How do recurring donations work with Stripe?

When someone chooses to make a Recurring Donation through one of your Donate2 forms, we automatically setup the Recurring Donation in Stripe. We create a Customer record for the donor and a Stripe Subscription for their Recurring Donation.

Customer List

Subscription (Recurring Donation)

Three Types of Recurring Donations

Monthly Recurring Donation is a One Time donation that is made immediately with a Stripe Subscription that starts in 30 days.
Quarterly Recurring Donation is a One Time donation that is made immediately with a Stripe Subscription that starts in 90 days.
Yearly Recurring Donation is a One Time donation that is made immediately with a Stripe Subscription that starts in 365 days.

There are a few components that we take care of for you in Stripe. You don't need to do anything with this, but it's good to understand the moving parts. When a donor chooses a recurring donation, the initial transaction processes through Stripe as a One Time donation. In order to have the donation automatically happen at the chosen frequency, we create a Stripe Subscription. Because the initial donation has already taken place, we use a feature in Stripe called a Trial Period. We use this Trial Period to offset (30, 90, 365 days) the next donation charge from todays date. This is to match the frequency selected by the donor. After the Stripe Subscription automatically charges in 30, 90, or 365 days, the Trial Period will change to Active on the customers Stripe Subscription. Basically, if you see a trial period on a Customers Subscription in Stripe, it's nothing to worry about! It just means they are between their first and second recurring donation. 

Stripe can send receipts, expired card notices, and all sorts of other communication about the donation to the donor. You can check out this article that we've put together with a little more information about what Stripe offers. 

If your organization uses Tessitura, you won't want to set up receipts in Stripe. There is more information on how that integration works here.