Our import tool helps you add pledges to Givebutter in bulk. It's useful when you're moving pledges over from another system or logging pledges collected outside of Givebutter, like a form on your website. You can upload a comma-separated value (CSV) file, copy and paste from a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, or type info directly into the import table.
Pledges can only be imported for contacts that already exist in your Givebutter account. The pledge importer does not create new contacts. If any of your pledgers aren't in Givebutter yet, import them with the contact importer first.
Givebutter needs some basic information about each pledge to create it in your account. Data formatting is traditionally a time-consuming step. To help you prepare your data, you can download a template from your dashboard.
Preparing data for import 🧮
You can download the pledge import template from either your Pledges page or your Imports settings.
From your Transactions page, click the Pledges tab at the top, then click the Import button in the upper right, and select Download import template.
From your Imports page, click Settings in the left-hand sidebar, click the Imports tab, and click New Import. Select Pledges from the dropdown, and in the importer, click Download Template. Choose the format you prefer, and click Download.
The file will be saved to your computer, usually in your downloads folder or on your desktop. Open the template with the software of your choice, such as Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets, and enter your own data.
The template includes one row of example data. Be sure to delete that information before you upload your finished file!
Each row in your file is one pledge. Every row must include the pledge Amount and either a Givebutter Contact ID or a Contact External ID to match the pledge to an existing contact. All other columns are optional.
Columns can be in any order:
Givebutter Pledge ID – The ID of a pledge that already exists in your Givebutter account. Leave this blank when importing new pledges.
Pledge External ID – An optional ID for the pledge, such as the pledge ID from your previous system.
Givebutter Contact ID – The Givebutter ID of the contact this pledge belongs to.
Contact External ID – The External ID of the contact this pledge belongs to. External IDs are case-sensitive, so "ABC123" and "abc123" won't match.
Campaign Code – The code of the campaign this pledge is intended for.
Campaign Title – The title of the campaign this pledge is intended for.
Fund Name – The name of the fund this pledge goes toward.
Fund Code – The code of the fund this pledge goes toward.
Type – donation, sponsorship, match, or other.
Pledged On – The date the donor made the pledge (YYYY-MM-DD).
Canceled Date – The date the pledge was canceled (YYYY-MM-DD). Leave this blank for active pledges.
Amount ($) (required) – The total pledge amount.
Allow Custom Amount – yes or no. Allows donors to pay an amount different from the set installment amount.
Memo – An optional memo, max 600 characters. Memos are included in communications to the donor.
Internal Note – An optional internal note, max 600 characters. Internal notes are not sent to the donor.
Fee Coverage type – Which fees are shown to the donor: platform, processing, or both.
Fee Coverage Visibility – How fees are handled: ask, required, or hidden.
Tips Enabled – yes or no. When set to yes, donors are asked for an optional tip to Givebutter, and fee coverage settings don't apply.
Auto Remind – yes or no. Sends the donor a reminder 2 days before each installment is due.
Include in Campaign Goal – yes or no. Counts pledge payments toward the campaign's total raised and goal bar.
First Installment Date – The date the first installment is due (YYYY-MM-DD).
Installment Frequency – one-time, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, or custom.
Number of Installments – The number of installments to split the pledge into.
Manual Installment Dates – A custom list of installment dates, separated by a pipe (|).
Manual Installment Amounts – A custom list of installment amounts, separated by a pipe (|).
Installment schedules 📅
Every pledge needs an installment schedule. You can set it up in one of two ways, but each row must use only one of these options:
Automatic scheduling 🧈
Enter an Installment Frequency, a First Installment Date, and the Number of Installments.
The pledge amount is split evenly across the installments, the same way it is when you create a pledge in your dashboard.
For one-time pledges, enter one-time as the frequency, and the full amount will be due on the first installment date.
Manual scheduling ✏️
List each installment date in the Manual Installment Dates column and each amount in the Manual Installment Amounts column, separated by a pipe (|). For example, 2026-01-15|2026-07-15 and 500|500.
Dates must be unique, and the installment amounts must add up to the total pledge amount.
Leave First Installment Date and Number of Installments blank when using manual installments.
Uploading your data ⬆️
You can start a pledge import from your Pledges page or your Imports page in your Settings. Both open the same import uploader.
From your Transactions page, click the Pledges tab at the top, click Import, and select Pledges import.
From your Imports page, click Settings on the left-hand sidebar, select Imports, click the blue New Import button, and select Pledges.
Choose Upload file, and select the correct file from your computer. You can also manually enter data by typing it in, but file imports are much faster. Supported file types include .csv, .tsv, .xls, .xlsx, .xml, and .txt. After selecting your file, the data will automatically be extracted.
Click Import to import your data.
Confirm mapping for your data. If Givebutter assigned your Incoming Field data to a Destination Field that isn't a match, click the dropdown arrow to assign your column to a different Givebutter field/attribute.
Review any errors flagged on individual rows. Rows are checked before import. For example, a row is flagged if its contact can't be found or its installment amounts don't add up to the pledge amount.
When you're done matching the data fields, click Continue in the upper right corner, and click Submit to import your pledges. The importer will begin processing.
You'll be notified by email when your import is complete.
If the import failed, follow the directions provided in our email to reconcile any errors. To track the status of your import, navigate to Settings in the left-hand menu on your dashboard and click on Imports.
Viewing imports 👀
In your dashboard, go to Settings, then click Imports. You'll see a list of your import history. You can also click Import on your Pledges page and select View import history to be directed to the same page.
This page will display all of your imports, not just pledge imports.
Failed import rows will be displayed here. You can download just the failed records by clicking the red icon next to the relevant import.
To download the import file, click the three dots [...] on the left side, and click Download File.
Click on any import to view details, including the type of import, number of rows, number of failed rows, the date of the import, and specific line items for each failed row.
Deleting imports ❌
If you make a mistake, you can delete imports from your account. This will remove all data from this import – proceed with caution. We cannot restore deleted import data.
In your Givebutter dashboard, navigate to Settings and click Imports.
You'll see a list of all previous imports in the History section. Click the three dots [...] on the right side of the import you'd like to delete.
Click Delete imported pledges to delete this import.
Click Delete Data to confirm the deletion.
FAQ 🤔
Can I import pledges from a separate form and create new contacts at the same time?
Not in one step. The pledge importer only adds pledges to contacts that already exist in your Givebutter account, and rows that don't match an existing contact will fail. If you collect pledges through a form on your website, import them in two steps:
First, import any new pledgers with the contact importer. Give each contact an External ID, such as the form's submission or donor ID. Then, import your pledges, using that same ID in the Contact External ID column so each pledge links to the right contact. Contacts who are already in Givebutter can skip the first step. Use their Givebutter Contact ID or their existing External ID in the pledge import.
Can I link past payments to imported pledges?
Transactions can't be tied to a pledge through the transaction importer. After your pledges are imported, you can link existing transactions to each pledge from the pledge's Payments tab.
I don't want to import a spreadsheet. How do I manually add pledge import data?
You can manually enter data following the same steps listed above – instead of selecting a file to import from your computer, click Manually enter data.
I'm importing an Excel file and the data doesn't look correct in the importer.
Excel has many formatting options for text or numbers. Make sure your data isn't formatted in any particular way that will be confusing for the system. General is a good category to default to if you can.