What’s even better than a donor giving once? A donor pledging to give multiple times over the course of several years-- or even a lifetime! With the recurring gifts feature on GiveCampus, your donors can deepen their connection with your school for years to come and develop a habit of giving back. Read on for answers to our most frequently asked questions about recurring gifts.

Recurring Gift Basics

How do I enable recurring giving?

For campaigns, recurring giving can be enabled via the 'giving form' tab within 'campaign settings'.

For the General Giving Form (linked from the ‘Make a Gift’ button on your main landing page), recurring giving can be enabled via the ‘standalone giving form’ tab on the Online Giving Dashboard.

For GC Giving Forms, recurring giving can be enabled via the ‘recurring gifts’ section on the ‘basics’ tab on the form manager.

What are the frequency and duration options for recurring gifts?

Recurring donations can be enabled on an annual schedule, monthly schedule (for a set number of years), or a custom monthly schedule (for a set number of months).

For annual gifts, you can define the maximum number of years they will continue (e.g., one installment per year for five years). Monthly gifts can be configured to continue for a specific number of years or months. Custom monthly gifts allow flexibility, such as a $250 monthly donation for four months to qualify for a giving society with a $1,000 threshold.

Examples:

Annual Gift: $500 annually for five years totals $2,500 ($500 charged each year).
Monthly for Years: $100 monthly for one year totals $1,200 ($100 charged each month for 12 months).
Monthly for Months: $250 monthly for four months totals $1,000 ($250 charged each month for four months).

Tip: If you select only annual recurring gifts, be sure to set the duration to at least 2 years. An annual gift with a 1-year duration will be a one-time contribution, not a recurring one.

Can donors make lifetime recurring gifts?

Yes! If you’d like to also allow donors to make monthly or annual recurring gifts that carry on indefinitely, choose the "indefinitely" option in the form settings. Learn more about indefinite recurring gifts here!

When will each installment of a recurring gift be processed?

The first installment of a recurring gift will start processing at the time the donor sets up their recurring gift pledge. All following installments will occur automatically on the monthly or yearly anniversary of the day the donor set up the pledge, depending on the frequency option chosen by the donor. If the anniversary date falls on a non-banking day (i.e., holidays or weekends), the installment will be processed on the next banking day.

How are recurring gifts displayed in a campaign’s totals and Leaderboards?

For time-bound recurring gifts, the total amount is reflected in your campaign's totals and Leaderboards. For example, $10 monthly for two years totals $240, which will be added to campaign totals and Leaderboards. Indefinite recurring gifts count only the first installment, as their total value can't be predicted.

How do recurring gifts affect Matches and Challenges?

Time-bound recurring gifts contribute their full value to Matches and Challenges. For example, if a donor chooses to give $500 yearly for three years (a total of $1,500 over three years), and there is an applicable $1 per $1 live Match at the time, $1,500 will be matched as a result of the recurring gift. Indefinite recurring gifts count only the first installment.

How do recurring gifts apply to incentives?

The installment amount of a recurring gift will qualify a donor for an incentive. For example, a donor who chooses to give $25 per year for two years would qualify for a donor incentive with a minimum threshold donation amount of $25. A donor who chooses to give $5 yearly for five years for a total lifetime value of $25 would not qualify for the same donor incentive.

Editing, Delaying, Cancelling, and Payment Failures

Can a donor edit their recurring gift?

Yes! Donors can make any of the following changes to their own recurring giving subscriptions:

Add a new payment method (credit/debit card or bank account)
Update an existing payment method, including card expiration date and billing ZIP code
If your school leverages GiveCampus’s Strategic partnership with Stripe, donors can also update the installment transaction schedule. Donors can modify the transaction date of their next future installment to a date that falls within 30 days of the current date. Donors can also choose to apply that change to all future payments (e.g. donors can update their gift installments to transaction the 1st of every month instead of on the 18th)

If a recurring gift fails, the donor will receive a notification that includes a link to a page where they can update their recurring gift. Schools using Stripe can also send a donor a link to modify their recurring gift at any time by visiting the Online Giving Dashboard > ‘Manage Gifts’ > ‘Recurring Subscriptions’ > finding the gift in question > clicking ‘Actions’ > clicking ‘Send donor link to modify’. Below is an example of the email that your donors will receive.

Note: This email is not customizable. Your school name, the recurring gift information, and the school contact email address that you set will automatically be inserted into the email.

Subject: Request to modify recurring gift to {SCHOOL NAME}

Bonus: If a donor with an existing recurring gift that failed adds a new payment option to their GiveCampus Wallet, they’ll be given the option to apply the new payment method to their failing recurring gift, too.

Can school administrators edit a recurring gift?

Yes! For schools using Stripe, administrators with full permissions can edit recurring gift subscriptions. To edit a recurring gift, visit the Online Giving Dashboard > ‘Manage Gifts’ > ‘Recurring Subscriptions’ > find the subscription you’d like to edit in the table > click 'Actions' > select 'Modify.' School administrators can update all of the following:

Payment method, including card expiration date and billing ZIP code; school admins can also add a new credit/debit card or bank account as the payment method
Installment amount (only available to schools leveraging Stripe).
The total lifetime value of a recurring gift (only available to schools leveraging Stripe).
The installment transaction schedule: school administrators can modify the transaction date of the next future installment to a date that falls within 365 days of the current date. This change can also be applied to all future installments; for example, administrators can update gift installments to transact on the 1st of every month instead of on the 18th (only available to schools leveraging Stripe).
Cancel all future installments of the recurring subscription

Can I “delay” or "skip" an installment of a recurring gift?

To delay a recurring gift, go to the Online Giving Dashboard > ‘Manage Gifts’ > ‘Recurring Subscriptions’ > find and select the subscription you want to edit > click ‘Actions’ > select 'Modify.' School administrators can adjust the next installment date within 365 days, extending the gift's end date to ensure the full amount is met. For instance, if a monthly installment is due on September 2nd, changing the next run date to November 2nd will skip the installments on September 2nd and October 2nd, and extend the gift’s end date by two months. Donors will be notified of the date change. Note: This feature is available only if your school uses Stripe.

What happens if a donor’s payment method for a recurring subscription fails?

For schools using Stripe:

Notifications: When a donor’s payment fails, both the donor and school administrators who opted into recurring gift notifications will receive an email with a link to update payment information. If you have a custom “Recurring Subscription Failed” email template, donors will receive that instead of the default notification.
Updating Payment Information: To update a donor’s subscription on their behalf go to the Online Giving Dashboard > ‘Manage Gifts’ > ‘Recurring Subscriptions.’ Find and select the subscription you want to edit. Click ‘Actions’ and choose 'Modify.'
Payment Processing: Recurring gift installments run once daily at 3 PM ET. If a payment method is updated after 3 PM ET, the next installment will process the following day.
Failed Transactions: Failed transactions will retry for five days, and notifications will continue until the payment method is updated. After the first failure, the subscription will be marked as ‘recurring_failed’ and all failed attempts will be listed as ‘failed’ in reports. Once payment is updated, the subscription status will revert to ‘recurring,’ and the donor will receive an automatic reactivation email. If you have a custom “Recurring Subscription Reactivated” template, the donor will receive that instead of the default email.

For schools using WePay: If the donor’s payment method fails, the donor and school administrator will receive an automated email notification with a link to update their payment method.

How do I cancel a recurring gift?

For schools using Stripe: To cancel a recurring gift, navigate to the Online Giving Dashboard > ‘Manage Gifts’ > scroll to ‘Recurring Subscriptions’ > select the 'Actions' button > click the red ‘cancel’ button for the appropriate gift. This will cancel all future installments of the gift. If you’d also like to refund any installments that have already been processed, visit campaign settings or the Online Giving Dashboard > ‘Manage Gifts’ > click the ‘Refund’ button for the appropriate installment(s).

For schools using WePay: To cancel a recurring gift, navigate to the Online Giving Dashboard > ‘Manage Gifts’ > scroll to ‘Recurring Subscriptions’ > click 'Actions' and select 'Modify'. From this recurring subscription page, click on the link to modify the donor’s recurring gift, and you will be able to cancel from the page you are redirected to.

What if a donor accidentally makes a recurring gift but meant to make a one-time gift?

If a donor makes a recurring gift by accident and actually intended to make a one-time gift, you can head to the Online Giving Dashboard > ‘Manage Gifts’ > ‘Recurring Subscriptions’ > select 'Actions' > cancel the overall recurring gift following the steps above.

Cancelling a recurring gift does not refund any previously transacted installments. If the first installment amount does not reflect the donor’s intended, one-time contribution, you’ll need to refund their installment and direct the donor back to the campaign page or giving form so they can make a new contribution.

If the first installment amount does reflect the donor’s intended, one-time contribution, please send the donation ID of the first installment to support@givecampus.com. Our engineers will need to take an additional step to switch the contribution type from ‘installment’ to ‘donation’. Until this change is made, the information about the donor and their gift (name, affiliation, class year) will not appear on the campaign page.

Recurring Gifts Reporting

Where can I find a report of all recurring gifts?

To download a detailed report of all recurring gifts, visit the Online Giving Dashboard > Reporting > Recurring Donations. To download an Installment Report or a Subscription Report (more information on these below!), select an appropriate date range and click ‘Download Donation Report’.

The Installment Report displays all installments of recurring gifts made during the selected date range. The ‘donation_amount’ column reflects the value of each installment. All standard customizations set in Reporting > Settings will apply to the Installment Report.

The Subscription Report displays information for for the full lifetime value of all recurring gifts initialized during the selected date range. The ‘donation_amount’ column reflects the full lifetime value of the subscription. All standard customizations set in Reporting > Settings will apply to the Installment Report.

Note: Because the frequency for monthly gifts must also be set to a number of years, the ‘recur_length’ entry will show the number of years for both monthly and annual gifts.

Where can I find an overview of all recurring gifts made to a Social Fundraising Platform campaign?

Go to Campaign Settings > ‘Manage Gifts’.
Scroll to the ‘Recurring Donations’ and ‘Recurring Subscriptions’tables.
- ‘Recurring Donations’ Table: Provides a high-level overview of all recurring gifts and displays the total pledge amount.
- ‘Recurring Subscriptions’ Table: Shows detailed information for each recurring gift, including frequency, duration, start date, amount paid, affiliation, designation, and total pledge amount

Where can I find an overview of all recurring gifts made to a Giving Form?

Visit the Online Giving Dashboard > Giving Forms > Manage Settings > Manage Gifts > scroll to the ‘Recurring Donations’ table. This provides a high-level overview of all recurring gifts made on the Giving Form and displays the full pledge amount.

How do installments of recurring gifts appear on a campaign donation report or date range donation report?

Each installment of a recurring gift will be recorded in both the campaign donation report and the date range donation report as they occur. The first installment will appear when the donor makes their initial pledge, and subsequent installments will appear as they are processed. Except for the date and time of the transaction, all installments will follow the same format and contain the same information.

Which reporting columns provide specific details of a recurring gift?

The Installment Report, campaign donation report, and date range report include a number of key columns:

recur: If this entry is reported as ‘true’, the donation is an installment of a recurring gift.
recur_period: indicates whether the installment is part of a monthly or annual gift.
recur_length: indicates the total number of years for which the recurring gift will last.
- This data entry may appear as indefinite in the case that an indefinite recurring gift is made; a decimal if is a custom number of months rather than a yearly basis; or a whole number
donation_amount: is the value of recurring gift installment.
installment_subscription_start_date: indicates the date on which the recurring subscription was originally created
installment_subscription_end_date: indicates the date on which the last installment of the recurring subscription will transact
- This data entry may appear as indefinite in the case that an indefinite recurring gift is made
installment_subscription_last_run_date: indicates the date on which the installment ran
installment_subscription_state: indicates the state of the recurring gift subscription. Possible values are 'failed', 'active', and 'complete'
installment_number: indicates the number of successful installments so far
max_installments: indicate the maximum number of installments needed to meet the subscription’s value
- This data entry may appear as indefinite in the case that an indefinite recurring gift is made, or a whole number
installment_subscription_id: indicates the donation ID of the installment’s subscription

The Subscription Report includes the key columns:

subscription_installments_remaining: indicates the number of scheduled future installments remaining in a subscription and yet to be paid
- This data entry may appear as indefinite in the case that an indefinite recurring gift is made
subscription_installments_paid: indicates the number of installments in a subscription already paid
subscription_amount_paid: indicates the total dollar amount of scheduled future installments remaining in a subscription and yet to be paid
subscription_amount_remaining: indicates the total dollar amount of installments in a subscription already paid
- This data entry may appear as indefinite in the case that an indefinite recurring gift is made
Subscription_end_date: indicates the date on which the full recurring subscription will complete and no further installments will be charged
- This data entry may appear as indefinite in the case that an indefinite recurring gift is made

Managing Recurring Giving Notifications

How do I let my donors know who to contact with questions about their recurring subscriptions?

In the Online Giving Dashboard > Content and Settings, designate an email address for automated donor communications. Include this email in your custom email templates using the $SCHOOL_CONTACT_EMAIL$ merge field. This address will also appear in the footer of your GiveCampus pages. Many partners use the email of a team member who manages online donors or create a shared address for donor inquiries (e.g., onlinegiving@school.edu or givecampusdonors@academy.org).

How do I see what recurring gift notifications have been sent to a donor?

School administrators can see all email notifications that our system has sent to a donor as well as school admins for a particular recurring gift by visiting the Online Giving Dashboard > ‘Manage Gifts’ > scrolling to ‘Recurring Subscriptions > finding the subscription in question > clicking the ‘Modify’ button > clicking into the sections under ‘Gift Notifications’.

When will donors receive automated email notifications notifications from GiveCampus about their recurring gifts? Can I customize those notifications?

Yes! School administrators can customize the automated emails that are sent to donors with recurring gifts. The notifications donors receive, and the emails you can customize, depend on the payment processor you use. To learn more about the standard recurring gift notifications and how to set up custom templates, click here.