Zeffy Help Center
Import & Migrate Data

Importing recurring payments and donations

You can import historical records of recurring payments and donations into Zeffy, but active recurring payment schedules cannot be transferred to continue renewing automatically. The import preserves your past giving history; donors who want to continue recurring support must start a new recurring donation in Zeffy.

Move active recurring donors to Zeffy

If your donors currently have active recurring gifts on another platform:

  1. Ask donors to stop their recurring gift on the previous platform.

  2. Invite them to start a new recurring donation through a Zeffy donation form.

Once they have started giving again in Zeffy, their new donations will be tracked and managed automatically.

Tips and tricks to restart recurring giving

The easiest way to invite former recurring donors to start again in Zeffy is to import them as contacts, add them to a list, and email the list a direct link to your recurring donation campaign.

  1. Import your donor contacts into Zeffy. You can assign them to lists during import so they are easy to find later. For full instructions, see Importing contacts into Zeffy.

  2. Go to Contacts > Lists and create a list from your imported donors, or use the import-date list to filter and select them. For more details, see Create lists and segments.

  3. From the list, click Send email and write a message that includes the link to your recurring donation campaign.

When a campaign link is sent to a contact list through Zeffy, the recipient's contact information is automatically pre-filled on the form.

For more help with email sending, see Send emails to contacts.

Import historical donation records

To preserve your organization's donation history, use the Payment import template:

  1. In your Zeffy dashboard, go to Payments > New Payment > Import.

  2. Download the Payment import template and fill it out. You must use the template exactly as provided.

  3. For historical donations, set the Type column to donation.

  4. Complete the required fields: First Name, Last Name, Amount, and Type.

  5. Upload the file and complete the import steps.

All contacts included on a Payment import template are also added to Zeffy, so you do not need to complete a separate contact import.

For full formatting rules, field definitions, and error troubleshooting, see Importing payment history.

What happens after import

  • Imported donations appear in the Payments section as historical records.

  • Contacts are created automatically or linked to existing contacts by exact email match.

  • Imported donations are not linked to an active recurring schedule. The donor must make a new recurring donation in Zeffy for future automatic payments.

What to do next

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