Recurring donation platform for nonprofits, churches, and schools
Donately is a recurring donation platform that lets nonprofits, churches and schools collect scheduled gifts across nine giving frequencies (from daily to annual) through their own donation forms and campaign pages. Platform fees run as low as 0%, and donors manage their own plans from a self-service dashboard.
What is a recurring donation platform?
Taking a first monthly payment is easy. Every tool on the market does it.
Keeping the plan alive is what matters: when the card expires, when the payment fails, when the donor wants to pause for three months. A recurring donation platform collects a gift on a schedule instead of once, and the difference between platforms is entirely in what happens after that.
Nine giving frequencies, not two
Most platforms offer monthly and annual and call it flexible. Donately supports nine recurring intervals. Plus one-time, on the same form. Recurring works on every donation form and campaign page — offered as an option, pre-selected as the default, or as the only choice. No separate form, no second product, no extra fee.
Let donors manage their own recurring plans
Donors get a self-service dashboard where they can change their amount, update a card, switch frequency, pause, or cancel; without emailing you.
Recover failed payments before they become churn
Cards expire. Banks decline. Donately sends a failed-payment digest so you know which plans need attention while there's still a relationship to save.
Every payment method your donors already use
Credit and debit cards, ACH bank transfer, and PayPal. All of them work on recurring plans, not just one-time gifts.
How to set up recurring donations in five minutes
Create a Donately account and connect your payment processor.
Build a donation form and enable recurring giving — as an option, the default, or the only choice.
Choose which frequencies you'll offer and set suggested monthly amounts.
Embed the form on your site, or use a hosted campaign page.
Turn on the failed-payment digest so you're notified when a plan lapses.
Switching from another platform
You don't have to ask your monthly donors to sign up again, and this is the question most platforms don't answer anywhere on their site.
Existing card and donor data can be ported into Stripe as secure tokens. The card details themselves never pass through a spreadsheet. Once that transfer completes, Donately picks up those recurring plans and continues them. Your monthly donors keep giving on their existing schedule and never see a thing.
Recurring giving for churches and schools
Churches running weekly or biweekly tithing, and schools running annual funds and monthly parent giving. Both are well served by the frequency range above: weekly and every-2-weeks in particular, which many platforms don't offer at all.
Braid Mission
What recurring donations cost on Donately
Platform fees as low as 0%, depending on plan, and recurring gifts aren't charged differently from one-time ones. No separate recurring module, no per-plan fee. See how that compares across platforms on Total Donor Cost.
Three plans: a 4% plan with no monthly fee, a $99/mo plan at 2% with a discount for paying annually, or a $5,000 license paid up front covering up to $1M raised.
Trusted by thousands of schools, churches and organizations
Secure, high-converting donation forms
Platform fees as low as 0%
Built-in campaign templates and marketplace
Sign up and launch in 5 minutes
Fully customizable to your brand
No feature limits—everything included
No setup fees. No surprise costs.
Integrates with your favorite tools
Seven in ten gifts we process are recurring
Across Donately accounts in 2026, 77,912 of 111,726 card and digital donations came from a recurring plan; 69.7% of all transactions. Seven in every ten gifts processed is a scheduled one.
Those gifts account for 25.2% of the money: $4.31M of $17.11M. Both numbers are true, and the gap between them is the useful part. Recurring donors give far more often, in much smaller amounts.
For context, that revenue share is roughly where the sector sits. M+R Benchmarks 2026 puts monthly giving at 22% of online revenue for organizations under $1M in annual online revenue, and 27% across all sizes.
Card and digital transactions only, calendar year 2026; cash and cheque excluded.
Frequently asked questions
What is a recurring donation platform?
A recurring donation platform collects gifts on a schedule instead of once. Handling the payment, the receipt, the donor's record, and what happens when a card expires. Donately supports nine giving frequencies from daily to annual, with donors managing their own plans.
How do I set up recurring donations on my website?
Build a donation form, enable recurring giving, choose which frequencies to offer, then embed the form on your site. Recurring can be an option, the pre-selected default, or the only choice.
What giving frequencies can I offer donors?
Nine: daily, weekly, every 2 weeks, monthly, every 2 months, quarterly, every 4 months, every 6 months, and annually; plus one-time on the same form.
Can donors change, pause, or cancel their own recurring donations?
Yes, from a self-service dashboard. The amount, card, frequency, pause or cancel, without contacting you. It removes admin from your team and reduces cancellations from donors who only wanted a change.
What payment methods can be used for recurring donations?
Credit and debit cards, ACH bank transfer, and PayPal. All of them work on recurring plans, not only one-time gifts.
Can nonprofits accept recurring donations through PayPal?
Yes, PayPal works for recurring plans alongside cards and ACH.
What happens when a recurring donation fails?
You get a failed-payment digest identifying which plans need attention, so you can reach out while the relationship is still live rather than discovering the lapse months later.
How much does Donately charge for recurring donations?
Recurring gifts carry the same fees as one-time gifts. Platform fees as low as 0% depending on plan, with no separate recurring charge. See pricing.
Can I migrate existing monthly donors from another platform?
Yes, and without asking donors to re-enter their cards. Card and donor data is ported into Stripe as secure tokens, and Donately then picks up and continues those recurring plans on their existing schedule.
Can churches use Donately for recurring tithes?
Yes. Weekly and every-2-weeks frequencies suit tithing schedules, and donors manage their own plans. This is useful where giving is ongoing rather than campaign-driven.
How do I turn one-time donors into monthly donors?
Make recurring the default rather than an option. Set suggested monthly amounts that are a realistic fraction of a typical one-time gift, and ask at the moment of the one-time gift rather than in a later appeal. More in our monthly giving guide.
What share of giving is recurring?
On Donately in 2026, 69.7% of card and digital transactions came from recurring plans, accounting for 25.2% of dollars. Sector-wide, M+R Benchmarks 2026 puts monthly giving at 22% of online revenue for organizations under $1M and 27% across all sizes.