Recurring donations
How monthly giving works, what you can see, and what you can't control.
Recurring donations
Every donor chooses One-time or Monthly on the donate form. You don't configure this — if donations are on, both are offered.
Monthly donors are the most valuable supporters a community group has. Predictable income is what lets you commit to a venue for a season instead of month to month.
What you can see
Settings → Donations shows an overview once donations are enabled:
Total raised | Everything, with net after fees beneath |
One-time | Single gifts |
Recurring | Monthly gifts |
Active recurring donors | How many people currently give monthly |
Refunded | Shown separately, not deducted above |
By ring | Raised and donor count per ring, if you have them |
Active recurring donors is the number to watch over time. Total raised goes up and down with one-off pushes; recurring donors is the one that tells you whether support is compounding.
What you can't do
You can't cancel a donor's recurring gift. Only the donor can, from their My donations page, and it takes effect immediately.
You can't change someone's amount. A donor who wants to give more or less has to cancel and start a new one.
You can't message your recurring donors as a group. There's no donor list or mailing tool — the overview gives you counts, not contacts.
What happens when a payment fails
Cards expire and get replaced. When a monthly payment fails, the donation moves to a past-due state and your active recurring donors count drops.
The donor sees this on their own My donations page. You can't see which donor it was, and there's nothing you can do from your side to retry it.
Turning donations off doesn't stop them
Switching off Enable donations removes the Donate button. It does not cancel existing recurring donations — those keep charging.
If you're genuinely winding down, you need to tell your monthly donors to cancel, or disconnect Stripe entirely. Just turning off the switch leaves people being charged for something that looks closed.
Fees apply to every instalment
The platform fee is taken on each monthly payment, not just the first. The net after fees line on the overview accounts for this.
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