Recurring Giving
Recurring giving allows donors to set up automatic, ongoing donations that are charged on a regular schedule. TimelyChurch supports recurring donations through two mechanisms: online recurring subscriptions via Stripe and manually recorded recurring entries.
Plan note: Online giving and the Giving module are part of the Pro plan. If your church is on the Starter or Growth plan, you'll be prompted to upgrade before you can use these features.
Online Recurring Donations (via Stripe)
How Members Set Up Recurring Gifts
Members set up recurring donations through your church's public giving page:
- Visit your church's giving page.
- Select a frequency: Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly.
- Enter the donation amount.
- Select a fund (if multiple are available).
- Provide their name and email (email is required for recurring gifts).
- Enter payment details and submit.
The first payment is processed immediately. Subsequent payments are charged automatically by Stripe on the same schedule.
How Stripe Recurring Works
When a donor sets up a recurring gift, TimelyChurch creates a recurring subscription for that donor in your church's Stripe account, tied to the donor's email address. If the donor has given before, Stripe reuses their existing record. Once the first payment goes through, the subscription is active and Stripe handles all future billing automatically. Each successful charge is recorded in TimelyChurch as a new donation.
Frequency Options
| Frequency | Billing Cycle |
|---|---|
| Weekly | Charged on the same day each week |
| Monthly | Charged on the same date each month |
| Yearly | Charged on the same date each year |
Cancelling a Recurring Donation
A church administrator can cancel a donor's recurring gift directly inside TimelyChurch -- no need to log in to Stripe. Cancelling needs the Bookkeeper Giving level or higher. You can do this from two places:
From the Giving page:
- Go to Finances > Giving.
- Find the donor's recurring donation in the list. (Click Recurring in the All / One-time / Recurring filter to narrow the list.)
- Open the row's actions menu and click Cancel Recurring.
- In the Cancel Recurring Donation confirmation, review the amount and donor, then click Yes, Cancel Subscription (or Keep Active to back out).
From the donor's profile:
- Open the person's profile and go to the Giving tab.
- Locate the recurring donation and click Cancel Recurring.
- Confirm in the Cancel Recurring Donation dialog.
The Cancel Recurring action only appears on donations that are part of an active Stripe subscription and are linked to a person in your directory. Cancelling stops all future charges immediately -- "Stripe stops billing the donor. They keep their payment method on file but will not be charged again." Past charges are not refunded; use Refund for that.
If you'd rather manage the subscription in Stripe (for example, to view payout history or handle a dispute), you can still do that:
- Open the Online Giving Setup page (from the Stripe - Online Giving card under Church Settings > Integrations).
- Click Stripe Dashboard.
- Locate the subscription and cancel it.
A cancellation made directly in Stripe is reflected in TimelyChurch as soon as Stripe notifies TimelyChurch (typically within seconds).
Donors can also cancel on their own: the giving page tells them "You can cancel anytime — from your emailed receipt or by signing in with your email."
What Happens When a Recurring Payment Fails
If a donor's card is declined on a future recurring charge, TimelyChurch automatically emails the donor to let them know. The email reassures them that Stripe will retry the charge over the following days and includes an Update Payment Method button that takes them to your church's member portal, where they can sign in to update their card or manage their recurring giving. You don't need to take any action for this notification to be sent. See Failed Payment Handling.
Manually Recorded Recurring Donations
For donations that recur outside of Stripe (e.g., recurring bank transfers, standing orders, or regular in-person gifts), you can record them as recurring by setting the Frequency field to "Recurring" when creating the donation record. The form then shows Recurring Details -- a Recurring Interval (Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Annually) and a Next Expected Date.
This is a label-only designation -- it does not set up automatic billing. It helps you:
- Track which donations are part of an ongoing pattern.
- Filter and report on recurring vs. one-time giving.
- See recurring donation totals on the Giving page.
Viewing Recurring Giving on the Giving Page
The Giving page includes a Recurring summary card that shows the total amount of donations marked with "recurring" frequency for the selected year. When you have active recurring gifts, the card also shows how many are active and the amount expected per month (for example, "12 active · $1,450/mo expected"). This includes both online recurring donations and manually recorded recurring entries.
You can filter the donation list to only recurring donations by clicking Recurring in the All / One-time / Recurring filter.