Pledges: Add/Edit Pledge (Version 2+)

Fundraising: Pledges: Add/Edit Pledge

1. This tutorial will cover how to add a pledge to the system for a contact.
2. CRM operates on cash-accrual principles; this means that a receivable is not booked until it is in hand. As such, any donation that is not yet paid/not in hand should be recorded as a pledge.
3. Pledges (rather than a donation) would include: "I want to make a $100 donation and I will send a check next month" and "I want to pledge $1,200 and will pay that in three installments spread out over 6 months" and "I want to make a monthly recurring donation." In the case of the latter, you could record/set this up as a recurring donation if the donor is paying via credit card. The difference between a recurring donation and a recurring/auto-charging pledge is:
   • Whether you call it a pledge or a donation generally comes down to how your CFO wants you to record it. A recurring donation paid via credit card and a recurring pledge paid via credit card are pretty much the same thing and you could use either option, depending on your organization's internal accounting practices. Otherwise, a recurring donation paid via check or cash MUST be set up as a pledge as recurring donations in CRM must be paid via credit card.
   • Recurring donations have the ability to see that the transaction failed/the card was unable to be charged from within the system (that a failure happened and the reason). Auto charging pledges do not have this functionality.
4. When you receive payment on a pledge, it converts to a donation. That is, the payment exists both as a pledge and also a donation (you will find the same payment on the pledges index screen and the fundraising/gifts index screen).
5. When you enter a pledge in the system, it will create an invoice for the pledge. The unpaid amount will appear as one line item ("Outstanding Pledge Payment") and all payments received will recorded as separate line items on that same invoice. If you record an upgrade (the donor wants to pay more money than the originally pledged amount), then the upgrade will create a new pledge invoice for the upgrade amount (for example, if John Doe pledges $1,200 paid monthly for 12 months, and then part way through the year increases his pledge to $1,500 total, then you will have one invoice for the original $1,200 and then a second invoice for the additional $300 he adds to his original pledge). This is discussed more in the "Upgrade Pledge" and "Downgrade Pledge" tutorials.
6. Thank You letters are not generated for pledges until a payment is received (that is, there is no way to use Donation Acknowledgement letters to thank donors for making a pledge, only for thanking them for making a pledge payment).
7. To add a new pledge to the system, from the Main Menu, click EITHER Add New (quick add menu) and then select Add Pledge OR click on Fundraising to open the Fundraising sub-menu and click Pledges under the Fundraising heading which will take you to the Pledges Index screen where you can click the blue Add New button in the lower right to add a new pledge. Alternatively, you can use the Batch Pledge Entry option to enter multiple new pledges at one time. The Batch Pledge Entry option is covered under a separate tutorial.

   

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8. You may use the various filters at the top of the page to reduce the list to only those that are within a certain date range, associated to a particular contact, or equal a specific amount. Fill in your criteria and click the blue Filter button. To remove/clear the filters/to unfilter the list, click the Reset button. Please Note: when searching by date, you must enter BOTH a start and an end date.
   

   

9. To edit a pledge, from the pledge index screen, click on the Edit button to the right of the appropriate pledge entry. In the next following screen you will be able to edit/update the pledge details.

   

10. To add a new Pledge (either from quick add menu or Fundraising) , start by typing in the name for the contact you wish to add the pledge for, and if/when their name appears, select it. If the person is not already in your system, type the name and hit enter or tab. The Quick Add contact screen will open. Fill in any additional details and save. You will be returned to the Add Pledge screen. See our tutorial on quick adding contacts for more information.

    

11. Indicate the Fund and Source that all pledge payments are to be recorded under using the Fund and Source fields respectively. These are required fields. See our tutorials on configuring Funds, what the Fund field is for, and Add Gift for more information on these fields.
    

    

12. If you wish to link this pledge to a Program, Campaign, or Event indicate that in those fields. These are optional fields and are not required. See our tutorials on configuring programs and campaigns on adding donations for more information on these fields.
13. In the Solicited By field, enter the name of the person on your staff/board/volunteer committee that asked the donor for the donation if applicable. This is an optional/non-required field.
14. If the Pledge payment will be Cash select Cash only, if its through Stock select Stocks only and if the payment will be cash and stocks both, select Cash+stocks. This field is "informational only" and does not change anything nor restrict the user from entering cash and/or stock payments against any pledge schedule.
15. If this pledge is contingent on certain criteria being met in order to be paid, use the Contingency Pledge check-box to indicate this. This field is optional.
    

    

16. This will open up the additional Contingency Pledge fields where you can specify what the contingency conditions are and whether they have been met. If they have not yet been met, leave the Contingency Fulfilled field set to "no." Save the pledge and later, when the criteria has been met, edit the pledge and change the Contingency Fulfilled to yes. Please Note: if you check the contingency pledge box, you will not be able to receive payment for the pledge until you indicate that the contingency has been met (no pledge schedule will be generated until you select the Yes radio button under Contingency Fulfilled).

    

17. Next, in the Total Amount field, enter the total amount of the pledge.

    

18. Next, indicate the start date of the pledge payments/payment schedule in the Start Date field, the number of payments in the # of Installments field, and the frequency of payments in the Frequency drop down (the Frequency options are not configurable; this is a fixed list).

    

    

19. Click the black Save button in the lower right hand corner to generate the pledge payment schedule. Based on the time frame that you specify an installment plan will be created with a total number of payments equal to the number specified, spaced out using the frequency type specified.

    

    

    • Please Note: if you have indicated that this is a contingency pledge, then no pledge schedule will be generated until you mark that the contingency has been met (select the Yes button). Only the Pledge Summary information will appear (see next step for more details on the Pledge Summary fields)

      

20. In the pledge schedule area that appears, you will see an overview of the pledge's original status and current status. This area updates every time you upgrade (increase the amount pledged) or downgrade (decrease the amount pledged) the pledge.

    

21. Below the status/summary area, you will see the pledge schedule with all of the scheduled payments. You can adjust the generated payment schedule by editing the date(s) of unpaid schedules. You can remove any unwanted payment  schedule by clicking the drop down to the right of the payment and selecting Remove. The only way to adjust (increase or decrease) scheduled payment amounts is to use the Upgrade or Downgrade function (covered in separate tutorials).

    

    

22. If the contact/donor has a credit card on file, the Process Payment Automatically check box will appear. Check this to set this pledge to process payments automatically/to automatically charge the card on file for each schedule date. Please Note: this check box will only appear if there is a default credit card on file for the contact and will only appear the first time you set the pledge up. If you create the pledge without a card on file and later add a credit card, you still will not be able to set this pledge to auto charge. You MUST put the card on file FIRST and then set up the pledge to set up an auto charging pledge.

    

23. As with gift donations, pledges have the ability to record Tribute gifts. See our tutorial on adding donations for more information on tribute gifts.
    

    

24. On the right hand side of the screen, there is the ability to assign soft credit donors to the pledge. Select from the list of household members or type in the name of a contact in your system (if the person isn't in your system the quick add contact screen will appear and you will be able to quick add the person) and then click the (+) button to add the contact as a soft credit donor. See our tutorial on adding donations for more information on soft credit donors.

    

25. In the Gift Memo field indicate any notes or comments relevant to this pledge.

    

26. Use the Acknowledgement Templates section to assign the templates to be used in acknowledging this pledge and its payments with the Acknowledgement Template section. Please Note: a donation acknowledgement letter will not be generated for a pledge until pledge payments are received; no letter is generated for unpaid pledges/at the time the pledge is created, only when a payment toward the pledge is received. Each individual pledge payment will receive its own donation acknowledgement letter.
    

    

27. Select the template for the given acknowledgement type from the options provided by hovering over the template and click the green Select button. A green banner will appear over the selected template. You can preview any template by hovering over it and clicking the Preview button. Please Note: if you want to edit any template, you must first select it and then you will be given the option to edit it (see step #31 below). 

    

28. If you wish to create a new template, click the Create New button for the appropriate type. Please see the tutorial on Managing Templates for more on creating and managing system templates.
    

    

29. Once you have created or selected a template, click the black Done button in the lower right. Your selected template will now show on the Add Pledge screen.

    

    

30. If you wish to Preview or Edit the template you have selected, click on the Preview or Edit button to the right of the template name field. If you wish to choose a different template, click the Choose Template button and repeat the steps above.
31. Repeat the above steps to choose a template for Tribute gifts and for Soft Credit Donors if you have opted in your default acknowledgement settings to send soft credit donors their own letter instead of sending one letter to the primary donor and soft credit donor together.
32. The File field allows you to upload a file, such as a copy of the letter from the donor, a copy of checks sent for payment, etc. This field is optional.

    

33. When you have finished configuring the pledge, and its details, click on the Save button in the lower right of the screen to Save the pledge, Save and Add New to save and close this pledge and add another pledge (for the same contact or for a different contact), or Save and Close to save this pledge and exit out of the Add Pledge screen.

    

34. This will save the pledge, and create an installment plan based on the Amount and Time Frame that you specified for the pledge if you didn't click Save prior to this step.
35. If this is a contingency pledge, the installment plan will not be created until the conditions of the pledge have been met by marking the Yes option.