Recurring gifts
Recurring gifts, explained
How monthly and yearly plans are charged, what donors and staff can change, and what each plan status means.
2 min read · Updated October 31, 2026
When a donor picks Monthly or Yearly on your form, DonorFinch creates a plan and charges the saved payment method on schedule. Plans run on DonorFinch's own scheduler using Stripe to charge, so you see and control everything from the Recurring page.
Schedule
- Monthly plans charge on the same day each month as the first gift. Gifts made on the 29th, 30th or 31st are anchored to the 28th so every month works.
- Yearly plans charge on the anniversary.
- Charges run once a day at 14:00 UTC (early morning US Pacific, mid-morning Eastern). A donor who gives at 9 pm on the 5th is charged on the 5th of each following month, around that hour.
- Each successful charge creates a normal gift with its own receipt.
Plan statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | Charging on schedule. |
| Paused | Not charging. Resumes automatically on the date set, or manually. No catch-up charges for the paused period. |
| Past due | The last charge failed and automatic retries are exhausted. Needs a new payment method. |
| Canceled | Ended by the donor or your staff. Can't be reactivated; the donor would start a new plan. |
What staff can do (Recurring → plan)
Pause (optionally until a date) · Resume · Skip next charge · Change amount · Change schedule, fund or campaign · Charge now · Email a card-update link · Cancel. Every change emails the donor a plain confirmation, and is recorded in the audit log with who did it.
Changing the amount does not touch past gifts or their receipts.
What donors can do themselves
In their donor portal, donors can update their card, change the amount, pause, skip or cancel. Each plan's receipt email includes a Manage this gift link.
Fee cover carries over
If the donor ticked "cover processing fees" on the first gift, every charge includes the cover amount recalculated for the current plan amount.
Payment methods
Cards and US bank accounts (ACH) both support recurring. Bank charges take a few business days to settle; the receipt is sent when the money clears. Apple Pay and Google Pay store the underlying card, so they work for recurring too.
Past-due plans don't cancel themselves
A past-due plan stays past due until the donor updates their card (then it reactivates and charges once for the overdue period) or someone cancels it. Owners and Admins get an email when a plan goes past due. Review the Past due filter monthly and use the card-update link; see When a recurring payment fails.