Should you need to pause or deactivate your WinRed account, this guide walks you through what to do.

There are three ways to stop fundraising on your account: Deactivation, Pausing, or a Custom Action.

Navigate to the Settings tab and select the Account Status subtab to begin.

Here, the account's current status will be visible, and you will be able to view which fundraising features are active. Select the blue Get Started Here button if the account status needs to be updated.

You can also find a log of Account Status Activity changes here. This will show who made changes to the account and what change they made.

The menu below will appear. Here, you can choose the new status of the account. Conduit accounts will see two options: Deactivate and a Custom Option; Merchant accounts will see Deactivate, Pause, and a Custom Option.

To deactivate a WinRed account, select the Deactivate option under Step 1 on the Account Status Tab.

The following actions will occur, and they will be visible on the right-hand side of the screen:

Scroll down to Step #2 to edit the message donors will see when visiting an archived page and select when deactivation should occur on a future date. This date cannot be more than 30 days in advance.

Fundraising will be stopped at 12:00 am EST on the selected date.

Select the green Continue to Step 3 button, and the following confirmation page will appear.

Confirm the actions that will be taken by entering DEACTIVATE in the text field and then click the red Deactivate button.

The following page will appear. It will display the account status and the actions that will occur on the future date. A cancel account deactivation button will also be visible here.

If the account is scheduled for deactivation at a later date, you can cancel it by selecting the red Cancel Account Deactivation button on the Account Status tab.

The message below will then appear. Click the red cancel button to cancel pending account deactivation. The account status will then go back to live.

When you deactivate your account, there is a minimum 90 day shutdown period that follows where your committee or organization is responsible for any negative balance. We cannot fully close your account for a minimum of 90 days in order to account for any disputes that credit card networks and banks send your way. If you continue to issue refunds past the 90 period on your WinRed account, you will be responsible for the balance. For accounts with larger volume and higher dispute rates we may require a longer than 90 day shutdown period.

While WinRed reminds donors that their donations are final, we cannot deny all refund requests. Donors who do not receive timely refunds typically dispute charges with their card provider. When consumers initiate the dispute process, the funds are refunded to the donor by the bank and automatically withdrawn from the merchant. The interceding bank or network attempts to collect evidence from both the consumer and the merchant to mediate and decide whether the charge should be reversed or stand. In many cases, we are unable to win these disputes despite our efforts to educate donors, credit card networks, and banks.

Elevated dispute rates can result in punitive action from the card networks and supporting banks. On the extreme end of the spectrum, disputes can be subject to massive fines and penalties. For these reasons, it is important we facilitate donor refund requests for a minimum of 90 days.

WinRed will deduct refunds and chargebacks from your payouts as usual unless your account goes negative. In that case, we will automatically trigger a reverse transfer from your attached bank account.

To budget for the post-election period, we recommend you look at your average refund and dispute rate for the last few months and keep an appropriate reserve for when fundraising subsides.
​

For most organizations, the recommended reserve is about 2-4% of the gross raised. Committees that used more aggressive tactics, like money pledges and subscriptions, may need a higher reserve.

If a conduit account has gone through the deactivation process and needs to be reactivated, please make sure the account is using the same FEC ID and contact our team at support@winred.com for assistance.

If the account is not using the same ID, it will need to be re-onboarded to a new account. You can start this process by selecting the button below.

Merchant accounts on WinRed have the option to temporarily pause fundraising under Step 1. To begin this process, head to the Account Status Tab.

Select the Temporary Pause option and the following actions will occur, and they will be visible on the right-hand side of the screen:

Once an organization is removed from slates, they will not be automatically re-added to them once the account is unpaused.

Scroll down to Step #2 to edit different options on the account. Toggle if the existing subscription on the account should be paused. Users are responsible for ensuring set fundraising dates comply with state fundraising laws.

If the subscriptions are not unpaused within six months, they will be automatically canceled.

Edit the message donors will see when visiting an archived Donation, High Dollar, and Video Page.

Select a future date when this pause should occur. This date cannot be more than 30 days in advance. Fundraising will be stopped at 12:00 am EST on the date.

Paused accounts can be either automatically unpaused on a future date or manually unpaused. If you would like for the account to be automatically unpaused, enter an unpause date, and this will then occur at 12:00 am EST of the selected date.

After the correct settings are inputted, select the green Continue to Step 3 button, and the following confirmation page will appear.

Confirm the actions taken by entering PAUSE in the text field and then clicking the red Pause Account button.

The following confirmation page will appear. It will display the account status and the actions that will occur on the associated dates. A cancel account deactivation button will also be visible here.

If the account is scheduled to be paused, you can cancel it by selecting the red Cancel Account Pause button on the Account Status tab.

The message below will then appear. Click the red cancel button to cancel the pending account pause. The account status will then go back to live.

If a merchant account is paused and you want to unpause it manually, go to the Account Status tab.

Under Step 1, select the Reactivate option. The following actions will occur, and they will be visible on the right-hand side of the screen:

Select the green Continue to Step 2 button, and the following confirmation page will appear.

Here, confirm the actions that will be taken by entering REACTIVATE in the text field and then clicking the red Reactivate Account button.

The following confirmation page will appear. It will display the account status and the live fundraising features.

The custom option status is available for Conduit and Merchant accounts on WinRed and is visible under Step 1 on the Account Status Tab.

This allows you to choose individual statuses for each fundraising feature on your account.

Scroll down to Step 2.A to edit different options on the account. Here, select the status of existing subscriptions and pending money pledges. On a conduit account, they can either be active or canceled, while on a merchant account, they can be active, paused, or canceled.

If the cancel option is selected, enter the subscription cancelation date. All subscriptions will be canceled on that date at 12:00 a.m. EST, and the date cannot be more than 30 days in advance.

If the paused option is selected on a merchant account, click the future date option, where you can input the date that subscriptions should be paused.

All subscriptions will be paused on that date at 12:00 a.m. EST, and the date cannot be more than 30 days in advance.

Then select how you would like to unpause subscriptions, you can either input a future date or manually unpause them. If a paused subscription is not unpaused within six months, they will automatically be canceled.

On 2.B, select the new status of the donation, high dollar, video pages, and storefront on the account. They can be live or archived.

If archived is selected, input the message donors should see when visiting the pages and the date on which the pages should be archived. This will occur on the selected date at 12:00 a.m. EST. The date cannot be more than 30 days in advance.

On 2.C, select the new status of petition pages on the account. They can be live or archived.

If archived is selected, input the message donors should see when visiting the petition pages and the date on which the pages should be archived. This will occur on the selected date at 12:00 a.m. EST. The date cannot be more than 30 days in advance.

On 2.D, Select the new status of slates on the account. They can be live or removed and blocked.

If remove and block are selected, decide when your account should be removed from slates. The date cannot be more than 30 days in advance. Removal from all Slating will take place on the selected date at 12:00 a.m. EST.

Once this occurs, this action is irreversible.

After the correct settings are imputed, select the green Continue to Step 3 button, and the following confirmation page will appear.

Here, confirm the actions that will be taken by entering CONFIRM in the text field and then clicking the blue confirm button.

The following confirmation page will appear. It will display the account status and the actions that will occur on the associated dates.

If an account status is changed and the Donation, High Dollar, and Video Pages are archived, the Storefront on the account will also be inactive, and donations cannot be processed on it.

If the pages are being reactivated and you would like to use the Storefront again, head to the Merchandise tab and select the Storefront Settings subtab.

Select the green Activate Storefront button here, and then the Storefront can process contributions again.

Anytime a new status is set on the account, it will be visible on the Account Status Activity log on the Account Status Tab.

The log will detail any changes to the account status, the user's email and the date and time of this change.

Any time the account's status changes, WinRed will send an email from confirmation@winred.com to all admin users confirming the change. An example of this email is pictured below.

Questions?
​
If you have questions or are unsure about any of these steps, please contact our support team by clicking the red chat box at the bottom right corner of your screen.