Overview
A regular donor in Vega is a contact that has an active recurring payment.
Recurring payments allow payments to be automatically processed according to a set schedule, such as weekly, monthly, or annually. Recurring payments do not generate a receipt number for each individual payment. Instead, best practice is to provide regular donors with an annual receipt at the end of the financial year using the Annual Receipt Generator.
Recurring payments can be created in several ways:
- Through your donation widget (if recurring donation frequency options are enabled). These will automatically create the recurring payment against the contact.
- Through a recurring payment import.
- Directly from an individual contact record.
This article explains how to manually add a recurring payment directly to a contact.
⭐Before You Begin
Before creating a recurring payment, ensure your payment gateway has been configured if recurring payments will be processed by credit card.
Important: Recurring Payment Processing Settings
Before creating recurring payments, review your Admin > Recurring Payment Settings.
You can configure whether Vega automatically generates payments for recurring payments that are not processed through a payment gateway.
- If this setting is enabled, Vega will automatically create successful payments according to the recurrence schedule, regardless of the payment method selected.
- If this setting is disabled, only recurring payments processed through a connected payment gateway (such as credit card payments) will automatically create payments.
Adding a Recurring Payment
- Find and open the contact record you want to add the recurring payment to.
- Select Create → Create Recurring Payment from the top action buttons.
The recurring payment form will open.
The form is divided into several sections:
- Contact Details
- Payment Attributes
- Payment Details
- Distributions
- Recurrence Schedule
- Recurrence Details
Contact Details
The left-hand side of the recurring payment form displays important contact information:
- Vega ID
- Account Name
- Email address
- Home phone, work phone, and mobile number
- Address
- Membership details
- Contact Branch
- Receipt option
- Key Attributes (if enabled in Financial Settings)
- Alerts (if enabled in Financial Settings)
These details are read-only and help confirm you're recording the payment against the correct contact.
Note: The Key Attributes and Alerts sections are optional and can be enabled or disabled in Admin > Financial Settings. When enabled, they provide additional contact information and important alerts directly within the payment form to assist when processing payments.
Payment Attributes
Payment Attributes are displayed at the bottom left of the form.
The Contact Branch will automatically be added. Additional Payment Attributes can be selected from the available dropdown lists and assigned values where required.
Note: For more information on Payment Attributes, see the attached article Understanding Contact Attributes vs Payment Attributes
Payment Details
The centre section of the form is where the recurring payment information is entered.
Note: The default option for recurring payments is Standard. Leave Payment Type as Standard. No additional set up is required.
| Payment Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Standard | Records a standard one-off payment. |
| Membership | Records a membership payment against an existing membership type. |
| Pledge | Records a pledged amount that will be paid at a later date. |
| Pledge Fulfilment | Records a payment made against an existing pledge. |
| Invoice | Records an issued invoice. A payment is not recorded until the invoice has been paid. |
| In Memoriam | Records a donation made in memory of another contact. |
| Supporter-led Fundraising | Records a donation raised by another supporter and links the payment to their fundraising totals. |
For more information about each payment type, refer to the relevant knowledge base articles.
Recurring Payment Details
Pay Type
Select the payment method, such as:
- Credit Card
- Direct Debit
- Cheque
- Other configured payment types
The information required will depend on the payment method selected.
Credit Card Payments
If a payment gateway is configured in Vega, selecting Credit Card will create a recurring payment linked to your payment gateway.
The gateway securely stores the payment details and provides Vega with a token, allowing future payments to be processed without Vega storing credit card information.
Important Note: Vega does not store credit card details.
Other Payment Types
If another payment method is selected, payments will only automatically generate based on your Admin recurring payment settings.
Total Amount
Enter the amount that should be processed each time the recurring payment runs.
Distributions
The Distributions section allows the recurring payment amount to be allocated across different financial areas.
Single Distribution
Use a single distribution when the entire payment belongs to one campaign and GL Code.
Select:
- Campaign
- GL Code
- Receipt settings
Then continue to save the payment.
Multiple Distributions
A payment can be divided across multiple distributions.
For example, a donor may make one payment that supports two separate fundraising projects.
Although the payment is split internally:
- only one transaction is created
- the payment receives one Transaction ID
- only one Receipt Number is generated
To add a distribution:
- Next to Total Amount of the donation, click Distribute.
- Select the relevant Campaign.
- Select the required GL Code.
- Enter the Amount to be allocated to that distribution.
- Click Add to save the distribution.
Repeat these steps if the payment needs to be distributed across multiple Campaigns or GL Codes.
Once added, the distributions will display against the payment and the total distributed amount should match the total donation amount.
Recurrence Schedule
The recurrence schedule determines how long the recurring payment will continue.
There are three options:
- Continue indefinitely
- End on a specific date
- End after reaching a total amount
| Field | Until Further Notice | End Date | Total Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start Date | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| End | — | Required | — |
| Total Amount Reached | — | — | Required |
| Due | First payment due date | First payment due date | First payment due date |
| Next Take Date | First payment date | First payment date | First payment date |
Option 1: Continue Indefinitely
Select Until Further Notice when the recurring payment should continue until it is manually suspended or updated.
Complete the following fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Start Date | The date the recurring payment begins or the date the contact became a regular donor. |
| Until Further Notice | Select this option to continue processing the recurring payment indefinitely until it is manually suspended or updated. |
| End | Not available when Until Further Notice is selected. |
| Total Amount Reached | Not available when Until Further Notice is selected. |
| Amount Left | Not available when Until Further Notice is selected. |
| Due | The date the first payment is due. If this date is backdated, Vega will generate payments until the recurrence reaches the current date (depending on your Recurring Payment Settings). The default processing time is 2:00 AM, but this can be adjusted if required. |
| Next Take Date | The date the next payment will be processed. This should normally match the Due date. |
Option 2: End on a Specific Date
Use this option when the recurring payment should stop on a set date.
Complete the following fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Start Date | The date the recurring payment begins. |
| Until Further Notice | Leave this unticked. |
| End | Enter the date the recurring payment should stop. No payments will be processed after this date. |
| Total Amount Reached | Leave this blank. |
| Amount Left | Leave this blank. |
| Due | The date the first payment is due. |
| Next Take Date | The date the next payment will be processed. This should normally match the Due date. |
Option 3: End After Reaching a Total Amount
Use this option when the recurring payment should stop once a specific amount has been reached.
Complete the following fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Start Date | The date the recurring payment begins. |
| Until Further Notice | Leave this unticked. |
| End | Optional. Leave blank unless you also want the recurring payment to stop on a specific date. |
| Total Amount Reached | Enter the total amount at which the recurring payment should stop. |
| Amount Left | Calculated automatically as payments are processed. |
| Due | The date the first payment is due. |
| Next Take Date | The date the next payment will be processed. This should normally match the Due date. |
Recurrence Details
This section contains additional information about the recurring payment.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Particulars | Enter any additional information or description for the recurring payment. |
| Code | Enter an optional code or identifier for the recurring payment. |
| Reference | Enter an optional reference to help identify the recurring payment. |
| Frequency |
Select how often the recurring payment should occur. Available options include: Weekly Four Weekly Fortnightly Monthly Quarterly Three Monthly Two Monthly Six Monthly Annual, Annually Twelve Monthly Bi-Monthly. |
Note: Any custom frequency attribute added that does not match one of the above options will default to Monthly. Capitalisation does not affect matching.
Recruited By
Used to record the staff member, volunteer, or telemarketer who recruited the recurring payment.
Options can be configured using the system attribute type Recruited By.
Status
When a recurring payment is first created, the status defaults to:
Payment Open
This means the recurring payment is active and will process according to the schedule entered.
Status Reason
Used to record additional information about why or how the recurring payment was created.
Options can be configured using the system attribute type:
Recurring Status Reason
Saving the Recurring Payment
Select Save.
The recurring payment will now display on the contact record under the:
Payments & Recurring tab.
Additional Recurring Payment Information
After saving a recurring payment, additional fields will display at the bottom right of the form.
Plan ID / Token
For credit card recurring payments processed through a payment gateway, this field displays the token generated by the gateway.
This token allows Vega to process future payments without storing the customer's card details.
No. Failed Payments
Displays the number of failed payment attempts before the recurring payment is automatically suspended.
The number of retry attempts is configured in:
Admin > Recurring Payment Settings
Identifying Recurring Payments
Recurring payments can be identified because:
- The payment frequency will show something other than Single Payment.
- Individual recurring payments will not have a receipt number.
For regular donors, annual receipts should be generated using the Annual Receipt Generator rather than issuing individual receipts for each recurring payment.
Recurring Payments displays the recurring payment schedule for the contact, including the payment amount, frequency, next payment date, and status. It represents the ongoing payment arrangement, not the individual transactions.
Payments Received displays the individual payments that have been created and processed. This includes payments generated from recurring payment schedules as well as one-off payments.
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“Some content in this article may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by staff.”
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