---
schema_version: "1"
id: 978a4d0a44ee1189887d6acf341a6384fc81c1b20dc4e4a884e33f4c7e1be5fc
title: Configure Legacy Recurring Donations
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/sfdo/264-0-0/npsp_config_legacy_recurr_dons.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sfdo.npsp_config_legacy_recurr_dons.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 242dfc1e24027417f55402b8cc2dfa909f6df906ed048d88a3c758e1ea4d5927
description: Find out more about configuring legacy recurring donations.
products:
  - Nonprofit
release: "264"
---
# Configure Legacy Recurring Donations

Find out more about configuring legacy recurring donations.

![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-sfdo-nonprofit_success_pack-264-0-0-production-enus/bd2879e2-2bdc-4012-aa32-dc0c697c4538/images/icon_note.png)

Note As of April 29th, 2020, Nonprofit Success Pack offers a new version of Recurring Donations. For instructions on using this new version, see the [Enhanced Recurring Donations Upgrade Guide](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleview?id=sfdo.npsp_enhanced_rd_upgrade_guide.htm). If you're unsure which version of Recurring Donations you're using, see [Which Version of Recurring Donations Am I Using?](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleview?id=sfdo.npsp_which_version_of_rds_am_i_using.htm)

- **[About Legacy Recurring Donations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sfdo.npsp_config_legacy_recurr_dons.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    The NPSP Legacy Recurring Donations feature allows you to track gifts that donors have pledged over a period of time. This feature accommodates both Open-Ended Recurring Donations (no end date set) and Fixed-Length Recurring Donations (end date set).
- **[Review Legacy Recurring Donation Settings](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sfdo.npsp_config_legacy_recurr_dons.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Before you begin using NPSP's Recurring Donations feature, you should review, confirm, and optionally edit your Recurring Donations settings. NPSP provides a set of default values, but you can change these values at any time.
- **[Set Up Additional Recurring Donation Fields](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sfdo.npsp_config_legacy_recurr_dons.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Use the Always use last day of month checkbox and Day of Month picklist fields to further define the Close Date for Recurring Donation Opportunities. These options apply only to Recurring Donations that have Monthly, Quarterly, or custom installment periods using months.
- **[Create Opportunity Stage Picklist Values](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sfdo.npsp_config_legacy_recurr_dons.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    NPSP's Recurring Donations feature uses two Opportunity stages in particular to keep track of donations: Pledged and Closed Lost. The Pledged stage is unique to NPSP .
- **[Add a Lightning Action to Contacts](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sfdo.npsp_config_legacy_recurr_dons.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Add a Lightning Action to Contacts to easily create a new Open Recurring Donation from a Contact record.
- **[Automatic Recurring Donations Naming](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sfdo.npsp_config_legacy_recurr_dons.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    By default, NPSP names your Recurring Donations automatically.

## About Legacy Recurring Donations

The NPSP Legacy Recurring Donations feature allows you to track gifts that donors have pledged over a period of time. This feature accommodates both Open-Ended Recurring Donations (no end date set) and Fixed-Length Recurring Donations (end date set).

NPSP Recurring Donations uses these objects:

- Recurring Donation (custom object): Use Recurring Donation records to track each individual donation that’s part of an ongoing pledge.
- Opportunity (standard object): Used to track future pledged and paid installments.

## Review Legacy Recurring Donation Settings

Before you begin using NPSP's Recurring Donations feature, you should review, confirm, and optionally edit your Recurring Donations settings. NPSP provides a set of default values, but you can change these values at any time.

1. Click ![App launcher](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-sfdo-nonprofit_success_pack-264-0-0-production-enus/bd2879e2-2bdc-4012-aa32-dc0c697c4538/resources-product/images/app_launcher_icon.png), then click **NPSP Settings**.

1. Click ![App launcher](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-sfdo-nonprofit_success_pack-264-0-0-production-enus/bd2879e2-2bdc-4012-aa32-dc0c697c4538/resources-product/images/app_launcher_icon.png), then click **NPSP Settings**.
2. Click **Recurring Donations** | **Recurring Donations**.
3. Click **Edit**.
4. Make changes as necessary, then click **Save**.

 
| Setting | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Opportunity Forecast Months | Number of months' worth of open Opportunities that NPSP maintains on Open-Ended Recurring Donations. NPSP makes sure there are always this many months' worth of Opportunities by creating the appropriate number of new Opportunities every month. The default is 12. |
| Recurring Donation Batch Size | The number of records to process at a time when running the Recurring Donations batch job. The default is 50. Reduce to a smaller number if the batch job is failing due to system limits. |
| Open Opportunity Behavior on RD Close | Tells NPSP what to do with any remaining open Opportunities when you mark the status of an Open-Ended Recurring Donation as Closed. The options are: Delete open Opportunities, Mark open Opportunities as Closed Lost, No action. |
| Maximum Donations | Restricts the total number of Donations (installments) for Fixed-Length Recurring Donations. The default is 50. |
| Add Campaign to All Opportunities | When selected, NPSP copies the Campaign you specified on the Recurring Donation record to all of its child Opportunities. If not selected, NPSP copies the Campaign to the first child Opportunity only. |
| Opportunity Record Type | The Opportunity record type assigned to the Recurring Donation's child Opportunities. |

## Set Up Additional Recurring Donation Fields

Use the Always use last day of month checkbox and Day of Month picklist fields to further define the Close Date for Recurring Donation Opportunities. These options apply only to Recurring Donations that have Monthly, Quarterly, or custom installment periods using months.

When you select Always use last day of month, NPSP creates Recurring Donation Opportunities with the Close Date set to the last day of the month. When you select a value in the Day of Month picklist, NPSP creates Recurring Donation Opportunities with the Close Date set to your selected day of the month.

![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-sfdo-nonprofit_success_pack-264-0-0-production-enus/bd2879e2-2bdc-4012-aa32-dc0c697c4538/images/icon_note.png)

Note If you select Always use last day of month, it takes precedence over any value you choose in the Day of Month picklist. If you want to set the Close Date to a day that is not the last day of the month, make sure that Always use last day of month is not selected.

To make the Always use last day of month and Day of Month fields available:

1. From Setup, enter Profiles in the Quick Find box, then click **Profiles**.
2. Click the name of the Profile you want to set field-level security for.
3. In the Field-Level Security section, click **View** next to Recurring Donations.
4. Make sure **Edit Access** is checked for the Always use last day of month and Day of Month fields. If not, click **Edit** and select the checkbox, then click **Save**.

Now, make sure the fields show up on Recurring Donations by adding them to the page layout:

1. From Setup, click the **Object Manager** tab.
2. In the list of objects, click **Recurring Donations**.
3. Click **Page Layouts**.
4. Click **Recurring Donation Layout**.
5. Drag the fields onto the page layout.
6. Click **Save**.

For more information on setting field-level security, see [Configure Access to Fields, Objects, Tabs, and Visualforce Pages](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleview?id=sfdo.sfdo_config_security.htm). For more information on editing page layouts, see [Configure Page Layouts](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleview?id=sfdo.sfdo_edit_page_layouts.htm).

## Create Opportunity Stage Picklist Values

NPSP's Recurring Donations feature uses two Opportunity stages in particular to keep track of donations: Pledged and Closed Lost. The Pledged stage is unique to NPSP .

If you installed NPSP from the Trial, you will already have these picklist values in place.

If you manually installed NPSP on top of Salesforce Enterprise Edition, you may not have one or both of these picklist values in place. If that's the case, you'll need to manually add them to your picklist values in order for Recurring Donations to work.

## Add a Lightning Action to Contacts

Add a Lightning Action to Contacts to easily create a new Open Recurring Donation from a Contact record.

1. From Setup, click the **Object Manager** tab.
2. In the list of objects, click **Contact**.
3. Click **Buttons, Links, and Actions**.
4. Click **New Action**.
5. Fill in the following details:
    - Action Type: Create a Record
    - Target Object: Recurring Donations
    - Standard Label Type: \-None-
    - Label: New Open Recurring Donation
    - Name: New\_Open\_Recurring\_Donation
    - Description: Open Ended Recurring Donation with necessary fields.
        
        ![New Lightning action for Open Recurring Donations](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-sfdo-nonprofit_success_pack-264-0-0-production-enus/bd2879e2-2bdc-4012-aa32-dc0c697c4538/nonprofit_success_pack/images/rd_new_action.png)
6. Optionally select **Create Feed Item** and enter a Success Message.
7. Click **Save**.
8. In the Page Layout editor, add the following fields to the New Open Recurring Donation Quick Action layout:
    - Amount
    - Installment Period
    - Next Donation Date
9. Click **Quick Save**.
10. Add any additional fields you’d like to the page layout.
11. When you’re done adding fields, click **Save**.
    
    ![Recurring Donation action layout](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-sfdo-nonprofit_success_pack-264-0-0-production-enus/bd2879e2-2bdc-4012-aa32-dc0c697c4538/nonprofit_success_pack/images/rd_action_layout.png)
12. To automatically populate fields on the new Recurring Donation that’s created from the action, select **New** in the Predefined Field Values.
13. Enter the following values:
    - Field: Recurring Donation Name
    - Formula Value: Contact.FirstName & " " & Contact.LastName & " Recurring Donation " & TEXT(MONTH(TODAY())) & "/" & TEXT(DAY(TODAY())) & "/" & TEXT(YEAR(TODAY()))
14. Click **Save**.
15. In the Predefined Field Values list, click **New**.
16. Enter the following values:
    - Field: Open Ended Status
    - Specific Value: Open
17. Click **Save**.
18. In the Predefined Field Values list, click **New**.
19. Enter the following values:
    
    - Field: Schedule Type
    - Specific Value: Multiply By
20. Click **Save**.

Finally, add the Lightning Action to the Contact Lightning page layout:

1. From Setup, click the **Object Manager** tab.
2. In the list of objects, click **Contact**.
3. Click **Page Layouts**.
4. Click **Contact Layout**.
5. In the palette, click **Mobile & Lightning Actions**.
6. Drag the New Open Recurring Donation Lightning Action to the Salesforce Mobile and Lightning Experience Actions section of the Page Layout.
    
    ![Adding the New Open Recurring Donation to the Contact page layout](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-sfdo-nonprofit_success_pack-264-0-0-production-enus/bd2879e2-2bdc-4012-aa32-dc0c697c4538/nonprofit_success_pack/images/rd_action_pl.png)
7. Click **Save**.

## Automatic Recurring Donations Naming

By default, NPSP names your Recurring Donations automatically.

Here's how it works:

1. Go to the Recurring Donations tab and click **New**.
2. Fill out the required fields (Amount, Donor Type, Recurring Period, etc.).
3. Click **Save**.

Once you save the record, NPSP updates the Recurring Donation Name using this format:

_\[DonorName\] \[Amount\] - Recurring_

_\[DonorName\]_ is Contact Name when the Donor Type is Contact, or the Account Name when the Donor Type is Account and the Account is an Organizational Account. Let's look at some examples.

- If you enter a new $100 Recurring Donation for Barbara Levy, the name becomes:
    
    - Barbara Levy $100 - Recurring
- If you enter a new $500 Recurring Donation for Universal Containers, the name becomes:
    
    - Universal Containers $500 - Recurring

If you have your own naming convention that you'd rather use, you can disable Automatic Recurring Donation Naming. When you disable naming, users will see the Recurring Donation Name field in the record entry and edit screens.

1. Go to **NPSP Settings** | **Recurring Donations** | **Recurring Donations**.
2. Find **Recurring Donation Name Format** and select Disable Auto Naming.
3. Click **Save**.