Setting Up Recurring Donations

Why Recurring Donations?

Recurring donations provide stable, predictable support for your mission. They:

• Create consistent monthly income
• Build long-term supporter relationships
• Reduce administrative work
• Increase lifetime donor value by 5-10x

Automatic Setup

Great news! Recurring donations are automatically enabled when you connect Stripe. No additional setup required.

How It Works

On your donation form, supporters see an option to:

• Make a one-time donation
• Give monthly (recurring)
• Give annually (recurring)

When they choose recurring:

1. Their payment method is securely saved by Stripe
2. Donations automatically process on the same day each month/year
3. They receive email receipts for each donation
4. They can manage or cancel anytime through their donor portal

Managing Recurring Donations

View Your Recurring Supporters

Go to Dashboard → Financial → Recurring to see:

• List of all recurring donors
• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Next scheduled donations
• Donation frequency and amounts

Donor Management Portal

Each recurring donor receives a link to their personal portal where they can:

• Update payment methods
• Change donation amounts
• Adjust frequency
• Pause or cancel (we hope they don't!)

Failed Payments

If a recurring donation fails (expired card, insufficient funds, etc.):

1. Stripe automatically retries the payment
2. The donor receives an email notification
3. You receive an alert in your dashboard
4. After multiple failures, the subscription pauses

Recovery Best Practices

• Reach out personally to high-value recurring donors
• Send friendly reminders to update payment info
• Use Stripe's smart retry logic
• Keep donor contact information current

Encouraging Recurring Giving

On Your Site

• Make recurring the default option on your form
• Show the impact of monthly giving ('$50/month provides...')
• Highlight recurring donors in your newsletters
• Create a 'Monthly Partner' program

In Your Communications

• Emphasize the power of sustained support
• Share how recurring gifts enable long-term planning
• Celebrate milestones ('You've given for 12 months!')
• Send exclusive updates to monthly partners

Tax Receipts

Recurring donors receive:

• Individual receipts for each monthly donation
• An annual summary at year-end for taxes
• Immediate access to all past receipts in their portal