Recurring Transaction Detection

NP Ledger can scan your transaction history and automatically detect donors who give at regular intervals — monthly, quarterly, or annually. Once you confirm a detected pattern, the system tags future matching donations as "recurring" and alerts you if an expected gift doesn't arrive on time. This feature requires a Standard plan or higher.

The system looks at your last 6 months of posted donation receipts and groups them by donor (or by description if no donor contact is linked). Within each group, it checks whether the same amount appears at regular intervals. If it finds at least two donations of the same amount arriving at a consistent frequency, it suggests a recurring pattern for your review.

What counts as a match: - Same donor contact or same transaction description - Same amount (within 2% or $1 tolerance to account for minor variations) - Consistent timing: monthly (every 28-32 days), quarterly (every 85-95 days), or annually (every 350-380 days)

Scanning for patterns

1. Go to Recurring Patterns (in the sidebar under Recording Transactions).
2. Click "Scan for Patterns" to run the detection.
3. The system analyzes your recent transactions and creates suggested patterns.
4. You'll see a message telling you how many new patterns were detected, or a note that no new patterns were found.

Reviewing suggested patterns

Detected patterns appear in the Suggested Patterns section. Each pattern shows:

• Source — The donor's name (or transaction description if no contact is linked)
• Amount — The recurring donation amount
• Frequency — Monthly, Quarterly, or Annual
• Last Seen — When the most recent matching donation was recorded
• Occurrences — How many times this pattern has been observed

For each suggested pattern, you have two choices:

• Confirm — Marks the pattern as active. The system will retroactively tag all matching historical donations as recurring and automatically tag future matching imports. You'll see a count of how many historical receipts were tagged.
• Dismiss — Removes the suggestion. The pattern won't be suggested again in future scans.

Confirmed patterns

Once confirmed, patterns move to the Confirmed Patterns section. Confirmed patterns show when the next donation is expected instead of when the last one was seen.

What happens automatically after confirmation: - All matching historical donations are tagged as recurring - Future donations that match the pattern (same donor/description, same amount within tolerance) are automatically tagged when imported via bank feeds or other import methods - The system updates the pattern's occurrence count and next expected date as new matching donations arrive

Lapsed pattern alerts

If an expected donation doesn't arrive within the grace period, NP Ledger treats the pattern as "lapsed" and alerts you:

Dashboard banner — A warning banner appears showing which supporter's gift is overdue, the expected date, and how many days late it is. You can dismiss the banner or snooze alerts for 30 days.

Email alerts — Organization admins receive email notifications when patterns are overdue. A gentle "heads up" is sent first; if the donation is still missing after 30 days, an escalation email follows.

Recurring donors are the foundation of sustainable nonprofit revenue. Knowing who gives regularly — and being alerted when they stop — helps you:

• Retain supporters by reaching out before they lapse permanently
• Forecast revenue more accurately based on confirmed recurring patterns
• Report to your board on recurring revenue trends
• Acknowledge donors appropriately when their giving pattern is recognized

Does this create automatic charges or recurring billing? No. NP Ledger detects patterns in donations that have already arrived — it doesn't initiate any charges or transactions. The detection is purely observational and informational.

What if a donor changes their amount slightly? The system allows a 2% or $1 tolerance (whichever is greater). A monthly $100 donor who gives $101 one month will still be matched.

Can I run scans multiple times? Yes. Each scan only suggests new patterns that haven't been suggested before. Already-confirmed or previously-dismissed patterns won't reappear.

What happens if I dismiss a pattern by mistake? Dismissed patterns won't be re-suggested in future scans. If you need to track that donor's recurring giving, you can wait for enough new transactions to accumulate and scan again, or manually track the pattern.