A Recurring Gift in Virtuous CRM+ is comprised of a few moving parts. This article will cover the best practices associated with creating, modifying, and cancelling a Recurring Gift in Virtuous CRM+ to ensure accurate data and reporting.
Table of Contents
Creating a Recurring Gift
A Recurring Gift can be created in a number of different ways. A donor may complete an Online Giving Form or a Virtuous CRM+ User may need to manually create a Recurring Gift. The various avenues are detailed below.
Via a Giving Form
When a Donor initiates a Recurring Gift by submitting their payment information via a Giving Form, a Virtuous CRM+ user will need to verify this data when it comes through the Gift and Contact Import Tool.
The specific action needed from the Donor to create the Recurring Gift is selecting the "Make Recurring Gift" checkbox and selecting the appropriate frequency for their Gift.
In the Gift and Contact Import Tool, the Donor information will be either matched to an existing Contact record or you (the User) will be prompted to create a new Contact record. You should also ensure the Gift record is linked with the Recurring Gift schedule.
For information of creating a Giving Form, check out this Support Article.
Via the Donor Portal
The Donor Portal is the public-facing app that enables a Donor to manage many of their Recurring Gift details on their own. When a donor has logged in, they can select the "Set up a Recurring Gift" button to complete the process directly in the Donor Portal.
After the donor has completed and submitted their information, this transaction will push through the Gift and Contact Import Tool as usual and be available to review the following day.
Manually in App via the Virtual Terminal
Another avenue to create a new Recurring Gift is via the Virtual Terminal, which is available in the Gift and Contact Import Tool. There may be instances when a Donor wants to set up a Recurring Gift with their credit card, but does not want to or is unable to fill out an online Giving Form. In this situation, you will need to manually create a new Recurring Gift and enter their credit card details on their behalf.
In the Gift and Contact Import Tool, one of the available options in the Actions dropdown menu is "Process Credit Card".
This option will open up a "New Credit Card Gift" form on the left of the screen. Fill in the Donor's information to add a new credit card for their new Recurring Gift. If the Donor setting up a new Recurring Gift has an existing Contact record, you can search for it using the Quick Search bar. If this is a brand new Donor that requires a new Contact record, complete the appropriate Contact fields.
A section to add their credit card information is available at the bottom of this form. Enter the credit card details in the appropriate fields. When you check the "Make Recurring Gift" box, the "Frequency" field will become available.
Select "Process and Continue" if you need to process additional transactions, or select "Process and Close" to complete the action and close the Virtual Terminal.
Manually in App for an Offline Donation
Another scenario is a Recurring Donation with no Credit Card or ACH information on file because the Donor plans to send in a physical check or other form of offline donation. If the Recurring Gift is being paid as a check, cash or some other outside source of payment (i.e., not directly tied to your Virtuous CRM+ via an integrated online giving tool), it's necessary for the Virtuous CRM+ user to manually import and create a new Recurring Gift through the Import Tool.
In the Gift and Contact Import Tool, slide the "Create a Recurring Gift" toggle bar to the right. The various fields necessary to set up a new Recurring Gift will then be available just below the toggle. Enter the appropriate details for the new Recurring Gift schedule.
Notes: The Recurring Gift only needs to be created once. All future check or cash Gifts that will apply to this Recurring Gift should have the same Contact, Amount, Project Designation(s) as the Recurring Gift to ensure the system will match these Gifts to the Recurring Gift and its expected payment dates.
If the initial Gift for the Recurring Gift is coming in at a later date, you will need to toggle off the "Create a Gift" option.
Select "Save and Continue" or "Save and Close" to complete the setup process.
Reviewing Recurring Gifts
There are a few ways to locate and review all Recurring Gifts and the associated data. Each route is listed below along with the type of information accessible.
Status Definitions
When reviewing Recurring Gift details, the "Status" can be a quick indicator of where a Recurring Gift stands. Each is defined below.
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Past Due - One or more Expected Recurring Gift Payments have been missed.
- Note: There is a 30-day grace period following a missed Recurring Gift Payment
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Up to Date - All past Expected Recurring Gift Payments have been received.
- Note: The Recurring Gift itself is still active and may have unfulfilled Recurring Gift Payments that are due in the future.
-
Cancelled - The Recurring Gift has been cancelled and no future Recurring Gift Payments are expected.
- Note: Cancelling a Recurring Gift will remove all future Expected Recurring Gift Payments.
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Fulfilled - This is a "Legacy Status" that Virtuous will NOT apply to any Recurring Gifts going forward. By definition, a Recurring Gift cannot be "fulfilled" because there is no total amount committed.
- Note: This specific value was used previously when Recurring Gifts and Pledges were combined as a single object, and is preserved to keep legacy data intact.
Directly on a Contact Record
If there is a specific Contact with a Recurring Gift you'd like to review, you can go directly to the Contact record to view all the Recurring Gift information. When you navigate to a Contact record, select the Giving tab. The Recurring Gifts information will be available to the right of the Giving page.
To display the full selection of details for any given Recurring Gift, select the three dots available to the right of each Recurring Gift schedule.
In the pop-out window, you will be able to review all the details associated with the specific Recurring Gift schedule chosen.
If you scroll further down, you can review the list of Current Payments, Outstanding Payments, and full selection of Fulfilled Recurring Gift Payments.
Online Giving Dashboard
For a comprehensive overview of all Online Giving traffic, including online Recurring Gifts, the Online Giving Dashboard will be your one-stop shop. Using the left-hand navigation, select "Online Giving" and then "Dashboard" from the available options.
From the main Dashboard, select the "Recurring" tab available along the top of the screen.
Here, all online Recurring Transactions are available for review. If there is a specific ID or time range you would like to locate, use the Filter available to the left of the page.
To review the details of any specific Recurring Transaction, select the three dots available to the right.
Recurring Gifts Query
For the most detailed and comprehensive access to Recurring Gift data that will include both online and offline Gifts, a Recurring Gift Query will equip you with multiple parameters to locate a specific selection. This Query Type will search through ALL Recurring Gifts regardless of where, when, or how they were created.
When creating a new Query in the Query Tool, select the Query Type of "Recurring Gift".
When building your Query criteria, keep in mind you are searching for Recurring Gift schedules, not Contacts or specific Gifts. In the example below, this Query is searching for all new Recurring Gifts created within the current month.
Modifying a Recurring Gift
There are a handful of different ways a Recurring Gift can be modified depending on the type of Recurring Gift and how it was initially created.
Use Case Best Practice Summary
- To modify the Frequency, Amount, or Next Payment Date: Donor uses the Donor Portal.
- OR Virtuous CRM+ User edits Recurring Gift in Virtuous CRM+ (this process is outlined below).
- To update the Saved Payment Method or Credit Card details: Donor uses the Donor Portal.
- OR Virtuous CRM+ User cancels the existing Recurring Gift and creates a new Recurring Gift (refer to the various processes possible in the earlier section of this article titled "Creating a Recurring Gift").
- To update the Donor’s Email Address, the Virtuous CRM+ User cancels the existing Recurring Gift and creates a new Recurring Gift with the new Email Address.
Via the Donor Portal
Once logged in to their Donor Portal, the Donor will be able see their active and previous Recurring Gifts. By selecting the "Edit" option to the right of the exact Recurring Gift they want to modify, they will be moved to a new page.
On this next page, the donor can now update the below details.
- Next Scheduled Payment Date
- Frequency
- Recurring Amount
- Saved Payment Method
- To opt in or out of covering the transaction costs
- Discontinue the Recurring Gift
To update the Saved Payment Method being used to charge the Recurring Gift, the Donor will select the dropdown field "Saved Payment Method" and then "Use a New Payment Method." Additional options will open below. The donor can then enter either credit card details or bank account details.
After all the necessary details have been entered, the Donor will select "Update Recurring Gift" to confirm. After confirming the update, the donor will be taken back to the Donor Portal homepage.
On Behalf of the Donor
A Virtuous CRM+ User is not able to update the Saved Payment Method on behalf of the Donor. A Virtuous CRM+ User can modify the below values.
- Next Scheduled Payment Date*
- Frequency*
- Recurring Amount*
- Project Designation
- Campaign Detail
- Donor Paid Costs
*Any updates made to these fields will automatically send an email update to the Donor reflecting all changes.
To execute any of these updates, navigate to the specific Recurring Gift schedule to be modified. Using the three dots available to the right of the Recurring Gift, then select Edit.
In the pop-out window, make any necessary updates. If you make updates to the Recurring Amount, Next Scheduled Payment Date, or Frequency, an in-app reminder will display letting you know the Donor will be notified of the update.
For an exhaustive guide on modifying a Recurring Gift, check out this Support Article.
Note about editing Project Designation: If a Project is linked to a Recurring Gift schedule in Virtuous Giving and the Project Name or Code is changed, the change will not be synced to Virtuous Giving forms or existing Gift schedules. This means the Gift and Contact Import Tool will flag incoming Recurring Gift payments under the Update Needed tab as it cannot locate a Project match.
In most instances, we do not recommend changing Project Names and Project Codes with attached Recurring Gifts as this will create issues with new and future Imports. However, if an existing Project Name or Project Code must be edited and the Project has online Recurring Gifts attached, users will need to update both the Virtuous Giving Form that contains the Project and the Contact’s Recurring Gift linked to the Project using the process above. Learn more about the editing Projects here.
Canceling a Recurring Gift
Should a Recurring Gift need to be canceled altogether, this can be accomplished two different ways. As a summary of the general flow of actions and data, please refer to the infographic below.
Via the Donor Portal
If this is an online Recurring Transaction, the Donor has the ability to cancel all future transactions directly in their Donor Portal. From the main Donor Portal Dashboard, the Donor can select "Edit" for the specific Recurring Gift they wish to cancel.
On the next page, the Donor will select "I need to end my recurring gift".
On the page after, the Donor will be prompted to confirm their cancellation.
After this update has been completed, you can expect the update to be available for review in the Gift and Contact Import Tool the following day with a date in the field "Cancel Date".
On the Donor's Behalf
Canceling an Online Recurring Transaction
As a Virtuous CRM+ User, you can cancel a Recurring Gift on a donor's behalf, if necessary. Canceling a Recurring Gift can ONLY be completed from the Recurring Tab in available in the Online Giving Dashboard.
NOTE: Canceling a Recurring Gift directly on a Donor's Contact record alone will NOT cancel the Recurring Transaction.
After you have located the specific Recurring Transaction to be canceled, select the three dots available to the right.
In the pop-out window, review the details to double-check that this is the correct Recurring Transaction to be canceled. After reviewing, select "Cancel Recurring Payment" to complete the action.
You can expect the record of cancellation to come through the Gift and Contact Import Tool the following day. After the update is imported, then the cancellation will reflect on the Donor’s Contact record.
Canceling an Offline Recurring Schedule
To cancel a Recurring Gift schedule that is being fulfilled by an offline form of payment, cancel the Recurring Gift on the Donor’s Contact record.
After you have navigated to the specific record and located the Recurring Gift under the Giving Tab, select the three dots. From the available options, select Edit.
From the pop-out window, select "Cancel Recurring Gift".
On the next page, a Cancellation Reason can be added using the "Cancellation Category" and "Reason for Cancellation" fields available. To complete the action, select "Cancel Recurring Gift".