How to Work with Pledges

A pledge is a promise made by a donor that they will donate a specific amount to your organization, usually over time, or by a set deadline. Knowing that these funds are committed, your organization can factor them into your financial planning.

From an accounting perspective, a pledge is considered a contribution and your MonkeyPod counts it toward your contributed income. In addition, MonkeyPod will record a receivable to reflect the amount promised, and it will remain there until the pledge is fulfilled (or deleted).

How do I record a pledge in my MonkeyPod?

To enter a pledge go to Finance > Record a Pledge.

Or you can choose Record a pledge from the action menu on a donor's relationship page. (Their relationship record must have the "Donor" role selected for this option to appear.)

Either option brings you to the screen to enter the details for the pledge. These details include the name of the supporter making the pledge, the amount, the date the pledge was made, and the date by which it's payable.

This pledge shows donor Abe Scollard has pledged $10,000.00 to your organization on 12/31/2023 and he will fulfill his pledge by 12/31/2024.


After recording those details, continue down the form to confirm the accounting settings for the pledge.

Accounting

A pledge is considered a gift and will be counted towards your contributed income account. In addition, a receivable entry is created in your books, until the pledge is fulfilled.

The "Accounting" section displays the default accounts your MonkeyPod uses for the contributions receivable and contributed income. If you'd like to choose a different account, click the corresponding edit icon and select a different receivable account or a different contributed income or asset account.

Pledges with restrictions

If there are restrictions placed on the pledged amount (such as being spent during a specific time period or on a specific program or project), select the Pledge is restricted option. This changes your accounting settings to allow for both a contributed income account as well as a restricted net asset account.

The restricted net asset account will be credited, and the gift will also be associated with the chosen contributed income account for reporting purposes (Statement of Activities, Trial Balance, and Budget actuals).

You can adjust your organization's default accounts for income and contributions receivable by choosing Finance from the main menu and selecting Automated Bookkeeping.

Pledges where donors receive something of value

If the donor receives something of value for their pledge, like a tote bag or dinner at a gala, that value should be recorded here as it impacts the accounting as well as the tax deductible amount for the donor. Select Donor will receive something of value in exchange, and enter teh value of goods or services to be received and use the corresponding income or asset account for the nondeductible portion.

Optional Information

As with  most other transactions, you have a few optional items you can add when recording a pledge.

Soft credit: Choose the soft credit option to assign unofficial credit to someone else for securing this pledge. The pledge will count towards their lifetime giving for your organization (for fundraising reports), but it won't change the official legal or accounting treatment of the gift.

Assign a class: Classes are functional categories required for expenses. In MonkeyPod, classes may optionally be used to track most kinds of income as well. If it's useful for your reporting purposes, you can assign a class here. The standard class for income would be "fundraising".

Tag it: Tags in MonkeyPod are incredibly powerful and flexible tools for organizing and reporting on information. For example, you could assign a tag to associate a pledge with a fundraising campaign, event, or special appeal.

Memo: Memos allow you to enter an internal note about the pledge.

When you've finished entering all the details for the pledge, click the "Save" button to record the pledge.

After saving the pledge, if you have any supporting documents to keep with this pledge, you may drag and drop them on the "Documentation / Related Files" field, or click that option to browse and select the file(s) from your computer. Once uploaded, they'll be stored here with the pledge details, keeping all your records and documentation together in one place!

How can I find a pledge in my MonkeyPod?

There are multiple ways to find a pledge in your MonkeyPod:

Locating pledges on a donor's relationship page

All transactions related to a donor are listed at the bottom of their relationship page. Simply search for the donor using the search option in the Relationships menu, then scroll down to view the "Receivables / Payables" tab to find outstanding pledges. All transactions, including paid pledges, can be found under the "Transactions" tab.

Find all Pledges Receivable

To find all pledges receivables for all donors, choose Reports > Pledges Receivable.

Use the options at the top of the page to choose which columns to display. Use the options at the end of each row to view or edit the pledge.

If you'd like to work this information in a spreadsheet, just click the Download Excel button to save your outstanding pledge details to an Excel spreadsheet.

How can I request payment for a pledge?

You can easily request online payment from the donor by using the Request payment option in the action menu on the page for the pledge.

If the donor doesn't have an email address entered for their account, you will be prompted to enter one first.

Next, select "Customize email intro?" if you'd like to include a customized introduction to the emailed request. You may also select an option to Bcc yourself so that you privately receive a copy of the email.

Click Send Email once you have the settings as you'd like them, and the request for payment will be emailed to your supporter. The email looks something like this, formatted with your organization color scheme and logo.

When the recipient clicks the Make a Payment button in the email, they're taken to the pledge payment screen where they can see the details of their pledge and enter the amount to pay along with their payment information. MonkeyPod accept a variety of payment methods for pledges, including:

  • Credit or debit cards
  • ACH payments
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay

Note that Apple Pay and Google Pay are only accepted through specific browsers and devices. For a donor to pay via Apple Pay, they must have Apple Pay configured, use an Apple device, and use a supported browser like Safari. To pay via Google Pay, a donor must be logged in to their Google account in a Chrome browser.

What about other payment options?

If you'd like to give your donors payment options in addition to paying online using the options listed above, you may edit your introductory text to provide any additional payment details (such as Venmo or Cash App accounts). Donors would still need to click Make a Payment to see the amount owed.

If you'd prefer to send a PDF of the pledge and all payments received to date, choose Download PDF from the action menu on the pledge page. You can then email, or print and mail, that document to the donor as your way of requesting payment.

How do I record a payment made for a pledge?

Pledges paid online are automatically recorded in your MonkeyPod. But if you receive a check in the mail, or other payment is taken offline, you'll need to record that manually.

To do so, enter the details for the payment in the "Payments Received" tab at the bottom of the pledge page, and click the checkmark to save it.

If you try to record a donation for someone who has an outstanding pledge, MonkeyPod will alert you about the outstanding pledge to make sure that the donation is recorded properly.

Frequently Asked Questions


Can I receive pledges through a fundraising page?

Yes! In addition to taking online payments, you can setup a MonkeyPod fundraising page to accept offline payments. You'll find the setting in your fundraising pages "Giving Options" section. For more details see How to Make a Fundraising Page.


Can we add a payment schedule into our MonkeyPod?

Not yet! This feature has been requested on our Feature Request Page so give it an upvote!


How are receipts for pledges handled in MonkeyPod?

MonkeyPod currently doesn't have a way to send receipts for pledges automatically. You can, however, use the Download PDF option in the action menu on the pledge page to generate a PDF file of all pledge details. This can be shared with the donor as an easy way to communicate remaining balances on the pledge.


What if I accidentally entered a new donation and not a payment on a pledge?

We try to make things easy, so to change a standard donation to a payment on a pledge, just go to the donation and hit "convert this donation to a pledge payment" at the top of the screen as shown below.