You will need the Full Write Pledges permission to perform this action.
Pledges can only be added as part of an existing campaign or from within the Giving > Pledges tab on a person's profile. See this article for more information on adding giving campaigns.
Go to Contributions > Pledges > Listing from the left-hand navigation. This will show the list of existing campaigns. Note, that you can add pledges to a campaign at any time, even if the campaign is not currently active.
Open the campaign you wish to add the pledge to by clicking on either the name or the "View" button at the end of the row. This will take you to the campaign details page. From here, you can add pledges in one of two ways:
By selecting "Add pledge" from the actions menu in the top right area.
Or by selecting the "Pledges" tab and clicking on the "Add Pledge" button.
Alternatively, you can go to the person's profile, visit the Giving > Pledges tab, and click on the "Add Pledge" button
Regardless of the method you choose, a pop up will appear where you can enter the pledge details.
Note: when adding/editing a pledge, a message at the top lets you know the date range as well as which funds the pledge is for. This is taken from the campaign settings.
Regardless of which method you choose, a pop up will appear with the following fields:
Person - search for the person this pledge is for. This is a required field.
Notes - any notes you want to include with this pledge. This will only be visible to users with the Full Read Pledges permissions that do not necessarily include the person who pledged.
Amount - the amount of money to give in each contribution.
How Often? - how often the person will give the amount specified above. The default is "One Time" meaning they will give the amount in one gift.
Starts - the starting date for the pledge. This cannot be earlier than the start date of the campaign.
Ends - the ending date for the pledge. If "How Often?" is anything other than "One Time", you will have the option of ending after a specific number of contributions or on a specific date. The end date cannot be later than the end date of the campaign (even if you specify more gifts than fit in the date range).
Extra Amount - this field only appears if "How Often?" is set to a recurring frequency such as weekly, monthly, etc. It will not appear if set to "Anytime." Enter any amount that the person wants to give above and beyond the amount from the recurring portion of the pledge. You'll see the "Expected Schedule" summary add the extra amount and calculate the final total for the pledge. Specifically, the calculation is [occurrences] x [amount] + [extra] = [pledged]
Note: The extra amount can be donated at any time within the pledge's start and end date and it will be considered "on time." Pledge progress (i.e. percent to completion) takes the total amount (recurring + extra) into account as expected.
Once the amount and recurring giving details are entered, you will see an expected schedule of contributions. As an example, the expected schedule below is for a pledge giving $50.00 weekly 4 times.
Once you are finished, click on the "Save" button to add the pledge to the campaign.
Helpful Tips
When the pledge is added, any existing contributions for that person that match the campaign date range and funds will automatically be credited to the campaign.
The end date of a pledge counts as a payment. Example: For this reason, if you import a monthly pledge that goes from Jan. 1, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2024, there are 13 payments since Dec. 31, 2024, also counts. Technically, that pledge should end on Dec. 1, 2024, since that is the last payment date. Alternatively, if you want the pledge to end on Dec. 31, 2024, then instead you can set it to start on Jan. 1, 2024, and go for 12 payments (i.e. set the Occurrences to 12). That will guarantee 12 payments since it’s explicitly set.