Recurring Donation FAQs

Recurring Donations have a good deal of nuance associated with them, so we've compiled a series of commonly asked questions  related to this functionality.

Questions

Can I make adjustments to existing schedules or add/remove them from the online giving form?

• Yes. These are not connected to any existing recurring donation records. However, changes to existing recurring donation records should not be made.

Are recurring donation schedule categories added by default? 

• Yes. During the online giving implementation process weekly, monthly, and quarterly schedules are added by default, however, the actual processing schedule needs to be configured by the client.

When does the first donation get charged to the donor’s card?

• The first recurring donation installment is charged to the donor’s card on the next scheduled date after the donation is created from the online gift record.
  For example, if the donor submits a gift with a schedule of the first of the month on December 29th and the donation is not created until on or after January 1st, the first installment is not charged until February 1st.

What happens if the schedule day falls on a weekend or holiday?

• If a scheduled processing day falls on a weekend or holiday, it is processed by the end of the next business day.

Where can I view a list of recurring donations?

• Navigate to the Recurring Donations - Active query on the Online Giving homepage. These can also be viewed from the Processed Gifts/Recurring Donations tab in the Online Giving Form detail record.

What’s the difference between an Archived and Inactive recurring online donation?

• You should set a donation to Inactive if a donor wants to temporarily suspend their recurring donation. If a donor wants to permanently suspend their donation, set the donation to Archived.

How do I set an end date for a recurring donation?

• Once you receive notification from a donor that they would like to permanently suspend their recurring donation, perform the following steps:
  1. Navigate to the Recurring Donations - Active query on the Online Giving homepage.
  2. Click into the recurring donation to be updated and set the Status to Inactive or Archived and click Update to save your changes.
     
  3. You can also update the donation from the query results by selecting Inactive or Archived from the Status field and click Update Records to save your changes.
     

Can I view a list of cancelled, ended, and completed recurring donations?

• Yes! Navigate to the Recurring Donations - Inactive or Recurring Donations - Archived query on the Online Giving homepage.

Where can I view a list recently processed recurring donations?

• Once a recurring donation is created according to the schedule it is linked to and payment for the installment is received, it is displayed in the Recent Donations (Last Two Months) listing at the bottom of the Online Giving homepage.

Why do people need a user account to submit a recurring donation?

• Because the payment information relating to the donations must be saved, we require donors to have a corresponding Veracross User account which allows them to securely store and update their payment information as needed.

Can I submit a recurring donation on behalf of a donor if they don’t have an account?

• Unfortunately, only the actual donor with a user account can submit an online recurring donation.

Can organizations submit online recurring donations?

• At this time, we do not allow organizations to submit online donations of any kind.

How do I create a Veracross User account for someone? 

• At this time submitting a Recurring Donation gift on the online giving form is only available to persons who have a Veracross User account, which in itself is limited to relatives paying student invoices or access to the Parent, Faculty/Staff, Alumni, or Admissions portals.
• To create a user account for someeone, run the "Create VC User Account" procedure from their person record.

Why aren’t the payments for my recurring online donations processing even though recurring donations are enabled and my schedules have been set?

• This is setup during the online giving implementation process and cannot be adjusted. If the Bank Accounts and Credit Cards are not populated where the Allow ACH? and/or Allow CC? boxes are not checked or the corresponding Gateway field is empty, submit a support ticket.

Can we use different payment gateways for each online giving form that has recurring donations enabled?

• No, recurring donations all use the same payment gateway; one each for ACH and/or CC across all online giving forms.

Can we set the payment gateways for recurring donations?

• No. Typically this is done during the online giving implementation but if adjustments are needed, please submit a support ticket.

Will the campaign automatically update for recurring donations have installments for multiple years?

• No, donations are created using the campaign linked to the original online gift record so it is necessary to manually update the donation record once the installment payment is processed and the donation created.

Are pledges created for online recurring donations?

• Because online recurring donations are indefinite and do not have an end date, the system is not able to calculate the pledge amount so no pledges are created. However, pledges can be manually created as needed. If a pledge is created, it is necessary to manually link the donation records as they are created by the system as this will not be done automatically.

How far in advance are the schedules created for a donation record?

• The donation schedule is created for two years of installments and is updated monthly as the scheduled installment is processed.
  For example, if someone submits a monthly donation in December 2020 their schedule will show installments December [DATE], 2020 through December [DATE], 2021. Once the December installment is processed, the schedule will change to January [DATE], 2021 through December [DATE], 2022.