Recurring gifts
A recurring gift is a donation that repeats: the same amount, to the same organization, every month until you stop it. You start one in the donate window by choosing Monthly instead of One-Time. The smallest gift, one-time or monthly, is 2 in your currency (for example $2.00).
Dashboard → Fundraising → My Giving (/dashboard/donations/giving). Your recurring gifts are listed under
Recurring gifts, above your giving history. The section appears once you have at least one recurring gift.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Beneficiary | The organization your gift goes to |
| Amount | The amount and how often, for example $15.00 / month |
| Next charge | The date your card is charged next. Empty while the gift is paused, and after it has ended |
| Payment method | The card that pays the gift, for example Visa ····4242, with Change card (or Add a card) and, after a declined payment, Pay now |
| Status | awaiting first payment, active, paused or canceled |
How your gift is charged
Section titled “How your gift is charged”- You pay the first gift in the donate window. That payment also saves your card for the gifts that follow. Until it goes through, the gift shows as awaiting first payment.
- After that, your card is charged automatically on each Next charge date. You don’t need to do anything.
- Each charge appears under Dashboard → Finances → Payments, described as Monthly donation to and the organization’s name, and each gift is added to your giving history on My Giving.
- We e-mail you a receipt for every charge. See Payment receipts.
The card you paid the first gift with pays every gift after it, until you change it (below). Your account’s card on file is not used for a recurring gift unless you choose it there.
Change the card
Section titled “Change the card”Under Payment method, choose Change card. Enter the new card (your bank may ask you to confirm it) and save. The new card pays the next gift and every gift after it; nothing is charged when you change it. The row shows the new card as soon as your bank has confirmed it, usually within a few seconds.
If no card is saved for the gift, the link reads Add a card. The window can also offer your account’s card on file, if you have one, as a one-click choice.
Pay a declined gift now
Section titled “Pay a declined gift now”After a payment is declined, the row also shows Pay now. It charges the gift right away instead of waiting for the next try: confirm the amount and the card, and choose Pay. If it goes through, the gift is recorded and the next one is charged on its usual date. If it is declined again, the window says why and offers Change card. A declined Pay now does not count as one of the tries below.
Pause, resume or cancel
Section titled “Pause, resume or cancel”Use the buttons on the gift’s row.
- Pause stops the charges until you resume. Nothing is charged while the gift is paused.
- Resume starts the charges again. If a charge came due while the gift was paused, it is charged shortly after you resume, and the next one follows a month after that.
- Cancel stops the gift for good. You are asked to confirm: Cancel this recurring gift? Choose Cancel the gift to stop it, or Keep giving to leave it as it is. Gifts you have already made are not affected. To give again later, start a new recurring gift.
When we pause your gift
Section titled “When we pause your gift”If the organization your gift goes to can’t receive donations for a while, we pause the gift for you. Its row then says Paused by us — this organization can’t receive donations right now. Your gift resumes automatically if it’s reinstated. You don’t need to do anything, and there is no Resume button: the gift restarts on its own when the organization can receive donations again. You can still cancel it.
If a payment is declined
Section titled “If a payment is declined”If your card is declined, we try again on this schedule:
| Try | When |
|---|---|
| 1 | On the charge date |
| 2 and 3 | A day apart |
| 4, 5 and 6 | A week apart |
| 7, 8 and 9 | A month apart |
If the ninth try is also declined, the gift ends and shows as canceled. While we are retrying, Next charge shows the date of the next try.
When a try goes through, that one gift is charged: tries that were declined are not charged again later. The next gift is still charged on its usual date, not counted from the day the try went through. If a try only goes through more than a whole period late (a month, for a monthly gift), the gifts you missed aren’t charged.
A gift you started without signing in is tried three times, three days apart, and then canceled.
The e-mails we send
Section titled “The e-mails we send”We e-mail you, and show a notice in your bell, when your gift needs you:
| When | Subject (in your language) |
|---|---|
| A try is declined | Your gift to …organization… did not go through — with the date of the next try |
| The try before the last one is declined | Last try on …date… for your gift to …organization… |
| The last try is declined and the gift stops | Your recurring gift to …organization… has stopped |
| Your first gift saved no card, so the next one cannot be made | Add a card to keep your recurring gift to …organization… |
| The gift ended because no card was ever saved | Your recurring gift to …organization… has ended |
Every e-mail has a button to My Giving, where you can change the card or pay the gift now. We don’t e-mail you when you pause or cancel a gift yourself, or when it reaches the end date you chose. You get no reminder before a regular gift is charged: the receipt follows each charge.
Gifts made without signing in
Section titled “Gifts made without signing in”A recurring gift you started without signing in is charged the same way, to the card you paid the first gift with. Each gift sends the donation receipt to the e-mail address you gave, with a link to add your gifts to an account. Once you have added them, your recurring gift appears under My Giving too, and you can pause, resume or cancel it there.