How do I manually add recurring commitments?

Is there a way to set a donor up as recurring if they pay us monthly by check? I will manually enter the check each month but they’re still considered a recurring donor and will show up on my recurring donor contribution report?

Hi ​@kpetty! Thank you for reaching out. 

Yes, you can do this. Follow the steps in the article to create the recurring donation. When you reach Step 3, select Check as the payment method. Your donor will still be considered a recurring donor and appear on your Recurring Donor Contribution report.

I’ll updated the article to reflect this step. Thank you for helping us make Bonterra Central better for everyone!

Thank you!! If I set up a $10/month recurring donation by check, will EA automatically post the donation on the date I enter in the recurring set up or will it still wait for me to post it manually?

Under a Contact’s Contributions,  I would like to add PayPal for manually adding contributions under ‘Payment Method’.

Right now I see:

Cash

check

credit card

debit card

google pay

in-kind

money order

paycheck deduction

stock

unknown

Our account isn’t linked to Google Pay that I can see… How do I add another category that says PayPal?  

Hi ​@kpetty ! You will still need to post checks manually

I see you confirmed we’ll need to post checks manually - but is there a way for us to apply them to a recurring commitment we’ve manually created? I don’t see that option on the contribution record.

Hi ​@erin,

Yes. If you've already created the recurring commitment for the donor, you can manually enter the check payment as a contribution and associate it with that recurring commitment.

When creating the manual contribution, make sure the recurring commitment details—such as the amount, date, payment method, and other relevant information—match the recurring commitment record. Set the contribution status to Settled and save the contribution.

Once saved, EveryAction will automatically link the contribution to the recurring commitment. You'll see the recurring commitment information on the contribution record under Commitment Information, including details such as the VAN Recurring Commitment ID, Installment Number, Frequency, and Start and End Dates. The contribution will also appear on the recurring commitment record, and the payment amount will be reflected in the Total Amount Received to Date field.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

We've recently published a new article that explains how to apply a check payment to a recurring commitment by manually creating a contribution and linking it to the commitment record.

The article includes step-by-step instructions and details on the information that must match between the contribution and recurring commitment for the association to occur successfully.

You can find the article here: