Introduction

Pledges can be created very easily and are a great way to manage future pledged donations from donors. Pledges are donations promised by a donor for payment in the future. The donor may decide to make multiple payments over an agreed upon period of time. CharityEngine offers a pledge feature to assist fundraising of pledge donation types.

Prerequisites

1. To establish custom pledge names/types see the Instructions - Configuration Pledge Types, Statuses, Cancel Reason for Customization section below. 
2. Please note, pledge invoice/installments are not automatically created through the Pledge web form feature. This is an intentional design as most organizations will work with a donor to create a single or multi payment schedule. If you wish to create a 'short term' recurring payment cycle (i.e. $10/month for 12 months), consider using the sustainer web form feature and customize the sustainer accounts for max collection (i.e. $120 collected). 

Introduction - A Basic Understanding of Pledge Structure within CharityEngine

Similar to Sustainers, Pledges are structured first by creating a 'pledge account'. Pledge accounts are typically used in instances where has arranged with the non-profit organization for a one-time, time limited gift (one year, less than a year, or multi-year). The donor and the non-profit organization will arrange a planned payment schedule which may be monthly, semi-annually, or customized to the donor's needs. The pledge account is the basis of capturing the donor, their 'pledged' amount, start/end dates, frequency of payment, and payment amounts. Other attributes can be assigned to the pledge record including funds, initiatives/campaigns, solicitor, associated opportunity, etc. 

Once a pledge account has been established, invoices/installments will be generated (either manually or automatically based upon the assigned set up). invoices/installments allow CharityEngine end users to determine if payment has been received or payment is outstanding. Note: invoices are also referred to as "installments".

Once an invoice/installment is open, a transaction will connected to the open invoice/installment. If payment is successfully received, the invoice/installment will be closed. If payment is not received - or the payment was declined (i.e. declined credit card or ACH payment), the invoice/installment will remain open to allow CharityEngine users to track outstanding balances. 

As payments are collected with a unique transaction ID, the pledge account will reflect the total collected and will reduce the total outstanding balance. 

In this example, the donor "Demo Pledge" has committed to a $13,000 pledge. To date, $6,000 has been collected leaving an outstanding balance of $7,000. The donor's next installment is scheduled for May 1st based upon an agreement for a monthly payment schedule. The prior 6 payments can be located on the Payments tab and will reflect the specific transaction ID associated with this Pledge Account - 2286891. 
 

Instructions - Creating a New Pledge

Step 1: To create a pledge, navigate to the Donations App > Quick Actions > New Pledge 

Step 2: You will be navigated to the New Pledge screen where you will need to enter the following information:

1. Amount: (required) - amount of total pledge
2. Active: default - yes
3. Create Installment: default - yes (for creation of payment plan)
4. Status: if applicable
5. Anonymous: default no
6. Category: default to type as donation
7. Fund: select fund value if applicable
8. GL Code: select for general ledger code if applicable
   
   

Step 3: Navigate to the Contact tab and locate a person, organization, or household

Step 4: Navigate to the Billing tab. Default is set as Manual. This is the default as you will likely need to determine a customized invoicing schedule for each donor. This may be required as you are negotiating the payment schedule or know that you will require some flexibility in the pledge collection.  However, if your organization also supports a recurring payment schedule, select Auto and move to Step 5. 

a. If you are proceeding with a Manual Billing schedule, click SAVE. This will expose the Installments tab.

b. Click Add New and you will be navigated to create a new installment.

c. Enter the Amount of the installment and enter Due Date and click SAVE. This will secure the first invoice/installment. If you wish, add additional installments based upon a customized billing plan. 

Step 5: To configure automatic billing of the pledge donation, click the auto radio button to configure the payment from the Billing tab.

1. 1. Enter the:
      1. Amount: the installment amount that will be automatically billed
      2. Frequency: How often the donor will be billed
      3. Start Date: The date of the first installment billing
         1. Note: If you do not want to bill the amount upon creation of the pledge, change the start date to reflect the appropriate start date.
      4. Method: tender type
         1. Note: If Bank Account or Credit Card are selected, you will need to enter the payment information and on the start date the account will be billed. If the payment method is not electronic, i.e. cash or check, the payment will not process and the transaction will have to be manually entered and processed.
         2. Credit Card: Select Capture Only (capture for future dated installment), Process Now (if first payment is to be initiated at time of pledge creation, Processor will be default or select change - ideal if your organization supports a 501c and 501c4 gateway), Authorization Only (to ensure valid credit card value for future dated installment)
         3. Bank Account: Select Capture Only (capture for future dated installment) or Process Now (if first payment is to be initiate at time of pledge creation)
         4. Cash/Check/Other: The transaction will be created, however no payment will be processed until the payment has been received. The collection detail for cash/check/other pledge will always require a manual payment entry
      5. Click SAVE secure payment
         

Step 6: The Payment tab will provide a summary of all payments associated to the Pledge Account (manual and/or automatic)

Step 7: The Pledge Account is now established and will initiate automatic installments - or will be available to enter manual installments

Instructions - Managing an Existing Pledge

If you need to performance maintenance on a pledge record, this can be achieved easily through the Pledge feature. 

Step 1: Navigate to the Donations App > Pledge > Search & Manage > locate the pledge record > ACTIONS > Manage

Note: From the ACTIONS list, you can also Pause Until to pause installment payments, change the billing date through Billing Date, Cancel the pledge, access Payments, or Delete the pledge account. 

Step 2: From the General tab to:

1. Amount: click to change the pledge amount
2. Active: click to make the pledge record inactive
3. Contact: click to change the contact name
4. Type: to change the pledge type
5. Status: to change status
6. Anonymous: to make anonymous
7. Category: to change the type
8. GL Code: to add a general ledger code for accounting

Step 3: From the Contact tab, modify the name, employer, address, phone, and/or email

Step 4: Adjust billing details including amount, frequency, method, update card number/bank account (for automatic payments), etc. 

Important: When any billing detail is modified, the user must determine to Copy to Installments electing no change on an open installment invoices/installments, collectible installment invoices/installments, or no adjustments to open/collectible installment invoices/installments. 

Step 5: Navigate to the Attribution tab to add/modify other account attributions or transaction custom fields (via custom sub tab)

Step 6: Navigate to the Funds tab to add/edit funds attributions

Step 7: Navigate to the Installments tab to review past and current installments. Create a new installment by clicking Add New. 
Note: If the pledge account is manual, the user will need to use the Add New to customize new installments

Step 8: Navigate to the Payments tab to review past payments. Create a new payment by clicking Add New. 

Note: If processing manual pledge payments, the user can use Add New to create a payment. Pledge payments can also be created through the Donations App > Quick Actions > New Payment (see next image)

If manually entering a pledge payment from Donations App > Quick Actions > New Payment > Payments: Pledge and select Type

Step 9: Navigate to the Adjustments tab to see historical adjustments to the pledge account

Step 10: The Stream tab will provide a summary of all adjustments associated with the contact record

Step 11: The Notes tab can be used to create new notations for the pledge account

Step 12: The Files tab can be used to attach files to the pledge account

Step 13: Use the Advanced tab for adjustments to the Payment Processor to override the default processor. This is beneficial if your organization manages more than one processor. 

Instructions - Managing Installments

Leveraging the Installments option will provide easy access to all past, current and future pledge installments/invoices. Leverage this section to conduct a series of tasks related to installments. 

Step 1: Navigate to the Donations App > Pledges > Installments

Step 2: From the listing screen leverage the quick filters and advanced filters to identify the target installments

Step 3: Use the options from the top right hand corner to:

1. Create New installment record
2. Advanced Filter for additional filtering options
3. More > Send Messages to bulk send message to the identified population (such as invoices/installments or payment reminders)
4. Export listing screen details

Step 4: Navigate to ACTIONS to expose individual installment options including

1. Manage to view the installment details
2. Send Message to initiate an email/letter to the donor
3. Pay Online to initiate the Online Bill Pay app - this link can be sent to the donor for secure online payment
4. Pay Now to initiate payment with the payment on file
5. Copy & Pay Now
6. Copy Payment Info
7. Transactions to view all transactions associated with the invoice/installment
8. Delete the installment/invoice/installment

Instructions - Viewing Pledges on the Contact Record

Pledge accounts can be located in the Pledge panel by navigating to the Contacts App > Organizations & People > Contact > locate your contact > Manage the record > Go To (top right hand corner) > Pledges

Instructions - Configuring Pledge Types, Statuses, Cancel Reason for Customization

If you require customization of pledge account options, use the Configuration App to create various pledge types.  

Step 1: Navigate to the Configuration App > Pledge Type > Create New to create a Name (required - internal reporting) and Code (required - external for Pledge feature and/or on Pledge Web Form).

Step 2: Create custom status codes to be used on a pledge account for reporting/filtering needs. Click Create New to create a custom code.

Step 3: Create custom cancellation codes to be used on a pledge account for reporting/filtering needs. Click Create New to create a custom cancel reason.

Instructions - Sending Communication to Pledges

If your organization utilizes pledges, you may want to send communication to them reminding them of their upcoming pledge due date or if their payment has been declined. when creating that message, CharityEngine makes it easy by using a Pledge Payment Link token that can be inserted into the email that will take the pledge directly to the bill pay application. It is important to note that only pledges that are paying with electronic methods, such as Credit Card or ACH will be able to utilize this link and any other methods, such as Cash or Check will still have to be manually sent it and entered into CharityEngine.

To add the pledge payment link token, you can utilize the special links that CharityEngine has made accessible for you. If you want to use the button format, add your button to the message and in the content properties, click on Special links.



Select Payment, then Select Pledge Payment Link.

         

The token will then appear in the URL text box.

Pledge Reminder Emails

You may want to set up a scheduled communication to remind pledges that their payment will be due soon. To do this, you will need to first create the email message, which can be done following the above steps, and then identify the pledges that need to be sent this message. To create the query navigate to the Automation & Workflow Application, then under the General sections, click Queries. Click Create New in the upper right corner and then select Donations from the applications filter dropdown and select the Pledges table.



In the Select section, add Contact Id, Pledge Id, and Payment Next date. You can add additional fields if needed for your reporting. Then in the filter section you will need to add the Payment Next Date. You will need to decide how frequently you are going to send this reminder out, but in the below example, we are sending this email out monthly and need to identify anyone who has a payment due in the next 30 days. To accomplish this, we have add the Payment Next Date filter twice and set it to in the future AND before the next 30 days. This will make sure that you are not pulling in past due payments and only payments that are in the next 30 days, as shown below.




Once you Save the query, you can set up your schedule directly from the query screen by clicking on the down arrow next to save and clicking on Automated Email.





You will be navigated to the job scheduler screen where you will need to enter in the name and select the message you will be sending to your pledges.





once you click Save, you will then be able to schedule the email to go out as frequent as needed. In the case that we are sending this email monthly, you would select month from the first dropdown and then the day of month you want to send, i.e. 1st day of the month, as shown below. Click on the Create button to add the trigger and then click save to ensure that your changes have been saved.




Decline Pledge Email

If one of your pledges has a declined payment, you will want to notify them in order to collect the donation and not lose out on potential revenue. You can easily do this by create an email message, see the steps above, and utilizing our communication series tool. To create a communication series, navigate to Campaigns and under the Create & Publish section, click on Communication Series. Click on Create New in the upper right corner, then select Failed Payment as the type of series.



Add your Email step and select the message you created for this campaign. Then click Save.



By selecting one of the out of the box options for the communication series, your query is already created, however we will need to make a minor adjustment to the query to ensure we are only targeting pledges. To modify the automatically created query, navigate to the Automation & Workflow application, then under the General section, click on Queries. The query should be one of the first ones listed on the query listing screen and should be named Failed Payment Communication Series and show the communication series you just created attributed to it.



Click on the name to edit the query. The only modification to the query you will need to make it to add the invoice/installment type field to the filter and set it to pledge, as shown below.



Click Save to ensure your changes have been saved. The last step in the communication series creation is to launch your series. Navigate back to the communication series listing screen and under the Actions ellipsis click on Launch.

FAQs & Additional Reading

Q. I would like to set up a monthly recurring payment that is ongoing. Should I use the Pledge functionality?
A. For ongoing, recurring payments CharityEngine recommends the usage and set up of a Sustainer Account (Donations App > Sustainers > Search & Manage). This is an ideal solution for automatic/recurring donations. 

Q. Am I able to create a Pledge Web Form?
A. Yes - learn more about the Pledge Web Form Creating Pledge Forms.

Q. Are you able to import Pledge Accounts in bulk?
A. Yes - learn more about importing Pledge Accounts, establishing installments, and importing historical pledge transactions by accessing our Help Center Article Data Importing: How to Import Pledge Accounts & Historical Pledge Transactions

Q. Are you able to create a split fund on the pledge account record?
A. Yes. Navigate to the pledge record and select the Funds tab. Use the drop down to select the fund split along with type/name and dollar allocation. Please note, this will not influence subsequent transactions. Transactions can be assigned independently with one or more funds. 

Q. I am using an email creative and am using the Special Link feature. Which option do I select to allow the donor to make a payment or update their payment details?
A. Using the appropriate special link requires alignment with your audience source (query or report). Please follow these guidelines when using payment special links:

• Sustainers: How to Create and Manage Recurring Donors
• Overview: Acknowledgements
• Transactions: Sending Individual/Multiple Acknowledgements or Receipts
• Donations: How to Manually Create Soft Credits
• Donations: Assigning a Transaction to A Sustainer, Membership, or Pledge Account
• Data Entry: How to Input Individual Payments
• Donations: How to Manage a Transaction
• Donations
• Donations: How To Process Bulk Refunds
• Transactions: Fraudulent Transactions, Proactive Fraud Management, & Managing Fraud Events
• Sustainer Records: How to Deactivate Sustainers in Mass
• Data Governance: Updating Contact Records Through the Transaction or Contact Screen
• Transactions: Sending Year End Statements Using the User Center
• Communication: How to Send Messages from Listing Screens
• Data Importing: How to Import Transactions
• Accounting & Finance: Leveraging General Ledger Codes vs. Funds
• Credit Card Automatic Updater: How to Configure the Card Updater and Overrides
• Transactions: How to Create a Reversal Transaction
• Data Import: How to Import Soft Credits
• Donations-Batch Entry: How to Set-up & Enter Donations Via Batch Processing
• Accounting: Accounting and Financial Reconciliation
• Pledges: Creating Pledge Web Forms
• Contacts: Comprehensive Guide for Usage and Management of Tributes
• Opportunities & Moves Management: Comprehensive Guide for Set Up, Configuration, and Reporting
• Donation Entry: How to Enter Batch Transactions
• Automation & Workflow: An Overview of Triggers & Use Case - Examples
• Data Importing: How to Import Pledge Accounts & Historical Pledge Transactions
• Refunds
• Queries: What Can I Do with Queries - Creating A Transaction List - People, Households, Organization
• Donations: Issuing Credit
• Transactions : Chargebacks
• Acknowledgments
• Donations: Batch Audience Lookup