Recurring donations allow organisations to receive consistent contributions from donors on a monthly basis. You now have the power to increase your donor revenue…
How It Works
Previously, donors were limited to one-time contributions. Now, they can opt for recurring donations by selecting the Monthly option when making their initial donation.
These payments are processed automatically each month through Stripe, our chosen payment gateway. For every successful payment, a corresponding donation order will be created in TicketSearch.
Are Other Payment Gateways Available?
At this time, Stripe is the only supported gateway for recurring donations. We explored multiple gateways currently used for ticket sales, but none met the necessary requirements. Many required manual spreadsheet uploads and involved complex processes.
With Stripe, donors also have the flexibility to pause or cancel their recurring donations directly through their TicketSearch customer account. It’s that simple!
If your organization uses a different gateway for ticket sales, you can still use Stripe exclusively for recurring donations—there’s no need to switch your entire payment system.
For government organizations that are required to use a specific bank or gateway, you can process recurring donations through the TicketSearch merchant account, and we’ll transfer the collected amounts to you each month. Please contact support for further details.
Transitioning from Other Donation Platforms
If you’re currently using another platform for recurring donations, you can now manage everything through TicketSearch. Our system offers all the essential features of other programs, plus seamless integration with your sales, reports, and customer data.
How It Looks Online
When donors visit your website to make a contribution, they will see both Give Once and Monthly donation options. By selecting Monthly, they can choose from suggested donation amounts, enter a custom amount (with the option to set a minimum), add an acknowledgment name, or make their donation anonymous.
Finance Setup
Clients Using Stripe as the Primary Gateway
For clients using Stripe as their primary payment gateway, the setup differs from those using other gateways.
- Activate Stripe Pay
- Ensure that the Stripe Pay payment method is activated. If it has been renamed, reactivate it from your “Payment Methods and Fees” table. To do this, go to Settings > Organisation Settings > Finance Setup > Payment method activation and fees and toggle on’ Stripe Pay’.
- Without this activation, you cannot build a monthly donation.
- Verify Webhook Configuration
- Log into your Stripe account.
- Navigate to Developers > Webhooks.
- There should be a webhook created for your organization—this verifies that Stripe Pay is active. Note: Ensure that there is only one Webhook.
- Note: By activating Stripe Pay for clients using Stripe as their primary gateway, the checkout experience will be updated to reflect the new interface shown below. However, all payments will continue to be processed through Stripe as usual. Please note that credit card payment options will no longer be available separately in the sales process—all transactions will be handled directly through Stripe Pay.
Backend Before
Backend After
Online Before
Online After
Clients Using Other Payment Gateways
For those using SecurePay or another gateway, when going to your finance setup page, you will be prompted with the following question > select YES: Would you like to activate Stripe for your monthly recurring donations?
- Once activated, enter your Secret Key and Client ID (which can be obtained from your Stripe account).
- A new payment method, “Monthly Donation Using Stripe,” will appear in your Payment method activation and fees table.
- Note: Only monthly donations will be processed via Stripe, while other transactions continue using the primary gateway.
Important Restrictions
- Once you have active subscriptions, you cannot reset your Stripe account.
- You cannot remove your payment gateway if there are active monthly donation subscriptions.
Enabling Monthly Recurring Donations in Campaigns
- Fundraising Types Setup
- When editing or creating a donation campaign, navigate to the Fundraising Types tab.
- If Stripe Pay is set up, you will see the option “Allow Customers to Make Regular Donations.”
- Without Stripe, recurring donations cannot be enabled.
- Donation Amount Settings
- If enabled, you will see the option “Keep Same Settings as One-Time Donations (Fundraising Custom Amount/Suggested Values).”
- If selected, both one-time and monthly donations will use the same amount.
- If you wish to set different amounts for recurring donations:
- Disable the above option by selecting ‘NO’ to the question.
- Configure Recurring Donations (Custom Amount) and Recurring Donations (Suggested Values).
- Example: If you want to accept the minimum monthly donation of $10 you can enter this amount under the Custom Amount section. Once a customer chooses to donate monthly a custom amount then, a minimum contribution of $10 is required. You can also add suggested values like $35, $40, $45, or $50, from which a customer can choose.
3.Transaction Charges: A donation transaction charge can be applied to monthly donations to help cover processing costs. We understand that payment gateways like Stripe charge a percentage-based fee, and this feature allows donors to help offset those costs.
How It Works
For example, if Stripe charges a $10 transaction fee on a $100 donation, your organization would receive $90. However, if the transaction charge feature is enabled, donors will have the option to cover the fee. In this case, the donor would pay $110, ensuring your organization receives the full $100.
You can set the transaction fee as either a fixed dollar amount or a percentage. A checkbox will be available in both the backend and online sales flow, allowing donors to choose whether they want to cover the fee.
4. Additionally, you can customize the transaction charge label to make it clear to donors. For example, you might label it as “Donation Fee” or provide further clarification through an editable transaction charge tip.
NOTE: Please ensure that you read your local laws regarding processing fees.
5. The additional amount (Merchant fee) will not be itemized for the customer; they will only see the total charge. However, the fee breakdown will be recorded in reports.
6. Note: All recurring payments will include this charge. If a customer wishes to change their recurring donation amount, they must cancel their subscription and re-subscribe with the new amount, which will be deducted automatically each month.
Key Restrictions
- Campaign Limitations: Once monthly donations are activated, you:
- Cannot set an end date for the campaign.
- Cannot automatically deactivate a campaign once the goal is reached.
- Cannot use Donor levels with monthly donations.
Setting Up a Monthly Donation
Online Sales Flow
From the Donations Sales page, customers can choose to make a one-time donation or subscribe to monthly donations. By default, Give Once is selected. To set up monthly recurring donations, customers must select the Monthly tab. They can then choose an amount—either a custom value or one of the suggested options—and proceed to checkout as usual.
Give Once Option
Monthly Option
At the finalize order page, the customer will have the option of deciding whether or not they want to cover the Donation/Merchant fee, by ticking the checkbox provided.
Backend Sales Flow
The same process applies when completing a Monthly Donation sale in the backend. By default, Give Once is selected, so the operator must choose Monthly to proceed. They should then follow the usual steps, selecting the donation amount based on the customer’s preference and their choice to cover the donation/merchant fee.
Managing Recurring Donations
Donor Emails and Receipts
- No custom email template is available for monthly donations, customers will receive their usual confirmation and standard donation emails.
Subscription Management
Note: Recurring donations cannot be transferred, exchanged, or refunded. To make changes, you must pause or cancel the plan. Customers can manage this from the Recurring Donations tab in their profile, which is also accessible in the backend under Customers and Transactions > Recurring Donations.
Under the Recurring Donations tab, customers’ monthly donation subscriptions will be listed. This can be done from:
- The backend under Customers and Transactions, to view all payments made, click on the Campaign Name column under the Recurring Donations table > this will open the Recurring Payments table, which displays a history of all transactions.
- The customer’s online profile under Recurring Donations > Click on the Order Number and the payment details for all transactions will be displayed.
The Next Run Date in the Recurring Donations table indicates the next scheduled payment date for a customer’s monthly donation. The recurring donation amount will also be displayed in this table. The Start Date shows when the subscription was first initiated, and the Last Run date shows when the most recent subscription was purchased.
- Updating Payment Details
- Customers can update their payment details if their card expires or if they want to use a different card.
- This can be done from:
- The backend under Customers and Transactions > Recurring Donations > Next select the subscription by clicking on the Campaign Name >Update My Payment Details.
- The customer’s online profile under Recurring Donations > Under the Actions column, there will be the option to Update My Payment Details.
- Changes sync across the backend, customer profiles, and Stripe.
- Pausing a Subscription
- Available via both the backend and online login portal.
- To pause via the backend:
- Navigate to Customers and Transactions > Recurring Donations >Next select the subscription by clicking on the Campaign Name
- Select Pause My Plan.
- The subscription status updates to Paused.
- Payment details cannot be updated while the plan is paused.
- Payments resume once the plan is reactivated.
- The same steps can be taken from the customers online portal by going to Recurring Donations > selecting the current subscription by clicking on the Order Number and choosing the Pause My Plan button.
- Failed Payments and Email Notifications
If a customer’s payment is declined due to insufficient funds or any other reason, two new email templates are available: ‘Monthly Donation – Payment Unsuccessful’ and ‘Monthly Donation – Last Attempt Failed. These can be edited to include any information your organisation deems fit.
- If a payment fails (e.g., due to insufficient funds), donors receive an email notification: the Monthly Donation – Payment Unsuccessful template.
- Stripe attempts to charge the donor’s card again after a set period (e.g., 5 days).
- If the payment fails three times:
- A Final Attempt Failed email is sent: Monthly Donation – Payment Unsuccessful
- The subscription is automatically cancelled.
- The donor must initiate a new recurring donation.
4. Canceling a Subscription
- Customers can cancel via their online portal or the backend.
- From the backend, go to Recurring Donations and select the subscription by clicking the campaign name. When the Recurring Payments table appears, find the Cancel My Plan option below it on the right and select it.
- From the customer’s online portal, go to Recurring Donations > Click on Order Number > and just below the Recurring Payments table will be the option to Cancel My Plan, select it.
- The status updates to Inactive across all platforms, including Stripe.
Additional Notes
- Recurring donations are only processed through Stripe. No other payment methods are available.
- Transaction Limitations: When a customer selects a Monthly donation, they cannot add any other items—such as tickets, merchandise, or one-time donations—to their shopping cart. Recurring donations must be processed as a separate transaction. If a customer wishes to purchase additional items, they must first complete their recurring donation and then start a new transaction for any other purchases.
- Only one monthly donation per transaction is allowed. Customers can still make a one-time donation alongside other purchases.