Summary: This guide explains how to customize the content of your automatic donation receipt emails and manage notification preferences—including the new Card Account Update alerts—to align donor communications with your church's branding.
Before You Begin
Permissions: You must be an Administrator for your church's account to access these settings.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Navigate to Giving Settings. Log in to your Tithely account, select Giving from the main menu, and then click Settings.
Select Donation Emails. This tab houses all configuration options for receipts and automated notifications.
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Customize your Receipt Content.
Subject Line & Body: Enter your custom text to personalize the message donors receive immediately after giving.
Signature: Add a sign-off specific to your ministry.
Update your Support Email. Uncheck the 'Use default support email' box and enter your desired address (e.g.,
giving@yourchurch.com). This ensures donor replies go to your administrative team instead of the Account Owner's personal inbox.Manage App Store Badges (Optional). Uncheck the 'Show App Store Badges' box if you wish to remove the iOS and Android app download links from the footer of your emails.
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Configure Optional Emails (Card Account Updates). Locate the "Optional Emails" section to manage specific system notifications.
Card Account Update notification: This setting is toggled ON by default.
What is this? A Card Account Update (CAU) occurs when a card issuer (like Visa or Mastercard) automatically refreshes a donor's card details (e.g., new expiration date) to prevent declined recurring gifts.
Action: You can toggle this to OFF if you prefer not to notify donors when these background updates occur, which can help reduce donor confusion or unnecessary support inquiries.
Click Save. Ensure you hit the Save button at the bottom of the page to apply your changes.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
What is a "Card Account Update"? Card Account Updates happen when a card issuer automatically refreshes card details on a secure token—such as updating an expiration date—so that recurring payments continue without interruption.
Why would I turn off CAU notifications? While the update itself is helpful, the automated email notifying the donor can sometimes cause confusion or concern (e.g., donors wondering why their card was changed without them doing it). Disabling this notification stops the email but keeps the feature active.
Why are donor replies going to our lead pastor? By default, the support email is set to the Account Owner’s email address. To change this, follow Step 4 to uncheck the default setting and enter a more appropriate address.
I updated the email content, but old receipts haven't changed. The changes you save will only apply to future donation emails. They are not retroactive and will not alter receipts that have already been sent.