Recurring donors are the hardest thing to move between platforms, because a schedule can't simply be copied: the card behind it lives with your old processor. The recurring gifts import solves the half that can move. It brings every active schedule across as a staged plan, so you know exactly who was giving what, and each donor can restart in one tap instead of building it from scratch.
Nothing imported here can ever charge anybody. A staged plan is inert until it is deliberately activated.
Before You Start
- Import People or Donors first, so each plan attaches to a full record.
- Export the list of active schedules from your old platform, not the gift history. Those are two different reports.
- Include the next scheduled date if the export offers it. It is what stops a donor being skipped or double-charged in the changeover month.
Running It
- Go to Imports → New Import and pick Recurring gifts.
- Upload your file and map the columns.
- Run it. Every row lands as a staged plan against the right donor.
The Columns That Matter
- Amount and Frequency: required. Weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly or yearly.
- Date of their next gift: map it if you have it. Studio lines the new plan up with that date.
- Date of their last gift: the fallback when there is no next date. Studio works forward from it.
- Plan ID from your old system: stops the same schedule importing twice.
- Status: paused plans come across still paused, so you don't restart someone who had stopped.
- Card brand and last 4: shown to you and the donor so they recognize the plan. Never used to charge anything.
If Stripe Copied Your Saved Cards
Stripe can copy saved payment methods from one Stripe account to another. If that has been done for your workspace, map Stripe Customer ID and Stripe Payment Method ID from the copied data as well. With those in place the plans can restart without asking donors for their card again.
Without them, everything else still imports. Donors just confirm their card once when they resume.
After It Runs
Open Giving → Recurring to see the staged plans. From there you can see who has resumed, and send the donors who haven't a link to restart theirs.