Recurring Plan Automated Pausing

When a recurring plan continues to fail without the donor updating their payment method, WeGive will automatically pause the plan to prevent repeated failed charges. This safeguard helps maintain data accuracy, reduces unnecessary processor attempts, and protects donors from repeated failure notifications.

This article explains when and why a recurring plan is paused automatically, how it appears in WeGive and Salesforce, and how your team can reactivate or manage these plans.

Why a Recurring Plan May Be Paused Automatically

If a recurring payment fails, WeGive begins a sequence of retry attempts. This includes:

The original failed attempt
Three additional retry attempts, each spaced according to your organization’s retry cadence

If all four attempts fail, WeGive automatically sets the recurring plan to:

Paused
Paused Type: Indefinite
Next Retry: Cleared (no further attempts)

This is intentional behavior built into the platform.

How Automatic Pausing Appears in Audit Logs

Because the pause is initiated by the system—not a donor or administrator—it will not appear as a user-triggered action in Audit Logs.

You may see:

Paused status in the Recurring Plan Overview
Corresponding status updates sent to your CRM (e.g., Salesforce)
No matching manual pause action in Audit Logs

This is expected.

How Automatic Pausing Appears in Salesforce

When a plan is paused automatically:

The plan’s Status is updated to "Paused"
The Paused Date is sent to Salesforce
System WeGive is listed as having triggered the pause
It is not considered a donor-initiated or admin-initiated update

This allows your CRM to accurately reflect the plan’s current state.

Why We Automatically Pause Plans

This automation exists to:

Prevent endless retries on invalid payment methods
Reduce stress on your payment processor
Avoid donor frustration from repeated failure notifications
Ensure your team can intervene manually when needed

How to Reactivate a Paused Plan

Admins can manually restart the plan at any time:

Open the Recurring Plan in WeGive
Update the donor’s payment method (if needed)
Resume the plan
WeGive will resume billing on the next scheduled installment date

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this happen even if the donor never received the Dunning emails?

Yes. Automatic pausing is based on retry attempts—not email delivery.

Can I change the number of retries before pausing?

Not at this time. Automatic pausing always occurs after four failed attempts.

Will donors be notified automatically when their plan is paused?

Not by default. Notifications depend on your Triggered Messages configuration.

Summary

A recurring plan may show as “Paused by WeGive” even when no user action exists in the audit logs. This is because WeGive automatically pauses any plan that has:

Failed on the original charge plus
Failed on three additional retry attempts

This behavior is intentional and protects both your donors and your organization.

If you have questions about the pausing logic or want help reviewing your recurring plans, feel free to contact support.