Pledge management allows your organization to track promised donations while fostering stronger donor relationships. Upon receiving a donor pledge, you can easily log the commitment timeline, total amount, and additional information.
You can also send reminders, establish flexible installment plans, and keep note of outstanding pledges. If configured, the amount paid will be reflected in the campaign goal bar. You can also associate a pledge installment with an existing transaction or a new offline transaction.
Pledges cannot added by donors themselves via your public campaign page, or on the mobile app. Pledges are created and managed from your dashboard.
Creating pledges ✏️
Navigate to the Transactions page in your Givebutter dashboard and click on the Pledges tab. Click the blue Add pledge button in the upper right corner to add a new pledge.
Contact (required) – Select an existing contact or create a new contact
Pledge amount (required) – Enter the total amount to pledge
Installment frequency – Select from One-time, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-annual, Annual, or Custom
For one-time pledges:
Intended fulfillment date – The date this pledge should be fulfilled
For all other frequencies:
First installment date – The date the first installment should be fulfilled
Number of installments – Enter the number of installments to divide the total pledge into
Pledge type – Select Donation, Sponsorship, Match, or Other
Fund – Optionally select a fund for this pledge
Associated campaign – Optionally select an intended campaign for this pledge
Memo – Add an optional memo, max 600 characters (included in communications to this donor)
Internal note – Add an optional internal note, max 600 characters (not sent to the donor)
Installments are automatically calculated based on installment frequency, total pledge amount, and relevant dates. You can edit the installment schedule as necessary.
Send automatic reminders
Toggled ON – Sends a reminder 2 days before a pledge fulfillment date
Toggled OFF – No reminders are sent ahead of pledge fulfillment dates
Allow supporters to pay a custom amount
Toggled ON – Supporters can enter a custom amount, different from the set installment amount
Toggled OFF – Supporters can only pay the set installment amount
Include payments in campaign total
Toggled ON – Installment payments will be included in the campaign total, and reflected in the goal bar, as applicable
Toggled OFF – Installment payments will not apply to the campaign total or goal bar
Fee settings 💸
When creating a pledge, you have the option to specify fee settings.
Ask to cover fees – Ask supporters to optionally cover fees when making a pledge payment (they can opt out)
Require fees – Supporters are required to cover fees with each pledge payment
Hide fees – Hide all transaction fees from supporters while making pledge payments (fees are instead deducted from the installment payment)
You can also customize which fees are shown/charged to the supporter.
All – Both the processing fee and platform fee are shown.
Processing fees only – Transactions have a processing fee of 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction.
Platform fees only – All pledge transactions have a 1.5% platform fee. These fees help cover the cost of the services Givebutter provides.
Customizing installments 📅
When pledge details have been filled out, installments are automatically calculated based on the frequency, total pledge amount, and relevant dates. (To create a custom schedule from scratch, select Custom as the Installment frequency.)
Once created, the installment schedule and total pledge amount can be edited. To edit the installment schedule of an existing pledge:
Click Edit schedule to the right of the Balance amount. The installment editor will allow you to make changes to upcoming payments.
Click the trash can icon or the plus icon to add or remove installments from the schedule. Installment amounts will be updated based on the number of installments in the schedule.
If you add or delete an installment, the total pledge amount will remain the same, but the individual installment amounts will be edited to suit the new number of installments.
Editing a pledge ⚙️
Installments are edited from the Installments tab. If you need to make other changes to a pledge, you can do so from the Settings tab. Settings you can edit include:
Campaign credited – Edit the campaign that this pledge goes toward
Fund – Edit the fund that this pledge goes toward
Pledge type – Change the type of pledge, ie. Donation, Sponsorship, Match
Memo – Edit, add, or remove a memo from this pledge
Collecting installments 💰
Pledge installments are not automatically charged like recurring plans are.
Pledge tracking allows you to manage the administrative side of pledge commitments, but you will still need to take action to collect payments. There are multiple options to ensure installments are paid.
Reminder emails are sent to both donors and admins. The donor may fulfill their installment independently.
Admins can send a payment link to the donor to prompt payment.
Admins can link existing transactions to account for specific installments.
Admins can link a new offline transaction directly linked to an installment, for example, if this installment was paid by check in person.
Pledge reminders 🔔
If enabled, upcoming pledge installments will send a reminder notification to both the donor and the admins on your Givebutter account. If you're an admin, you can view this pledge in your dashboard or send the donor a payment link specific to this installment.
Payment links 💳
Straightforward payment links allow donors to quickly pay their pledge amounts using any of our available online payment methods. Online transactions processed by payment link incur a 1.5% platform fee. (Tips do not apply to pledge payments.) Supporters can pay a specific installment amount, the total amount remaining, or a custom amount (if enabled in the dashboard).
To send a payment link to a supporter:
From your Pledges page, click on the pledge you'd like to send a payment link for. You can also click the three dots [...] on the right and click View details.
Below the supporter's name and contact information, you'll see a section called Pledge payment portal. Click Share link to see the available options.
Send email – Opens a window to generate a pledge payment request email, including an optional memo (max 600 characters).
The supporter's email address will be automatically filled in, but you can edit this or replace it with a different email address.
Sample payment request email
Sample payment request email
Copy link – Copies the unique, secure payment portal link for this pledge. Use this to send via email, text, or open on a computer.
Linking transactions 🔗
If a supporter has already paid an installment, you can link an existing transaction of any payment type, or link a new offline transaction. You can do this regardless of whether the due date has passed.
From the Pledges page, click on the pledge you'd like to add a transaction to.
Click the Payments tab, and click Link transaction.
To link a new transaction via an offline payment method (cash, check, in-kind, stock, property, or other), click Link new transaction. You'll be prompted to create a new offline transaction to count towards this pledge.
To link a transaction that has already been processed, click Link existing transaction and search by name or reference number in the search bar.
Click on the correct transaction, and it will be added as a payment towards this pledge. If the transaction covers one or more future installments, the installment schedule will be updated.
To remove a linked existing transaction, click the three dots [...] and click Unlink transaction.
Canceling or deleting pledges ❌
Canceled pledges will still appear in your dashboard with the status Canceled. To cancel a pledge, click the three dots [...] to the right side of the pledge you want to cancel, from the pledge itself, or from your list of pledges in the dashboard. Click Cancel pledge.
Deleted pledges are removed entirely from your account. To delete a pledge, click the three dots [...] to the right side of the pledge you want to delete, from the pledge itself, or from your list of pledges in the dashboard. Click Delete.
Pledge statuses 🚦
On schedule – The pledge is in good standing and has installments due in the future.
Off schedule – One or more installments are overdue. (There may also be upcoming installments, but if any installments are overdue, this status takes priority.)
Fulfilled – The pledge commitment (total amount) has been fulfilled and marked as complete.
Canceled – The pledge was canceled by an admin on your Givebutter account. This cannot be undone, so a new pledge must be created.
A deleted pledge will not appear in this list. Deleted pledges are removed entirely.
FAQ 🤔
What is the difference between pledges and recurring plans?
A pledge has a scheduled start and end date, and fulfillment is done via invoicing or logging existing payments as installments. Pledges are only managed by Givebutter account admins – there is no donor-facing component to managing a pledge commitment. Recurring plans do not have end dates and can be managed by the donor or account admin.
Why is there only an intended campaign/fulfillment date?
The word "intended" is used because pledges can span long periods of time, during which many variables can change. Campaigns may be renamed, closed, or created, and fulfillment dates can shift. Pledges are designed to be flexible to suit these changes.
Can I link an existing transaction if the amount isn't exactly the same as an installment amount?
Yes! Transactions of any amount can be linked to cover pledge installments. The overall amount contributed toward a specific pledge can be viewed in the Pledge payment portal, including a goal bar specific to the pledge.
