Collect pledges

Fundraise Up supports recurring plans — ongoing commitments where supporters authorize automatic payments at regular intervals (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, or others).

However, recurring plans differ from traditional pledges in two key ways:

• In most cases, they start immediately when the supporter donates, not on a future date.
• In most cases, they continue indefinitely until the supporter cancels, rather than ending after a set number of payments.

Recurring plans work well for sustainer programs where you want consistent, long-term support. For pledge scenarios — where supporters commit to future-dated donations or fixed payment schedules — use Virtual Terminal instead (explained below).

You can add limits to existing recurring plans after they're created.

1. In the Dashboard, go to Recurring.
2. Open the recurring plan you want to update.
3. Click Edit payment details and set one or more of the following:
   • End date — when the plan should stop.
   • Max plan amount — the total amount the plan can reach.
   • Max plan installments — the maximum number of installments.

Once any limit is reached, the plan automatically completes.

For campaigns with daily donation frequency specifically, you can configure an end date in campaign settings. Supporters will see a pre-selected option to end their daily donations on your specified date — useful for time-bound campaigns like religious observances or fundraising marathons. However, supporters can opt out of this end date and continue their daily donations indefinitely.

When supporters want to commit to donations that begin on a future date — for example, pledging $10,000 to be paid quarterly starting next January — use Virtual Terminal.

Virtual Terminal is a Dashboard tool that lets you process donations on behalf of supporters. Among other capabilities, it can create recurring plans with future start dates and defined end dates, making it ideal for pledge scenarios.

When a supporter makes a pledge commitment, create a recurring plan in Virtual Terminal:

1. Open Virtual Terminal.
2. Under Name, choose a campaign.
3. Choose a Designation, or keep the default one.
4. Choose Donation frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, or other).
5. Enter the Installment amount.
6. Select Starting on — the date when the first payment should process.
7. Add an End date, or set Max plan amount or Max plan installments.
8. Enter the supporter’s information. If they’ve donated before and your Virtual Terminal settings allow using saved details, their information and saved payment methods will pre-fill.
9. Choose Payment method and enter the details.
10. Review the Cover transaction costs checkbox. When checked, it adds fees on top of the pledged amount. This can be significant for larger donations, so discuss it with the supporter in advance.
11. Click Make a donation.

The supporter’s payment information is saved when you create the plan, but no charge occurs until the scheduled start date. Once all installments complete, the plan ends automatically.

• Capital campaign pledge: An alumnus pledges $50,000 to be paid in four quarterly installments starting next year. You create a quarterly recurring plan for $12,500, set the start date for January 1, and specify 4 installments as the limit.
• Phone campaign pledge: During a calling campaign, a supporter commits to $1,200 paid monthly for a year. You create a monthly recurring plan for $100, set it to start immediately or on a future date, and set the limit to 12 installments.
• Major gift over time: A donor prefers to spread a $25,000 gift across two years with semiannual payments. You create a semiannual recurring plan for $6,250, set the start date, and specify 4 installments.

Virtual Terminal accepts:

• Credit and debit cards (with optional security code verification).
• ACH Direct Debit (note: ACH can only be processed immediately, not scheduled for future dates).
• Bacs UK Direct Debit.
• SEPA Direct Debit.
• BECS.
• Canadian PAD.
• Saved payment methods from previous donations.

Payment method availability depends on your organization's country, the amount, currency, and frequency.

What Virtual Terminal can't process

Virtual Terminal works with electronic payment methods only and can't process:

• Cash donations.
• Check donations.
• Wire transfers.

If a supporter makes an offline payment (such as mailing a check) toward their pledge, you'll need to record it separately in your CRM or accounting system and adjust the pledge accordingly to avoid duplicate charges.

Some supporters prefer to control when they make payments against their pledge rather than having automatic charges. For this scenario, use the Fundraise Up URL API to create personalized donation links that make it easy for supporters to pay their pledge installments whenever they choose.

After a supporter makes a verbal or written pledge commitment, you create a customized donation link that includes:

• Their personal information (name, email).
• The suggested installment amount.
• The correct campaign or designation.
• A tracking identifier to link the payment to their pledge.

You can then send this link in reminder emails, allowing supporters to complete their pledge payments with a single click — without re-entering their information each time.

Use the URL API to build your personalized link. Copy your campaign's donation link from Dashboard (Campaigns > [Your campaign name]), then add parameters for the supporter's information and pledge details. If your link already includes parameters (like ?form=), use & to add more. If not, start with ? for the first parameter, then use & for additional ones. Learn more →

Example scenario: A supporter pledges $10,000 to be paid in ten monthly installments of $1,000.

This link prefills:

• Campaign: FUNDWHJUMJC
• Name: Alex Garcia
• Email: demo.user@ropsi.org
• Amount: $1,000
• Frequency: One-time
• Custom field pledge_id to track in your CRM: 2026-SJ-001 (must be set in campaign in advance. Learn how →)

When Alex receives their monthly reminder email and clicks the link, they see all the information already filled in. They just need to enter the payment details and confirm.

Lock the amount (optional)

If you want to make sure supporters pay the exact installment amount without changing it, add the modifyAmount=no parameter:

This prevents Alex from adjusting the $1,000 amount, keeping pledge payments consistent.

To connect these donations back to the original pledge in your CRM or database, use custom fields:

1. Create a custom field in your campaign settings (for example, pledge_id or pledge_reference).
2. Add this field to your URL with a unique identifier for each pledge.
3. When the donation processes, this identifier appears in your exports, CRM integrations, and Fundraise Up Dashboard.

Your CRM can then reconcile these payments against the original pledge commitment, showing how much has been paid and how much remains.

• Send regular reminders. Schedule monthly (or quarterly) reminder emails with the personalized link. Some organizations use email automation tools to send these reminders automatically.
• Provide flexibility. Unlike Virtual Terminal pledges with automatic charges, self-service pledges rely on supporter action. Be prepared for irregular payment timing — some supporters may pay early, skip months, or make larger payments to complete their pledge faster.
• Track in your CRM. Fundraise Up will process and record each donation, but tracking the overall pledge progress (total committed and total paid) happens in your CRM or donor database. Use custom fields or donation designations to link payments to specific pledges.
• Communicate clearly. When establishing the pledge, explain to supporters how the payment process works — that they'll receive reminder emails with a personalized link, and they control when they make each payment.
• Have a backup plan. If a supporter stops responding to reminders, your development team can follow up or, if appropriate, convert their remaining pledge balance to a Virtual Terminal recurring plan (with the supporter's permission).