The Donor’s Guide to Recurring Donations: How to set up, view or edit a donation subscription

We’ve all been there: you mean to donate regularly to the nonprofits you care about, but somehow life gets in the way and you realize you haven’t donated in months.

That’s where recurring donations come in. By setting up a subscription to automatically donate at regular intervals, you’ll know you’re helping that nonprofit keep doing their good work, without having to worry about setting reminders or re-entering your details each time.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to start using recurring donations, how to make changes to your subscriptions, and more.

If you want a downloadable, printable version of this guide, just click the banner below.

Just a note: recurring donations are only available for organizations using WildApricot Payments. Click here to find out more about recurring donations.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• Who is this guide for?
• How to use recurring donations
  • How do I set up a recurring donation subscription?
  • Do I choose how much I donate?
  • When will my donation by taken from my account?
  • How do I view my recurring donations?
  • Can I cancel a recurring donation?
  • How can I change the amount I donate or the frequency I’m donating?

Who is this guide for?

For donors

If you’re donating to an organization, you’ve come to the right place! Click here to skip down to the instructions on how to set up, view or cancel a recurring donation, plus answers to other common questions you might have.

For organizations

Whether you’ve already enabled recurring donations or you’re just starting to think about it, you’re also in the right place! This page is designed to walk your donors through how to use the recurring donations feature, so they have the confidence to set up their own donation subscription.

If you want to share this information with your donors and potential donors, you could share the link to this page or use the downloadable PDF version included above. You could:

• Send out an email to your contact database letting them know they can now subscribe for repeating donations, and including a link to this page or attaching the PDF.
• Add a link to this page on the donations page of your website.

• Launch a new monthly donations campaign, including the downloadable version in your information pack. The Fundraising Authority has a great post on setting up monthly giving campaigns.
• Print off the downloadable version and hand it out at your next event, or pin it to your notice board.
• Add the link to your donation confirmation email, encouraging donors to make their gift on a regular basis.

For more information on what you can do with the recurring donations feature, who can use it, and how to set it up, click here.

How to Use Recurring Donations

How do I set up a recurring donation subscription?

1. Fill out the donation form.

When you visit the organization’s donation form, you’ll see information fields you may need to fill in, including name, email address, phone number etc.

2. Select how frequently you want to donate.

If the organization you’re donating to has chosen to enable recurring donations, you’ll also see check boxes next to frequency options that look like this:

The frequency options you see will depend on what the organization has chosen, but they might include Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annually or Annually, as well as One-time, for making a single donation.

To sign up for recurring donations, you just need to check the option for your chosen frequency. For example, if you select Semi-annually, every six months the amount of money you entered will be automatically paid from the card you entered the details of.

3. Click the Pay button.

When you’ve finished filling in the form, including entering your payment card details, click Pay.

4. Get your receipt.

It’s that easy! Once your donation has been successfully processed, you’ll receive an email receipt. You don’t need to confirm or re-enter any details each time you donate – the system will do it all for you.

Do I choose how much I donate?

Yes. The amount you choose to give for your original donation will be the amount that is taken for each recurring donation afterwards.

When will my donation be taken from my account?

Your future donations will be taken from your account on the same day of the month as your original donation, at the frequency you specified. To see when your next donation will be made, follow the instructions under the next point.

How do I view my recurring donations?

To view your donations, log in to your account and go to your profile. Click the Donations tab to see the amount and date of your upcoming donations.

Can I cancel a recurring donation?

Yes, you can do this from your profile. Follow the instructions above for viewing your donation subscription and click the Stop button to cancel that recurring donation.

How can I change the amount I donate or the frequency I’m donating?

To make changes your recurring donation, you’ll need to contact the organization you’re donating to. They will be able to edit the frequency, amount, or next payment date of your donation subscription.