Pledge Management
General guidance on various Pledge Campaign scenarios.
Donor is Giving Through a Third Party
Third party credit is allowed. However, for capital and budget campaigns, it may be necessary to make a note during Batch Manager Tool (BMT) entry. The note serves as a reminder that third party pledge credit is needed. This can be handled in the Platform by locating the Donation and editing the appropriate Donation Distribution record. Standard procedure after entry of all donations is to run a Selected Batch Notes report against all batches from that week. This report provides notes about any Platform changes needed, including third party credit.
Donors Have Gifts that Were Not Credited to the Pledge
At any point, a user with sufficient rights can modify the Donation Distribution record assigning, or re-assigning, pledge credit. This would generally not have any consequence to the GL. The Audit Log should be a sufficient record of the change. If many donations need to be credited to the same pledge, select the Donation Distribution records on that page and use the Assign tool to set the pledge for all selected records at one time.
The Pledge is on the Donor's Record, but a Spouse Writes the Checks
This is a special type of third party credit. In this case, it is absolutely fine to assign a Donation to the spouse who wrote the check and credit the pledge of the spouse who has the pledge. During entry in BMT, pledges for both spouses appear if either spouse is selected. As long as each Head of Household (each spouse) is listed as having a Family statement type, they get one statement, and their pledge balance will be correct.
Donor Cancels Pledge
If the donor indicates she will not complete the pledge, edit the pledge changing the status to Discontinued. Do not modify the pledge amount.
Donor Leaves the Church
The Deceased Person Tool and the Inactivate Tool both handle pledges. The Inactivate Tool discontinues any active pledges. The Deceased Person Tool allows for the transfer of pledges to a surviving spouse OR for discontinuing (canceling) the pledges. Discuss the appropriate procedures at your church for these tools. All users of the tools should understand the implications and options.
Donor Changes Pledge Total or Frequency
If the donor changes their pledge amount significantly, it may be wise to discontinue the first pledge and create a new one. For minor changes in amount or changes in frequency of giving, it is probably fine to modify the existing Pledge record.
Donor Completes Pledge
If a donor gives the amount equal to or greater than Pledge Total, then you may edit the pledge marking it as Completed. However, you should note that the pledge no longer appears in the BMT. Some donors continue to give to the campaign beyond their pledge. If you want, you can leave the Pledge active until the campaign concludes.
Campaign Ends
Edit all Pledges making their status Complete or Discontinued. Use the Mark as Complete view on the Pledges page to identify Pledges that have received as much or more in donations than their pledge total. Use the Assign tool on the Pledges page to change many pledge statuses all at one time.
Two Pledges are Created
It is a good idea to edit one of the pledges and create a distinguishing feature, so that you know which one is which. Then, open the pledge that you want to remove or combine. Use the delete button and choose the option to reassign any related records to the pledge which should be kept. You may also want to start on the donation distribution page and re-assign any donations to the appropriate pledge before deleting the one that should be removed.