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Lesson 12 of 24

Pledges — creating, tracking, and custom schedules

Venue AdminSuper Admin

A pledge is a commitment to give a total amount over time — "$1,200 over four quarters." The pledge itself isn't a gift; each installment is recorded as its own gift, linked back to the pledge.

Before you start

Venue Admin with canViewDonors, or Super Admin.

Creating a pledge

Go to AdminVenuesFundraisingPledges and click New pledge.

  1. Search for the Donor, or add a new one inline.

  2. Enter the Total commitment ($) and choose a Fund.

  3. Pick a Schedule: One-time, Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, or Custom schedule. For Monthly/Quarterly/Annual, set the # of installments; for One-time or Custom, that field is hidden.

  4. Set the First payment due date, and optionally an Appeal and Notes.

  5. Click Create pledge.

Building a custom schedule

Choosing Custom schedule opens a row-by-row installment builder instead of an installment count:

  1. Click + Add installment for each payment, entering a date and amount, or click Split evenly to divide the total commitment evenly across the rows you've already added.

  2. Watch the running total — "Scheduled $X / $Y" turns red until the rows add up to the full commitment (within a penny).

Tracking a pledge

Pledge detail page with the payment schedule and total/paid/balance stats
1Total commitment
2Balance
Pledge detail page with the payment schedule and total/paid/balance stats

The pledge detail page shows four header stats — Total commitment, Paid, Balance, Status — and a schedule table of each installment's due date, amount, and status (scheduled, past due, or paid).

  1. When a payment arrives, click Record payment on the pledge — it's one button at the pledge level, not a separate action per installment. Noctern applies it against the schedule and links the resulting gift back to the pledge.

  2. If a pledge needs to end early, click Cancel / write off, then choose Write off (uncollectible — closes the pledge) or Cancel pledge (the donor is no longer committing) from the confirmation dialog.

Pledge reports

AdminVenuesFundraisingPledgesReports has four tabs — Expected income, Aging, Open pledges, and Fulfillment — each exportable as CSV or XLSX. The Aging tab lists overdue installments with a running Total overdue.

Watch out

A pledge is a receivable, not revenue — it's never synced to QuickBooks itself. Only the individual payments (gifts) sync, same as any other gift.

Try it yourself
  • Open the demo venue's Pledges list and open the pledge that has a past-due installment.
  • Check the header stats against the schedule table.
  • Start a new pledge with a Custom schedule and try Split evenly across three rows.

Open this topic in the help center

Try it

Create a pledge for a patron with a total amount and a custom schedule of three uneven installments, using Split evenly first and then adjusting. Save it, then record a payment against the first installment.

Checkpoint

Answer all 3 questions correctly to mark this lesson complete.

  1. 1. What is the difference between a pledge and a gift?

  2. 2. What must be true of a custom installment schedule before it saves?

  3. 3. Which report shows outstanding balances and past-due installments?