If you need to buy a new monthly recurring giving tool for the non-profit you work for or manage, there are several features the best program should include if it is going to be useful.
Find a software program that includes these features, and you should ultimately have the ability to manage recurring donations better than ever before.
Monthly donations set up direct from your website — The program you buy should accommodate the ability to have donors set up their recurring donations direct from your organization’s website.
Once the donation has been made, and the recurring amount and date input, all you then have to do is to print out the monthly reports.
Send auto e-mails for failed payments — There will always be some recurring payments every month that either fail to appear or the credit cards making the payment will be declined. This is why you should be sure any monthly donation program you purchase has the ability to send automatic e-mails about failed payments.
This means your employees are not wasting their time on the task. It also means your organization will usually receive a percentage of the failed payments sometime during the month.
Expiring credit card emails — The program should also allow you to easily send emails about upcoming expiring credit cards. If not, you could find yourself with late recurring donations or non payment of recurring donations every month as the donor has forgotten to give you his new credit card information.
Reports on recurring donations — The right monthly donation program should also allow you to create in depth reports on every aspect of each donation.
This should include the payment method, the currency, the date of the recurring payment, how many times it has been paid and if there is a date when the recurring donation will stop.
When looking at monthly donation programs, be sure to look closely at the types of reports it can generate. Then decide if these reports will encompass every one of your needs. If not, keep looking for a software program that can.
