many questions but hopefully someone is able to answer at least one or a few of them. This has been a very confusing journey to get things setup. Thanks for the help in advance!

Comments

  • Mina Mistry
    Mina Mistry Blackbaud Employee
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant
    Hi


    Thanks for sharing the details in your post.  I will do my best to answer your questions specifically on the Payments API for Blackbaud Merchant Services.  I have confirmed that the Luminate community board would be the best place to get help with the Luminate API.  Unfortunately I cannot transfer this post to that community board myself.


    Regarding recurring payments - you are correct that the Payments API does not handle automatically triggering the recurring payments.  Most Blackbaud applications including Luminate already handle this.  However, it is something under consideration now that we have opened up the Payments API to allow 3rd party/custom applications to process through BBMS.


    We are not aware of any other integrations that are attempting to add payments that are already processed into Luminate, so unfortunately I cannot point you to any existing examples.  Sorry I can't be more help here but I think the Luminate community will be able to answer your questions better.   


    Thank you.

Categories