Recurring plans
Learn about the settings for recurring plans
Fundraise Up’s recurring plans feature enables donors to give on an ongoing basis. Below, learn about recurring plans and their settings, which are configured from the Dashboard in Settings > Recurring Plans.
Basics
When a recurring plan is created by a donor in Checkout, or by a user in Virtual Terminal, records are created for two objects: Donations and Recurring Plans.
The Recurring Plan record includes a summary of the recurring plan details, including its amount, frequency and payment method. The record also includes a summary of processed installments and the emails sent to the donor.
For each installment charged for a recurring plan, a Donation record is created and associated with the recurring plan.
Start date
When a recurring plan is created using Checkout, the start date of the plan is the date of the donation. This donation is also the first installment of the plan.
In Virtual Terminal, the start date for a recurring plan can be set to a future date. The payment information for the recurring plan is tokenized at the time the plan is created, but the charge occurs on the selected start date.
Installment retries
When an installment is due for a recurring plan, Fundraise Up attempts to charge the payment method associated with the recurring plan. If the charge fails, Fundraise Up retries the charge. The retry scheduled is based on the frequency of the recurring plan. The schedule is described below.
| Recurring plan frequency | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Daily | No retries |
| Weekly | Two retries: one and two days after the original charge attempt |
| Biweekly | Three retries: one, three, and six days after the original charge attempt |
| Monthly | Four retries: one, three, seven, and 13 days after the original charge attempt |
| Bimonthly | Five retries: one, three, seven, fourteen, and 21 days after the original charge attempt |
| Quarterly | Five retries: one, three, seven, 14, and 31 days after the original charge attempt |
| Semiannual | Five retries: one, three, seven, 14, and 31 days after the original charge attempt |
| Annual | Five retries: one, three, seven, 14, and 31 days after the original charge attempt |
Retries for bank-based payment methods
If a recurring plan is configured using a bank-based payment method such as ACH Direct Debit or Instant Direct Debit, Fundraise Up will only attempt to charge the account for the scheduled installment. No retries are attempted to avoid bank fees assessing for the supporter.
Plan failed email
For each failed charge, Fundraise Up automatically sends the Plan failed email (if enabled) to the supporter. The email includes a link for the supporter to update their payment method in Donor Portal.
Handling unpaid installments
By default, your Fundraise Up account uses machine learning to determine when to set a recurring plan’s status to Failed after charge attempts have been made. This default setting balances the opportunity to recover a recurring plan with avoiding potential fees for charge failures.
While the machine learning option is configured by default, you can also select from seven other conditions:
- After 1 unpaid installment
- After 2 unpaid installments
- After 3 unpaid installments
- After 4 unpaid installments
- After 5 unpaid installments
- After 6 unpaid installments
- Never
Supported frequencies
Fundraise Up supports eight recurring giving frequencies, which can be enabled for Checkout, Donor Portal, and Virtual Terminal:
- Daily
- Weekly
- Biweekly
- Monthly
- Bimonthly
- Quarterly
- Semiannual
- Annual
Managing recurring plans
Recurring plans can be managed by supporters and your organization’s Fundraise Up users.
Donor Portal
Donor Portal is a self-service dashboard where your donors can manage their fundraisers and recurring plans, view donation history, and update their profile information. Learn more →
Dashboard
Users with the Organization Administrator, Campaign Administrator, and Support Specialist user roles can manage recurring plans from the Dashboard.
Recurring plan statuses
There are three main statuses for recurring plans in Fundraise Up:
- Active: The recurring plan is actively charging installments
- Scheduled: The recurring plan has been paused by the donor for a period of between 1 and 12 months.
- Retrying: The last installment could not be successfully charged. Fundraise Up will attempt to charge the installment based on the retry behavior setting configured in the Dashboard.
- Cancelled: The recurring plan was cancelled by the donor or an account user with a role that allows them to manage recurring plans.
- Failed: Fundraise Up is unable to charge installments for the recurring plan. This status is automatically set by the retry behavior settings configured in the Dashboard.
Changing payment methods
Sometimes, a donor creates a recurring plan using one payment method, but later wishes to update the recurring plan to a different payment method. Donors can make this change without needing to request it from your organization by accessing their Donor Portal account. Learn more →
Automatic card updater
Saved payment method details can continue to work even if the physical card has been replaced by the issuing bank. Stripe works with card networks and automatically attempts to update saved card details whenever a donor receives a new card (for example, replacing an expired card or one that was reported lost or stolen). This allows your supporters to continue their recurring giving without interruption and reduces the need for you to collect new card details whenever a card is replaced.