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).

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 since it impacts the accounting as well as the tax deductible amount for the donor. Select Donor will receive something of value in exchange, enter the 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.  

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.

How can I add documentation or related files to a 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:

Option 1: 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.

Option 2: Use the transaction search to find pledges with an unpaid status, and further filter by other criteria

Choose New Search from the Finance menu, and set the search criteria to show transactions where transaction type is 'pledge' and payment status is 'unpaid'. You can narrow this further with any other criterion — pair it with a relationship to check what one donor still owes, or with a date range to see what's unpaid from a specific period.

Option 3: Use the Pledges Receivable report

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

Use the Report Settings to setup filters to find the pledge(s) you're interested in. You can filter by pledge date, due date, payment status and request status (whether a request for payment has been previously sent). Use the options at the end of each row to view or edit the pledge.

In the Show/Hide Columns section, select the columns you want displayed. You can also sort by column—just click the sort icon next to the column name.

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

How can I request payment for a pledge?

You have a few options for requesting payment that we'll review here.

Option 1: Request payment for a single pledge

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

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's 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 a full or partial payment along with their payment information.

Option 2: Send an email or text to the donor outside of MonkeyPod and include a link to pay online (Stripe connection required.)

If you'd prefer to send your own message to the donor, choose Copy payment link from the action menu on the pledge page.

You can then paste the link into an email or a text message to send to the donor. The payment link will take them directly to the online payment screen (as shown above).

Option 3: Send a PDF or mail a printed copy of the pledge

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. The PDF includes no mention of the online payment option.

How can I request payment from a batch of donors with outstanding pledges?

When several donors still have a balance on their pledges, you don't need to open each pledge one by one. You can send payment requests to a whole group at once from the Pledges Receivable report.

Let's say you ran a capital campaign last spring, and a dozen donors still have balances due by December 31. To easily notify each of them at once, you would open the Pledges Receivable report, set the Due Date filter to this year and the Request Status filter to 'never requested',  then select all the donors and click a button to request payment. You can even add a short thank-you to the intro reminding donors about the year-end deadline. Every donor gets their own email showing what they pledged and what they have left to pay. Here's how it works:

1. Choose Reports > Pledges Receivable.

2. Use the Report Settings filters to find the pledges you want to follow up on. You can filter by pledge date, due date, payment status and request status (whether a payment request has been sent before). The report shows unpaid pledges by default.

   

3. Check the box next to each pledge you want to include. To include every pledge in the list, check the box in the header row.

   

4. Select Request Payment. The number in parentheses shows how many pledges you've selected.

5. If you'd like, edit the email intro to add a personal message. (Markdown formatting is supported here. Select the Markdown link below the text box to learn more.)

   

6. Select Send Emails to email your donors.

Good to know

• Sending just one: each row in the report has its own send icon, so you can request payment for a single pledge from the report easily.

• Donors without an email address: You'll be alerted before sending the emails about how many selected pledges are missing email addresses. These pledges will be skipped since there is no way to email them. You can spot the pledges without email addresses in the list because the send icon will be disabled.

  

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.

How can I write off an unpaid pledge using a credit memo?

Sometimes a donor isn't able to fulfill a pledge, and the pledge itself can't be edited because it was recorded in a prior, now closed, fiscal year. For situations like this, you can use a credit memo to reduce the pledge's outstanding balance without touching the original, locked pledge entry.

Example: In 2024, a donor pledged $5,000 to your capital campaign, and that fiscal year is now closed. In 2026, the donor lets you know they can only pay $3,000. Since the original pledge can't be edited, you can create a credit memo for the remaining $2,000 and apply it to the pledge. This reduces what's still owed without reopening or changing your 2024 books.

Step 1: Record a Credit Memo

From the action menu on the donor's relationship page, choose Record a credit memo. A credit memo provides a "credit" to a donor that can later be applied to an open pledge (or saved to apply toward something in the future). Fill in the relevant details:

• Amount: the amount to credit
• Date: the transaction date, recorded in your organization's current open period
• Receivable account: must match the account used on the original pledge
• Offsetting account: usually a contributions account, though this may be an expense account if the credit reflects a discount or promotional expense
• Notes: use this field to record why you're issuing the credit memo

Click Save when you're done.

Step 2: Apply the Credit to the Pledge

Once the credit memo is recorded, go to the pledge and look for the "Available to apply" section in the Payments Received tab. Here you'll see the donor's unapplied credit memos along with an amount field and Apply button.

You don't have to apply the full credit memo balance at once. Partial amounts are allowed, so you can leave a remaining balance on the credit memo if needed.

Good to Know

• The credit memo and its application are dated in your current open period, so the write-down hits today's books, not the closed year. The closed-year pledge balance itself is never restated: only the amount still outstanding is reduced going forward.
• To undo an application, click the trash icon on the payment row in Payments Received. This removes only the application, not the credit memo itself, so its balance becomes available to apply again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I receive pledges through a fundraising page?

Yes! In addition to taking online payments, you can set up a MonkeyPod fundraising page to accept offline payments which are recorded as pledges. 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.