When constituents make a recurring donation, they give indefinitely on a regular schedule. Recurring donations differ from pledges, which are promises to give a fixed amount of money in a certain amount of time.
To create a recurring donation:
Your constituents can use your online giving form.
You can create a new recurring donation for constituents in Bloomerang CRM.
Payments process automatically when the payment method is a card, EFT account, or digital wallet. If a constituent pays with cash or a check, you must enter the payment manually.
Create Recurring Donations
To create a recurring donation:
In the Schedule section, select how often the payment processes:
Weekly — Every 7 days
Every other week — Every 14 days
Twice per month — On the same two dates every month
Monthly — On the same date every month
Every other month — On the same date every other month
Quarterly — On the same date every quarter
Every six months — On the same date every six months
Yearly — On the same date every year
Go to the constituent's account.
Click the down arrow and then click New Recurring Donation.
Enter the Amount. This is the amount the donor wants to give each time.
Select the Fund to designate where this money should go to.
(Optional) If a specific Campaign prompted this donation, select it.
(Optional) If a specific appeal prompted this donation, select it.
Tip: You can change the fund, campaign, and appeal later.To automatically process payments, select one of these methods:
Saved Payment: Select a saved card, EFT, or digital wallet (Apple Pay or Google Pay). Digital wallets appear that the constituent previously used for a recurring donation on your online giving form.
Credit Card: If you select this option, enter the card information.
EFT: If you select this option, enter bank account information.
To manually apply payments, click Method and select None.
Note: Payments scheduled on the 29th, 30th, or 31st process on those dates. If the month does not have those dates, it processes on the last day of that month.Select the Start Date. This is when the constituent wants to make the first recurring donation payment. By default, the start date is today, but you can change it. The frequency, amount, and start date cannot be changed after you save the schedule.
In the Acknowledgements section:
Select whether to send an acknowledgement right after you save this donation. Read more about this.
Important: If you use Journey Automation to automate email acknowledgements for recurring donations, do not select to send an acknowledgement now.To attach a previous acknowledgement interaction to this donation, click the plus sign +. You can repeat this step to attach more acknowledgement interactions. Read more about this.
Add soft credits, tributes, or attachments as needed. Fill in any transaction custom fields that apply.
Click Save.
Edit Recurring Donation Schedules
You can edit the recurring donation schedule or individual payments. Changes that you make in the recurring donation schedule apply to future payments.
To edit a recurring donation schedule:
Go to the constituent's timeline.
Click the original recurring donation schedule.
Tip: You can also click a recurring donation payment and then click Recurring Donation Schedule.Edit any settings except the frequency, amount, and start date. To change the frequency or amount, you must enter an end date and create a new schedule.
Note: Changes to the fund, campaign, or appeal apply to only new payments. To change the fund, campaign, or appeal for an individual payment, go to that payment and make the change. Changes made to an individual payment don’t affect other future payments in the schedule.To enter a new payment method, select Credit Card or EFT.
To select a saved payment method:
Select Saved Payment.
Select a saved card, EFT, Apple Pay, or digital wallet (Apple Pay or Google Pay). Digital wallet payment methods appear that the constituent previously used for a recurring donation on your online giving form. If you select a saved digital wallet, the payment is processed in Bloomerang CRM.
Click Save. The original recurring donation schedule and previous payments remain on the constituent’s timeline.
Note: Prepaid or additional payments with a future or past date will have the fund, campaign, and appeal of the schedule at the time they were entered.
Edit or Add Recurring Donation Payments
You can change the fund, campaign, and appeal on individual payments without affecting the schedule or other payments. Read about how to edit recurring donation payments.
You can also manually add payments for an existing recurring donation schedule. Read about how to add payments.
Update the Payment Method
For information about how to update the payment method for a schedule, read Update the Payment Method for a Payment Schedule.