This article covers how to manage your donors' recurring donations, including the ability to pause, reactivate, cancel, update the frequency, and adjust the donation amount. You will also learn about the permissions required to make these changes, and find examples of the emails BetterWorld automatically sends to donors when updates are made. If your donor would prefer to make these changes themselves, they can find step-by-step instructions here.
Required permissions
To manage recurring donations, your organization must be a verified nonprofit. If you have not yet verified your nonprofit status, please follow the steps in this article.
In addition, only team members with the Donations permission can manage recurring donations. If you are unable to perform the actions described below, please reach out to an administrator on your organization's team to have your access level updated.
Where to find your recurring donations
Your dashboard includes a Donation Management page that brings all of your organization's recurring donations together in one place. You can search, filter, and manage any recurring donation from this page, without opening a campaign or a donor record first.
From your dashboard, click Donation Management in the menu on the left side of the screen.
Active recurring donations appear by default. Use the search bar to find a specific donor, or use the filters to narrow the list by campaign, status, or frequency. You can also sort the list and page through it.
To manage a donation, click Actions in that donation's row and choose the change you'd like to make. To open the full record instead, click View Donation.
Please Note: You can still manage a recurring donation from a campaign's Overview page. The steps below use the Donation Management page, since it's the quickest route.
How to pause a donor's recurring donation
From your dashboard, click Donation Management, then search for the donor whose donation you'd like to pause.
Click Actions in that donation's row, then click Pause.
Confirm the action by clicking OK on the pop-up.
The donation's status will update to Paused automatically.
How to reactivate a donor's recurring donation
From your dashboard, click Donation Management, then search for the donor whose donation you'd like to reactivate. Paused donations are hidden by default, so filter the list by status to find them.
Click Actions in that donation's row, then click Reactivate.
Confirm the action by clicking OK on the pop-up.
The donation's status will update to Active automatically, and billing will resume on the donation's next scheduled date.
How to update a donor's recurring donation
You can help your donor update their donation directly from your dashboard. You can change the donation amount and the donation period.
From your dashboard, click Donation Management, then search for the donor whose donation you'd like to update.
Click Actions in that donation's row, then click Change amount or period.
A pop-up will appear allowing you to edit the donation's details. You can update the donation period and choose from all frequencies enabled for your campaign. You can update the dollar amount of the donation and opt to include the transaction costs. Once updated, click Save.
The donation will update automatically to reflect the new total donation amount, fee offset, net amount, and scheduled frequency.
How to change the billing date of a donor's recurring donation
From your dashboard, click Donation Management, then search for the donor whose billing date you'd like to change.
Click Actions in that donation's row, then click Change billing date.
Choose the day of the month you'd like the donation to be billed from the dropdown, then click Save.
The change in billing date will take effect immediately, and the donation will update automatically to show the new charge day.
How to cancel a donor's recurring donation
From your dashboard, click Donation Management, then search for the donor whose donation you'd like to cancel.
Click Actions in that donation's row, then click Cancel.
Confirm the action by clicking OK on the pop-up.
The cancellation will take effect immediately, and the donation's status will update to Canceled automatically.
Please Note: Canceling a recurring donation can't be undone. If your donor would like to give again, they'll need to set up a new recurring donation.
How to view a donation's payment history
If you need more detail than the list view shows, you can open a donation's full record.
From your dashboard, click Donation Management, then search for the donation you'd like to review.
Click View Donation in that donation's row.
The donation details page will open, where you can see the donation information, the billing and payment information, and the complete payment history for that recurring donation.
This is the same information your donor sees on their Recurring Donations page in My Account, so you can answer questions about past charges without asking them to log in.
Example emails sent to donors
