Reverse a Wrongly Recorded Campaign Payment
Payments are never deleted; use Reverse with a reason to cancel one, which removes it from the campaign total and posts an offsetting entry to the books.
For School administrators, Accountants. Updated 2026-10-09.
Overview
On the Payments tab of a campaign, each payment has a Reverse button (needs the “edit fundraising” permission). Confirm "Reverse this payment?" and enter a Reason of at least 3 characters (up to 200), for example "Recorded twice by mistake". The original payment stays on record shown struck through with a Reversed badge (hover shows the reason).
A negative reversal entry is created: the campaign total, donor ledger and any pledge balance are recalculated, an expense of the same amount appears in Transaction History under PTA and fundraising, and when accounting is enabled the original journal is marked reversed and an offsetting journal is posted (debit Donations income, credit cash or mobile money).
A payment can only be reversed once ("This contribution has already been reversed"). A reversed payment no longer has a Receipt button. After reversing, record the correct payment as a new entry. There is no edit or delete for payments.
Before you start
- The “edit fundraising” permission permission (Admin or Accountant)
- A payment that has not already been reversed
Steps
- Open the campaign and stay on the Payments tab
- Find the payment and select Reverse
- Enter the Reason
- Select Reverse payment to confirm
- Record the correct payment with Record payment if needed
Common problems
Error "Say why it is being reversed."
Type a reason of at least 3 characters before confirming.
Error that the contribution is already reversed
Each payment can be reversed only once. Check the Payments tab for the Reversed badge.
The reversed amount still appears in the list
The original line remains for the audit trail, struck through with a Reversed badge, but it is excluded from totals.
I do not see the Reverse button
It needs the “edit fundraising” permission. Directors have view-only access.