Memberships with recurring gifts?

Martin Drenth 2

Hi community. I have a question about memberships and recurring gifts. Do you advise to create a recurring gift for a (renewable) membership for person that is not paying with Direct Debit yearly? Or is it better to just create single cash gifts to pay off the membership dues?

Please let me know!

Thanks

Martin

Dariel Dixon 2

What would be the benefit of creating a recurring gift for this @Martin Drenth? Would you have an existing schedule? Why not just create a pledge for it?

Karen Diener 2

@Martin Drenth
I'm a little confused about what you're asking. Are you thinking of creating a recurring gift just because the membership is renewable?

For instance, if the annual dues are $120, do people typically pay their dues in one single gift, or do they pay $10 per month (or $30 per quarter, or some other schedule)? If they pay $120, I would add that as a one-time gift and be done with it. If you make that a recurring gift and people do not renew their memberships, best practice would be to drop the Membership AND update the recurring gift to completed or terminated. If their dues are a single, one-time gift, you'll only need to manage the Membership drop. Overall, a little less work.

Karen