Dunning for Planning Center Giving
Short answer: dunning means following up on failed or declined payments. For a church on Planning Center Giving, that means noticing when a recurring gift fails, letting the donor know kindly, and giving them one easy way to fix it. GivFlow does this automatically. It watches for gifts marked Failed, sends follow-up from your church, and shows you which gifts came back.
What dunning means for a church
The word comes from business, where companies chase failed subscription payments. Churches have the same problem with different stakes. A donor sets up a recurring gift, the card expires, and the gift quietly stops. Nobody changed their mind. Nobody told them either.
That matters more than it sounds. When a gift fails, 1 in 3 donors don't give again for the rest of that year. Recurring donors give 30 to 60% more and make 4X the gifts, so each one you lose costs real money.
How GivFlow handles failed gifts on Planning Center
- Catch it. GivFlow connects to Planning Center Giving and picks up gifts marked Failed, from cards or from ACH and debit.
- A short, kind note. The donor gets an email from your church's chosen sender with one link to fix the payment. No ask and no guilt.
- A gentle reminder. Only if the gift is still missing.
- Replies reach a person. If the donor writes back, the reply goes to the reply-to person your church picks.
- It stops when the gift comes back. GivFlow counts the gift as recovered and shows it in your report.
Here's the difference it makes. At Bayside, 24 of every 100 failed gifts came back on their own. With GivFlow following up, 64 to 67 did. Read the case study.
Beyond failed gifts: lapsed and recovered donors
Not every missed gift shows up as Failed. Sometimes a donor just stops. GivFlow tracks donor status for each budget, so it can follow up on those too:
- Lapsed: was giving and has stopped. The lapsed donor flow reaches out before they drift for good.
- Recovered: lapsed, then came back. The recovered donor flow says thanks and welcomes them back.
- Dormant: gone quiet for longer. The dormant donor flow keeps the door open.
The same flows also invite steady donors to give on a recurring basis. Churches using GivFlow see 12% more recurring donors. With more donors covering fees or giving by bank, an effective fee rate of 0.6% is achievable.
When GivFlow fits
GivFlow is for churches on Planning Center Giving that want failed gifts followed up without someone checking reports every Monday. Setup takes about 30 minutes. We've been helping churches since 2020: 300+ churches, and $1.8M+ in recovered and added giving in the last 12 months. Plans start at $49/month. No hidden fees and no long-term contracts.
See the full failed gift flow, how the Planning Center integration works, or estimate your losses with the failed gift calculator. You can also start with a free, read-only Giving Audit or book a demo.
Frequently asked questions
What is dunning?
Dunning is following up on failed or declined payments. Subscription businesses use the word for the emails that ask a customer to update a card. For a church, it means letting a donor know their gift didn't go through and making it easy to fix.
Does Planning Center do dunning?
Planning Center Giving records a failed gift with a Failed status, so your team can see it. What it sends to donors on its own can change over time, so check Planning Center's current docs. GivFlow adds a follow-up sequence from your church, with reminders and reporting on which gifts came back.
Why do church gifts fail?
Mostly ordinary reasons. Cards expire, banks decline, and accounts change. The donor usually still wants to give. They just don't know the gift failed.
What happens if nobody follows up?
When a gift fails, 1 in 3 donors don't give again for the rest of that year. Usually that's because nobody told them.
Who do the emails come from?
From the sender your church picks. If a donor replies, the reply goes to the person you choose, so they reach a real person.
How long does setup take?
About 30 minutes. GivFlow connects to Planning Center Giving, and the flows run from there.
What does GivFlow cost?
Plans start at $49/month for up to 250 donations, and every flow is included. No hidden fees and no long-term contracts. See pricing.