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Recurring Donations and Management

Philantro provides a full suite of recurring donation tools designed to help you automated mundane tasks and reclaim valuable time. Automated Personalized and Plain-Text notifications keep tabs on recurring charge failures and recovery acknowledgements while Donor Self-Service empowers donors to securely manage every aspect of the recurring plan.


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Recurring Cadences

Recurring Cadence refers to the frequency of a given donation. A donation that lacks a recurring cadence is referred-to as one-time or one-off. Philantro offers three cadences by default and a fourth cadence, daily, by special request. You can control which cadences are offered to your donor on a campaign-by-campaign basis.

CadenceDescription
WeeklyThe donor will be automatically charged every calendar week starting from the date of the first donation. This cadence is quite common among faith-based organizations.
MonthlyThe donor will be automatically charged every calendar month starting from the date of the first donation. For donors who give at the end of a month, their next charge date might deviate by a day-or-two because not all months have the same number of days.

For example, if I give on January 30th, my next charge date would move a day-or-two because February 30th does not exist.
AnnuallyThe donor will be automatically charged every calendar year starting from the date of the first donation.
DailyThis frequency is made available by special request because other settings must be enabled to run a daily recurring campaign. Daily recurring requires a pre-defined cancellation date and the amount field is divided by the number of days left until automatic cancellation.

For example, if a daily recurring campaign was set to run for ten days and a donor donated 100(USD) on the first day - the donor would be charged 10(USD) every day until the 10th day.

If another donor decides to give 100(USD) but does so on day five of the ten day campaign, the donor will be charged 20(USD) every day until the 10th day and so on.

Both donors will ultimately donate 100(USD) but because the day they donated varies, the daily recurring amount was automatically adjusted. On the 10th day of this daily recurring campaign, all recurring plans will automatically terminate.
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Recurring Plan Management

You can manage every aspect of a donor's recurring donation plan via the Philantro dashboard with one exception - the recurring charge amount. A donor has the ability to increase their recurring donation amount via Donor Self-Service but you, via the Philantro dashboard, can only decrease it. To manage your recurring plans, simply click the "Recurring" menu item on your dashboard.

When a donor's recurring donation plan is modified by someone in the organization, an email notification is sent to the donor with the updated plan settings and the on-file contact information of the person who modified the plan. This email notification serves two purposes; it provides the donor with updated information on their recurring plan and should a follow-up be required, the donor has a clear point-of-contact.

SettingDescription
AmountThis setting governs the amount authorized for automated billing. This amount can only be decreased via the dashboard whereas via Donor Self-Service, donors may freely increase or decrease the authorized amount.
CadenceThis setting governs the frequency of all future charges (Weekly, Monthly or Annually).
CampaignThis setting governs the recurring charge's donation campaign designation.
Fee CoverageThis setting governs whether or not the donor will cover the processing fee of future recurring charges.
StatusThe setting governs the state of a recurring plan (Active or Paused). A paused recurring plan will not incur future charges until re-activated. An active recurring plan will be automatically charged in accordance with the recurring plan settings.
Next Charge DateThis setting governs the next charge date on file. This automatically updates after each charge attempt but can also be set far in advanced to effectively prevent a recurring plan from being charged until a pre-defined future date.
Cancellation DateThis setting governs when a recurring plan is to be automatically terminated. Generally, this field isn't used but if a donor wants to pre-define their last transaction date, that date is used here.
Payment MethodThe payment method associated with the recurring donation plan.
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Donor Self-Service

Philantro® branding is kept to a minimum to avoid competing with your organization's branding.

Donor Self-Service is a powerful tool that gives donors freedom to manage their own recurring donation plans directly from your organization's website. This feature is part of the Philantro integration. Our stance is that if donor gave money on your website, they shouldn't have to visit or remember any other website to manage it; clean and simple.

Donors who decide to cancel their recurring donation are provided an opportunity to share any insight into their cancellation reason. This field isn't required but any information provided is included in the automated cancellation notification delivered to your team.

SettingDescription
AmountThis setting governs the amount authorized for automated billing. Donors may freely increase or decrease the authorized amount.
CadenceThis setting governs the frequency of all future charges (Weekly, Monthly or Annually).
CampaignThis setting governs the recurring charge's donation campaign designation.
Fee CoverageThis setting governs whether or not the donor will cover the processing fee of future recurring charges.
StatusThe setting governs the state of a recurring plan (Active or Paused). A paused recurring plan will not incur future charges until re-activated. An active recurring plan will be automatically charged in accordance with the recurring plan settings.
Next Charge DateThis setting governs the next charge date on file. This automatically updates after each charge attempt but can also be set far in advanced to effectively prevent a recurring plan from being charged until a pre-defined future date.
Cancellation DateThis setting governs when a recurring plan is to be automatically terminated. Generally, this field isn't used but if a donor wants to pre-define their last transaction date, that date is used here.
Cancellation ReasonWhen donors choose to cancel their recurring donation, they're given an opportunity to share feedback that's included on the cancellation notification.
Payment MethodThe payment method associated with the recurring donation plan.
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Reporting

All recurring donation data can be exported in .CSV format.

Philantro provides six recurring donation reports/filters; learn more about each report below.

ReportDescription
ActiveThis report outlines all active recurring donation plans.
FailingThis report outlines all recurring donation plans that are currently being retried after a failed charge.
DeadThis report outlines all failed recurring donation plans with a voided payment method.
NotifiedThe report outlines the recurring plans of donors who has been notified of an issue with their recurring donation plan.
RecoveredThe report outlines the once-failing recurring plans that have been recovered.
Card ExpiringThe report outlines all on-file payment methods that have expired and have not been recovered.
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Failed Charges

When a recurring donation plan experiences a failed charge, it kick starts a recovery cycle that runs in the background attempting to recover the charge on multiple fronts. Here are six key points / actions taken by the Philantro platform.

Key PointDescription
Failed ChargeFailed charges occur when an recurring charge is declined. Charges can be declined for reasons such as insufficient funds, card expiration etc. When a failed charge occurs, the recurring donation plan record is updated with the reason for the decline provided by the financial institution. Some financial institutions provide a clear reason while others only provided a general notice.
RetriesRetries are attempted on the same payment method one calendar week from the last failed charge. After three failed attempts, the on-file payment method is voided.
Payment MethodWhen a payment method is voided, the recurring donation plan is placed on hold until reactivated. A failing recurring plan is reactivated when the donor adds a new valid payment method.
NotificationsThe donor is notified each time, via an organization-branded email notification, encouraging them to correct the issue via Donor Self-Service. When a notice is delivered, the date of the notice is appended to the Recurring Donation Plan record to provide some insight on past recovery attempts.
RecoveryIf a donor corrects the issue via Donor Self-Service, the recurring plan is updated and resumes automated billing in accordance with the plan's respective settings.
CancellationIf a failing recurring donation plan isn't recovered within 90 days, the plan is terminated. The donor or your organization can decide to manually cancel a recurring plan at any time.
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Cancellations

A recurring donation plan can be cancelled by the donor, the organization or by the Philantro platform if it's deemed unrecoverable after 90 days from the last of three failed charge attempts. When a donor cancels their recurring plan via Donor Self-Service, they're provided with an opportunity to share feedback that could explain their decision. This information is then routed to your organization via an automated email notification. When a recurring plan is canceled by the organization via the Philantro dashboard, the donor is sent an organization-branded email notification.

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Recovery

A failing recurring donation plan can be recovered in two ways; the donor adding a new payment-method via Donor Self-Service or your organization updating the on-file payment method for the donor via the Philantro dashboard. Typically, we advise against organizations managing payment method information on behalf of donors but if this practice is common for your organization - the option is there.

When a donor updates their payment information via Donor Self-Service, an organization-branded email confirmation is triggered with your organization blind copied. Failing recurring donation plans can be recovered up-to 90 days from the date of the last failed charge attempt.

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Recurring Donation Migration

There is a one-time 100(USD) fee to migrate up-to 10,000 active recurring donations.

If your current platform supports payment method migration, your recurring donations can be migrated to Philantro®. The encrypted data is passed securely from your payment processor to our payment processor whereas the logistical recurring plan data is furnished directly to our team to reconcile and set-up on your Philantro account. This process, if your current platform is responsive, should take no more than a 3-5 weeks. Here are the conditions for migrations.

CriteriaDescription
Payee First NameThe first name associated with the payee / donor to be migrated.
Payee SurnameThe last name associated with the payee / donor to be migrated.
Payee EmailThe email address associated with the payee / donor to be migrated.
CadenceThe cadence specified as Weekly, Monthly and Annually.
AmountThe amount of the recurring charge.
CurrencyPhilantro currently only support USD, CAD and GBP.
Effective Charge DateThis is the date you want their first automated charge to occur once migrated to Philantro.
Payment MethodThis data is encrypted and only passed between your current payment process and our payment processor. A valid payment method must be assigned to the payee to be included in the migration.
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Automated Notifications

All donor-destined correspondences are branded with your organization's logo and information.

There are five automated email notification associated with recurring donations in Philantro.

NotificationDescription
Card ExpirationThis email notification is triggered card's expiration date is approaching.
Failed ChargeThis email notification is triggered when a recurring charge is declined.
Recurring Plan UpdateThis email notification is triggered when a recurring plan is modified by either the donor or by someone in the organization.
Recurring Donation CancellationThe email notification is triggered when a recurring donation plan is terminated.
Recurring Donation RecoveryThis email notification is triggered when failing recurring donation plan has been recovered.
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Sustainable Fundraising Tips and Techniques

Whether you're doing research on Philantro® or learning more about sustainable fundraising techniques for micro and major nonprofits - our newsletter is a great resource. No gimmicks, no spam - 100% Philantro.