Sign In

Get Started

How to Set Up Recurring Donations and Payments + Examples

There are many instances in which it may make sense to use recurring donations or payments for your group as a means to collect more, easier. Here, we arm you with information on how to set up recurring donations and payments, ways to use and configure them, as well as tips to maintain them.

What are recurring donations?

Recurring donations and payments let an organizer collect payments over a period of time based on a set schedule or frequency.

The beauty of recurring donations or payments is that the payer agrees to pay on a set schedule once, and from that point forward, the remaining payments happen automatically behind the scenes.

Recurring donations can create huge convenience for both organizers and payers alike and they can also give your community the added benefit of flexibility.

Common payment schedules employed with Cheddar Up’s recurring donations and payments include:

Monthly
Quarterly
Annually
Installments
Membership dues
Donations
League or class registration
Trip fees
School tuition
Housing and rent
HOA fees
Church Donations
As you may have gathered from above, common payment schedules employed with Cheddar Up’s recurring donations and payments include: 
• Monthly (e.g., Tuition payments happen every 1 month, ending after 10 payments)
• Quarterly (e.g., HOA payments happen every 3 months, ending after 4 payments)
• Annually (e.g., Donation payments happen every 12 months, never ending)
• Installments (e.g., Trip fees happen every 6 weeks ending after 3 payments)
Check out the three examples below illustrating different use cases and payment schedules.
Monthly
Dues
Example
Annual
Donation
Example
Installment
Payment
Example

Ways to set up recurring donations

The schedule in which automatic payments happen depends solely upon how an organizer configures a recurring donation or payment item. When creating a recurring item in the Items step of the builder, an organizer will see a table with the following options: 
Amount charged each pay period
This can be an exact amount decided by the organizer or it can be left as an open amount for the payer to fill in.
Payment frequency
This determines the schedule in which the recurring payments occur. It can be set to X number of weeks or months.
Date of first payment
This can be either the first day of payment (“today”), or a specific day of the month.
Date payments end
This can be set to never end or set to end after X number of payments.
Recurring Payments
With this many options to configure, you have great flexibility in how you put recurring donations and payments to work. Want to see them in action? Watch our videos on how to set up recurring donations and payments in our Knowledge Center or click below.

Things to know about recurring donations

While creating a recurring donation or payment item is simple, there are a handful of nuances you may be curious about or that may come up after you begin to use recurring payments. We give you a heads up on these below:

• Account creation when paying: When someone pays for a recurring item, unlike other payments made on Cheddar Up, we actually require payers to create a Cheddar Up account. We do this for a valid reason – so payers can log into their account in the future to make any necessary changes to their recurring payment (cancel it, update a payment method, etc.).

• Cancelling a recurring donation or payment: Both the organizer and the payer are able to cancel a recurring donation or payment. We go into detail on this in our Knowledge Center.

• When a recurring donation or payment fails: Sometimes a recurring donation or payment can fail. This is commonly because of outdated card information or insufficient funds. If this happens, Cheddar Up notifies both the payer and the organizer by email so action can be taken to have it corrected as soon as possible.

• Try to get it right the first time: While an organizer can edit a recurring item, they can only do so PRIOR to receiving payments on that item. Once a recurring item starts to receive payments, it is considered “active” and can no longer be edited. In this case, a great workaround is to replicate the recurring item, then edit it, and then “hide” the old recurring item.

We can’t wait for you to put recurring payments to work for your group. If you’re looking for more step-by-step instruction on how to set up recurring payments, you can find more in our Knowledge Center.

 

Move your group’s payments and forms online with Cheddar Up

Create a collection page in minutes and share your link. All payments and information are tracked automatically and can be easily exported to Excel for instant reporting.

Get Started FREE
Collect for FREE

Whether you’re collecting dues and fees, fundraising, managing an event, creating a sign up, or selling something online or in-person, you can do it with a Cheddar Up collection.

Get Started