Recurring gifts

A recurring gift is a schedule a donor sets up on the give page: the same amount, to the same fund, every week or every month. Stripe runs the schedule and takes each payment; the church's copy updates itself after every gift.

When to use this

• To see how much regular giving the church can count on.
• When a donor calls to change their amount, pause over the summer, or stop.
• To check a donor's next gift date.

Read the schedules list

The tiles at the top:

• Active schedules: how many are running now (paused and canceled ones are counted underneath).
• Annualized: what the active schedules add up to over a year: each monthly gift × 12, each weekly gift × 52. It's a forecast, not money received.
• Due in the next week: gifts expected in the next seven days.
• ACH share: the share of active schedules paid from a bank account. Bank gifts cost the church far less in fees than cards.

The list shows each schedule's donor, amount and frequency (with "+ fee" if the donor covers it), fund, payment method, total given so far, next gift date and status. Filter it by Active, Paused or Canceled.

Set up a recurring gift

Donors normally set these up themselves on the give page. To see how it works, or to record one a donor asked for:

1. Select Set up a recurring gift.
2. Pick the donor, the amount per gift and the fund.
3. Choose Every week or Every month, and how it's paid: Bank (ACH) or Card. In the sandbox this is a test setting only.
4. Choose the date of the first gift: today or later. Later gifts follow on the same weekday or day of the month.
5. Tick Donor covers the processing fee if they'd like the church to receive the full amount.
6. Select Set up schedule.

No card or bank details are ever entered in the back office. In the live system, the donor enters them on Stripe's secure page.

Change, pause or cancel

Donors manage their own gifts in Stripe's customer portal, through a link in every receipt. Staff can make the same changes at a donor's request. Select Manage beside a schedule to:

• Change amount: type the new amount per gift (at least $1.00) and select Change amount. The next gift uses it.
• Pause: no gifts are taken until you select Resume.
• Cancel schedule: no more gifts. Past gifts stay on the donor's statement. To start again, the donor sets up a new gift.

Each change is added to the schedule's History.

Good to know

• A schedule's reference (starting sub_) is Stripe's. Quote it if you ever need to look the schedule up with Stripe's support.
• If a card expires or a payment fails, Stripe retries and emails the donor to update their details; the church doesn't handle card numbers at all.
• Building-campaign pledges can be paid by a recurring gift to the campaign's fund.

Top tips

• When a donor asks to "stop for a while", offer Pause rather than cancel: restarting is one click, not a new set-up.
• Point donors who give by card towards a bank (ACH) schedule; the saving on fees goes straight to ministry.
• Use Due in the next week before a big week (Christmas, Easter) to see what to expect.

Troubleshooting

The amount won't save. Enter at least $1.00, and a different amount from the current one.

A canceled schedule can't be restarted. That's by design. Ask the donor to set up a new recurring gift on the give page.