Pledges: Downgrade Pledge (Reduce the Amount Pledged)
- Downgrading a pledge means decreasing the amount pledged of an existing pledge. This can be done by decreasing any of the scheduled payments or removing pledge schedules.
- To get started, navigate to the pledge index screen by clicking on click on Fundraising on the Main Menu to open the Fundraising sub-menu and click Pledges under the Fundraising heading.
- This will take you to the pledges index screen where you can find all of your existing pledges.
- You can use the various filters at the top of the page to search for the pledge you wish to edit by date range, contact/donor name, or total pledge amount. Fill in your criteria and click the blue Filter button. To remove/clear the filters/to unfilter the list, click the Reset button.
- To downgrade an existing pledge, click on the Edit button to the right of the appropriate pledge entry.
- This will take you to the Add/Edit Pledge screen. From here, you can downgrade a pledge.
- A pledge can be downgraded in one of FIVE ways: a) use the blue Downgrade/Write Off Pledge button, b) use the Remove (schedule) button on the drop down menu to the right of any pledge schedule, c) use the Downgrade button on the drop down menu to the right of any pledge schedule (only available on pledge schedules that have been partially paid), d) use "receive payment" and under pay/receive less than is due, or e) "use "assign gift" and under pay/apply a donation for less than is owed.
- To downgrade a pledge using the Downgrade/Write Off Pledge button:
- Click the blue Downgrade/Write Off Pledge button in the Pledge Summary area.
- This will open up the Downgrade Pledge area.
- Start by selecting the method you want to use to downgrade the pledge.
- The first option, "Downgrade unpaid pledge schedule of specified dates," will allow you to reduce the pledge schedule amount of one or more scheduled payments. Indicate what the new (reduced) pledge amount will be per schedule, the Start Date of the reduced amount, and, if desired, the End Date of the reduced amount. In the example below, if we wanted to reduce the 05/01/2020 schedule from $300 to $100, we would fill out the Amount Per Schedule as $100, the start date as 05/01/2020 and the end date as 05/01/2020 (if we leave the end date blank, all three of the unpaid schedules would be reduced to $100 per schedule).
- The second option, "Remove unpaid schedules starting from the specified date," will delete all unpaid pledge schedules between the dates you specify. Enter a Start Date and, if desired, an End Date.
- The third option, "Remove all unpaid schedules," will delete every single unpaid pledge schedule from the pledge.
- The first option, "Downgrade unpaid pledge schedule of specified dates," will allow you to reduce the pledge schedule amount of one or more scheduled payments. Indicate what the new (reduced) pledge amount will be per schedule, the Start Date of the reduced amount, and, if desired, the End Date of the reduced amount. In the example below, if we wanted to reduce the 05/01/2020 schedule from $300 to $100, we would fill out the Amount Per Schedule as $100, the start date as 05/01/2020 and the end date as 05/01/2020 (if we leave the end date blank, all three of the unpaid schedules would be reduced to $100 per schedule).
- After filling out the downgrade information, click the blue Downgrade/Write Off Pledge button to execute the change.
- Click the blue Downgrade/Write Off Pledge button in the Pledge Summary area.
- To downgrade the pledge by using the Remove pledge schedule function:
- Click the drop down to the right of any unpaid pledge schedule and select Remove
- The pledge schedule will instantly be removed. Please Note: there is no undo button nor is there any "are you sure" pop up/option to cancel so be sure you want to remove the schedule before clicking the Remove button.
- Click the drop down to the right of any unpaid pledge schedule and select Remove
- To downgrade the pledge by receiving less payment than is owed:
- Click the drop down to the right of any unpaid pledge schedule and click Receive Payment.
- On the payment details pop up, fill in the payment date, payment method, reference number (if any), and amount.
- If you put in a payment amount that is less than the scheduled/due amount, two options will become available to you as to how to handle the overage.
- You can select the top option to downgrade the pledge schedule amount to the amount entered. The other option will allow you to keep the pledge schedule amount the same and is not a downgrade option.
- Once you make your selection, click the Continue button in the lower right to save the payment information.
- Click the drop down to the right of any unpaid pledge schedule and click Receive Payment.
- To downgrade the pledge by using the Downgrade button from the drop down to the right of a pledge schedule:
- If you use the Receive Payment function and record a PARTIAL payment for a pledge schedule, the "Downgrade" option will become available on the drop down to the right of the pledge schedule. If you later need to reduce the amount of that schedule to the amount that has been paid/to the amount of the payment received for that schedule, click the Downgrade option to do so.
- If you use the Receive Payment function and record a PARTIAL payment for a pledge schedule, the "Downgrade" option will become available on the drop down to the right of the pledge schedule. If you later need to reduce the amount of that schedule to the amount that has been paid/to the amount of the payment received for that schedule, click the Downgrade option to do so.
- To downgrade your pledge by overpaying the amount due via Assign Gift:
- Assign Gift is used to link a previously recorded donation to a pledge. This might happen when, for a example, a donor makes a pledge payment online by making a donation or when the donor makes a donation and then later decides to increase their gift/turn their gift into a pledge. They may ask that you consider their donation the first payment toward their pledge. In either instance, the donation already exists in Fundly CRM, separate from the pledge, and you wish to link the two together. To use this method, you must have recorded one or more donations for this contact.
- To link a donation to a pledge schedule, choose Assign Gift from the drop down next to any scheduled payment.
- The Assign Gift pop up window will appear with a list of donations that can be assigned to the pledge schedule (if there are no donations/no donations that are not already assigned to a pledge, then the pop up window will be blank).
- Click the radio button to the right of any donation to select a donation that is less than the amount due for the pledge schedule and then click the Continue button.
- The system will warn you that the pledge schedule will be downgraded to match the amount of the donation. Using Assign Gift, you will not have the option to receive a partial payment/ to keep the original pledge schedule amount You will only have the option to downgrade the amount due/to make the pledge schedule equal to the amount of the donation.
- Please Note: if the gift date differs from the pledge schedule date, then the pledge schedule date will be changed to match the gift date. If that date happens to be the same as another existing pledge schedule, then the two pledge schedules will be combined. The amount of the other schedule (the one you are not assigning the gift to) will be preserved and the amount of the schedule you are assigning the gift to will be added to it.
- Click OK to save the payment.
- When you are done entering your downgrade information, click the black Save or Save and Close button in the lower right to save your changes.
- No matter which method you use to downgrade the pledge, once you downgrade the pledge you will see the downgrade details in the upper right corner in the Pledge History area.
- The Latest Commitment and Current Commitment areas will update as well. Downgrades will be recorded/show as write-offs.
- If there have been upgrades to the pledge, you will see these as Additional Commitments. Each write off will be recorded against the pot of money that pledge schedule is tied to. For example, if you downgrade or remove a pledge schedule that is part of the original commitment, then you will see the write off under that entry. If you downgrade or remove a pledge schedule tied to one of the upgrades, you will see the downgrade entry under that entry. You may have to click the double arrow to open up the Latest/Additional Commitment list.
- On the corresponding pledge invoice, write offs will not show. Instead, the total outstanding pledge payment amount will be adjusted. For those clients using the QuickBooks sync, a credit memo will be issued for the pledge to show the write off amount.
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