Managing pledges
Discipling people in stewardship and regular giving can be challenging. To help, we've included pledge management functionality within the Giving module, enabling givers to make non-binding commitments to the church or organisation they support. Pledges are extremely helpful for planning, projecting future income, and producing budgets.
In this article
Introduction
Adding pledges
Pledge reporting in ChurchSuite
Managing pledges in My ChurchSuite
Importing pledges
Introduction
Churches and charitable organisations that promote or solicit pledges can add details of those pledges against each giver's profile. When adding and importing donations, they are matched against the giver's pledges; where matched, they are linked, which means you and the giver can track pledge progress over time.
Subscription pledges
In addition to the manual pledge functionality described in this article, a pledge is added automatically when a giver makes an online recurring donation through Donate, known as a subscription pledge. The Method column on the list of pledges distinguishes subscription pledges from any manual pledges the giver may have made for recurring donations by other payment methods. Unlike manual pledges, subscription pledges can't be deleted. However, a giver (and Giving module users on the giver's behalf) can make certain changes to a subscription pledge or cancel it entirely. For further information about managing subscription pledges, see the related support article Accepting online donations.
Automatic pledge matching
When adding and importing donations, they are automatically linked to a pledge where there is a definitive match for:
- a single pledge for the donation fund on the donation date or
- There are multiple pledges for the fund on the donation date AND the donation amount is either an exact multiple of the pledge recurring amount or the exact one-off pledge amount.
Donations are not auto-linked if the donation matches multiple pledges for the donation fund and date or where the donation amount is neither a multiple of a recurring pledge amount nor equal to a one-off pledge amount. However, in the Giving module, a user can manually choose a pledge to link an unlinked donation.
Adding pledges
Working from the giver profile page within the Givers section of the Giving module, select the Pledges tab. Click Add pledge.
On the Add pledge pop-up, complete the pledge details. A pledge is always for a selected Fund and must always have a Start Date - the date on which the first donation is pledged to be made. The pledge End date is optional or can be added if the giver later chooses to end their pledge. A pledge can comprise a One-off Amount and a Recurring Amount, which will be given from the Start date and Frequency. In the example below, the giver is pledging £25 each month from 1st September and a one-off amount of £50 (which may be given with the pledge or at a later unspecified date).
The pledge is added and listed on the Pledges tab of the giver's profile. Note the option to Edit or Delete a pledge. Deleting a pledge will unlink any previously linked pledge donations. The donations are not deleted.
When adding or editing a donation, you can link it to a pledge. Only active pledges for the donation Fund and Date are shown in the Pledge matching results. Where a definitive pledge match on Fund, Date and Amount can be made, the donation is auto-linked to the pledge. Otherwise, you can select a pledge to link to.
The Donated indicator shows pledge progress as of 'today'. In this example, as of 'today', the giver had pledged a £50 one-off donation and their first two recurring amounts of £25, i.e. £100 and has made donations totalling £100 linked to the pledge, i.e. 100% pledge progress. However, where a pledge has a defined End Date the Donated pledge progress indicator reflects the % of the total pledged amount based on actual donations made within the pledge date range.
Pledge reporting in ChurchSuite
A linked pledge indicator icon is shown whenever lists of donations in the Giving module are viewed. Hovering your cursor over the pledge link icon will show pop-out pledge details:
- in the Donations section of the module
- on the Donations tab of a giver's profile
- when viewing a donation Batch
- donations included in a Gift Aid claim (UK customers only)
- in the Donation Total and Gift Aid Donations reports
The ChurchSuite Giving module includes several pledge-related Reports grouped in the Pledges section.
Pledges Active
The Pledges Active report is designed to display a list of active pledges on a given date. Filters are provided for Funds, Tags, Method and % Donated, and the report can be Ordered by Giver, Pledge Start Date or Method. The Donated progress bar and Total Pledged columns represent the actual donations made and the total pledge amount from the start of each listed pledge to the Date being reported.
Pledges Progress
The Pledges Progress report shows a breakdown of monthly pledged and received donations for your givers. This report may help identify donations processed that have not been linked to a pledge or donations that have been incorrectly linked to the wrong pledge.
In the example below for Janine's pledge for £25.85 monthly, she fulfilled her pledged monthly donations of £25.85 in October and November; in December, she looks to have made an additional donation of £20, and she has yet to meet her pledge commitment in January. As can be seen, the timings of donation dates may cause the report to show 'overs' (in green) and 'unders' (in red) vs the expected pledged donations for a month.
Recent Changes
The pledge Recent Changes report lists all pledge changes made by a Giving module User or the giver through My ChurchSuite.
Total Pledged
The Total Pledged report calculates the amount pledged over a given range of Dates and a list of the related pledges for that period. The progress bars in the Donated column of the report respect the filtered Dates, meaning that you can use this report to forecast pledged income and predict donations attached to pledges.
Managing pledges in My ChurchSuite
Givers with My ChurchSuite access can view a list of active (and expired) pledges and pledge progress in their My Giving section. The Pledges section only shows if pledge management is first enabled in the Giving module settings.
From the cogwheels icon in the top-right corner of the module, click on the My ChurchSuite Options tab and check your Settings and Enable My ChurchSuite access is enabled.
Scroll down to the Pledges section and click Edit to make changes and Enable pledge management.
Optionally tick to Allow new pledges to be added - without which, givers will only be able to view their existing pledges and will be unable to add new pledges. An optional Message can be added to further inform your givers about pledges. The message is displayed on the Pledges tab when a giver views their My Giving details.
Once enabled, and perhaps when running a stewardship campaign, you can direct givers with My ChurchSuite access to respond and Add a pledge. The example below shows the giver's existing pledges, comprising a manual pledge they have previously made and two subscription pledges. Givers can Manage subscription pledges - perhaps if changing their linked card details or pledge amount or cancelling their pledge entirely. However, manual pledges cannot be changed, cancelled or deleted through My ChurchSuite once added - this can only be done by a Giving module user. Expired pledges continue to show for two months after expiry and then are hidden, but they remain visible to Giving module Users on the giver's profile page.
When self-managing a subscription pledge (GoCardless/Stripe)—either from My ChurchSuite or from the Manage Giving link in a pledge confirmation emails—the giver is required to enter a pledge access code. The access code is sent to the giver's My ChurchSuite registered email address and is valid for two hours or the duration of the active browser session, after which time it expires.
A giver can add a pledge by clicking Add pledge on the Pledges tab. A pledge start date is required, but the end date is optional - a pledge is considered 'enduring' if an end date isn't specified. A pledge is always for a selected Fund - only funds with visibility set as Show in Donate are shown. The giver can select the pledge Frequency and enter the amount - note how a pledge can optionally comprise a Recurring Amount and a One-off Amount. An enduring manual pledge can only be ended by a Giving module user adding the end date.
Importing pledges
Customers with existing pledge data can import it via a CSV format file. Head to the Givers section of the module and select Import pledges:
An example CSV file is provided to help you prepare your pledge data, ready for import, and a list of supported CSV column headers is shown along with the field in the Giving module that each header field will be imported to. When your CSV is correctly formatted, select Choose file, locate the file you require and click Upload File:
A preview of the data to be imported is surfaced:
Scroll down and click Import All Records if you are happy with the data, or Cancel if you need to make any changes.
Clicking Import All Records. The data is imported and ready to review. Any Errors will be highlighted. You can Pause or Delete the import at this stage. When happy, click Process:
Imported pledges show on the Pledges tab for each giver with an Active or Future status:
