How to take deposits and recurring payments

A payment plan is simply a schedule for when money is taken. Most payment groups need exactly one, taking payment straight away, but the same tab is where deposits, delayed payments and recurring payments live.

Setting up your plans

1. Open the payment group’s settings and go to the Payment plans tab. The most popular setup is a single plan that takes payment upfront, and if that’s you, you’re nearly done already.
2. Within a plan you can choose whether the Gift Aid options appear, which is what puts the declaration in front of donors.
3. Set when payment is taken. For an event months away, you can take the money nearer the time rather than at booking.
4. Set how long a person’s membership of the payment group lasts. Unlimited is right for almost everything; the monthly setting only earns its keep alongside the next option.
5. Tick recurring payment to take the amount repeatedly, then set the interval. The units offered here are days, weeks and months, so for annual giving choose every 12 months. This is the engine behind regular giving and any subscription, like a monthly fee for a course or Bible school.
6. For deposits, create a second plan and then, on the next tab, set how much is taken upfront and how much as the final balance. Useful for big trips; most churches, in honesty, prefer taking it all at once.

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Good to know

• Don’t go hunting for an ‘annually’ option on the Payment plans tab; there isn’t one. Twelve months does the same job. (If you build a plan through the setup wizard instead, that does offer an annual frequency.)
• Plans and choices meet in the middle: each priced choice on the Delegate choices tab selects which plan collects its money, which is how one group can take a deposit for the weekend away and full payment for the t-shirt.
• If you take recurring payments, set up a failed-payment notification the same day; it’s a two-minute job that prevents expensive surprises later.
• Everything else about the group lives in how to set up a payment group.