A recurring gift does not receive charges directly. Each time Rhythm charges it, Rhythm creates a separate gift record and links that gift to the recurring gift. The recurring gift holds the standing instruction and running total, while the linked gifts hold the payments and receipts.
How the First Link Is Made
When a donor’s first gift is set to become recurring, Rhythm creates the recurring gift after that gift’s order is paid and fulfilled. Rhythm creates the recurring gift from that first delivery only, not from any later charge. If Rhythm cannot create the recurring gift at that point, it does not try again. The original gift is still recorded and receipted normally, so the donor’s first gift can succeed even when no recurring gift is created behind it.
If that first gift was paid by credit card or electronic check, Rhythm copies the securely stored payment method to the new recurring gift so future charges have something to bill. Rhythm never copies the card number itself. If the donor paid another way, the recurring gift starts without a copied payment method.
Because recurring setup depends on saving the payment method successfully, recurring giving can fail when Rhythm cannot save the payment method for the donor’s account. The same donor could still complete a one-time gift, because that gift does not need to save a card for future billing.
Tip
The Recurring Gift 360 page’s Amount Given and gift-count totals do not include the initial payment that started the recurring gift; counting begins with the second payment. The initial payment is still recorded and appears in Gifts query results, but it is not included in these totals.
How Later Gifts Are Linked
Each later charge from the recurring gift becomes its own gift, and Rhythm links that gift back to the recurring gift that produced it. You can see every gift linked to a recurring gift on the recurring gift record, under the Linked Gifts tab. The linked gift’s record also shows which recurring gift it belongs to and when that recurring gift began.
Deleting a Recurring Gift Deletes Its Linked Gifts
Warning
Deleting a recurring gift, whether from its record page or through an integration, deletes every gift that recurring gift has ever produced in the same action. You cannot undo this. The delete confirmation does not mention the linked gifts, so check the recurring gift’s Linked Gifts tab before you delete it if you want to know what else will disappear.
Cancelling a recurring gift works differently because it stops future billing without removing the gifts already on record. If you only want to stop future charges, cancel the recurring gift instead of deleting it.