How to Record a Recurring Donation
If you have amazing supporters who give on a regular basis, you’ll love how MonkeyPod makes it easy to manage recurring donations. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to record a donation as recurring and manage recurring donation settings.
If you’re new to MonkeyPod or just getting started with recording donations, you might want to check out our Recording a Donation article first—it covers all the ways you can record donations in the system.
How do I record a recurring donation in my MonkeyPod?
To record a recurring transaction in MonkeyPod, first record an initial donation, then make that donation recurring. The original transaction you record serves as a template for each future instance of the recurring donation. That means if you go back and edit the original transaction, those changes will be reflected in any future copies recorded, but will not change any previously recorded copies.
We'll use an example here where Tina Robbins wants to donate $50 each month. To set up that recurring donation, first choose Record a Donation from the Finance menu.
Next, enter the details about the donation and click "Save as Recurring" at the bottom of the form.
If you want MonkeyPod to charge the donation to a donor's card, click Process this donation by credit card to enter the credit card details. You'll have the option to configure recurring billing settings in the next step.
The "Save as Recurring" button will save the initial donation and then take you to the "Memorize Donation" form where you schedule the recurrences for that transaction. Here you can set the frequency of future donations as well as the next date and an optional end date.
If the initial donation was set up to be charged by credit card, you'll also see a section here for "Donation Rebill Settings". You can select whether MonkeyPod should automatically charge future donations using the payment method on file or not, as well as confirming the future donation amount.
Click "Save" when you're done, and that's it! MonkeyPod will take care of the rest by automatically recording the future recurring donations for you.
A monthly donor has asked to change their recurring donation. How do I do that?
Let's say Tina, from the donation above, reaches out six months later and wants to change the amount of her donation or stop it all together.
To record the change:
From the main menu, choose Finance then Recurring Transactions to view all your recurring donations.
Next, find Tina's donation and click the settings icon to edit it.
To adjust the frequency or end date, enter the new settings under "Scheduling Info" here and click "Save" at the bottom of the page.
To stop all future donations immediately, click "End Now."
To change the amount of future recurring donations, scroll down to the "Donation Rebill Settings" section where you can modify the amount of the gift, including the nondeductible portion. Click "Save" to save those changes.
Important! You should not change the amount of the donation without explicit permission from the donor. It's best to have that permission clearly documented for both parities before making the change.
What happens if a rebilling of a recurring transaction fails?
If an automated "rebill" of a recurring transaction (like a monthly donation) fails, by default MonkeyPod will try again every 12 hours for 5 tries before automatically ending the recurring transaction. You can change the number of retries to whatever makes the most sense for your organization. Choose My MonkeyPod > Organization Settings and click the "Accounting" tab. Look for the "Recurring Transaction" settings at the bottom of that page to change the settings.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I enter the donors credit card information to charge them for the original transaction, will the recurring transaction also automatically charge their card?
Yes! If you have entered the credit card information to process the donation through the donation form in MonkeyPod, this card will continue to be charged automatically through the recurring donation.
What if I already have a donation in my MonkeyPod that I want to make recurring? Can I do this?
Yes! Simply go to the donation, and choose Memorize Donation from the sidebar menu.
How do I view all recurring transactions recorded for a donation?
That's easy! Just choose Finance > Recurring Transactions from the main menu to view all your recurring donations. Then click the history icon next to the transaction you want to view. MonkeyPod will display all related transactions, including the original donation.
I set up a recurring transactions by mistake. How do I get rid of it?
To completely delete the recurring transaction, choose Finance > Recurring Transactions from the main menu to view all your recurring donations, then click the "View details" icon next to the transaction you want to view. Choose Delete recurring transaction from the sidebar menu on the transaction details screen. This will not delete the original donation or any donations recorded up to this point. It simply deletes the instructions to continue recording the donation in the future. (To end a recurring transaction, but still keep a record of it, you'll want to choose the Edit settings option and click "End Now" as described above.)
What if I want to manually record a donation from this memorized transaction?
To manually record the next donation, choose Finance > Recurring Transactions from the main menu to view all your recurring donations, then click the "View details" icon next to the transaction you want to view.
Then choose Record next from the sidebar menu on the transaction details screen and the donation will be immediately recorded with today's date.
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