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Managing Pledges

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Learn how to effectively manage pledges with Breeze's intuitive tools! Discover how to add, edit, and delete pledges within campaigns effortlessly. Easily export pledge information and manage pre-paid pledges for future years. Customize pledge statements to keep members informed on their pledge progress.

Pledges allow users to record who pledged to give what, compare that to what they gave, and send statements to donors showing their pledge summary (total given vs. total pledged). When a pledge is created, it is given a date range and what fund(s) it includes. Any giving transactions (even if previously created) that match the date and fund for that person will be included in what was given to that pledge.

Campaigns

All pledges must exist within a campaign. Campaigns help organize pledges into different groups. For instance, you may have a campaign named "2018 Building Campaign" or "2019 Pledge Drive."

Add a Pledge

  1. Navigate to "GIving > Pledge."
  2. Select the campaign you'd like to add a pledge to.
  3. Click "Add Pledge" in the upper right.
  4. Fill in the fields and click "Add Pledge."

If adding multiple pledges, select the "Keep Open After Adding" checkbox to avoid having to reopen the add pledge window each time. Settings will also be retained (e.g. fund will stay on the same fund as the previous fund for subsequent entries).

Pledge Settings and Options

When recording a pledge in Breeze, you have the following options:

  1. Select the person making the pledge.

    • You can associate pledges with families by checking 'include all family members.

  2. Set the amount and frequency of the pledge.

    • By default, the frequency is set to Total Amount, but you can change this to fit your pledgers' needs.

  3. Include Start and End dates for the pledge.

    • If you select a frequency other than 'Total Amount' for the pledge, you'll have the option to set the number of gifts given during a specific time duration.
    • Changing the end date allows people who have missed the end date of the overall campaign to have gifts still apply to the pledge. This is helpful if their final contribution to that pledge fund falls outside of the pledge campaign window without requiring additional editing later.

  4. Select the Fund for the pledge.

    • You can choose multiple funds if desired.

  5. Add Notes.

    • Include any additional information or specific instructions related to the pledge.

Edit a Pledge

  1. Navigate to "Giving > Pledges."
  2. Select your campaign.
  3. Click the pencil icon on the right of the pledge you'd like to modify.
  4. Edit the fields and click the "Update Pledge" button to save your changes.
    Note: To change the individual associated with the pledge, click the 'X' to remove the current person and then add a different individual.

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Delete a Pledge

  1. Navigate to "Giving > Pledges."
  2. Select the campaign you'd like to delete a pledge from.
  3. Click the "X" remove icon on the right of the pledge you'd like to delete.

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Export Pledge Information

  1. Navigate to Giving > Pledges.
  2. Select the campaign you'd like to get a report from.
  3. Choose the Columns you would like to display.
  4. Click "Download As Excel."

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Export Information about the Pledger

  1. Navigate to Giving > Pledges.
  2. Select the campaign you'd like to get the pledger's information for.
  3. Click the link in the upper left corner that says a number of pledgers. "ex. 15 Pledgers"
  4. It will populate a pop-up of people, and from there, you can Export People or contact information, among many other tasks, using the Action Panel.

Pre-Paid Pledges

Our best practice for churches that manage yearly pledges would be to have a separate fund for each pledging year. This will allow givers to easily pre-pay for pledges without affecting the current year’s pledge.

This is possible because pledges look at the date range and a specified fund to know what giving transactions should count toward a pledge.

Sometimes people want to pre-pay their pledge, i.e., donate on Dec. 31st for the upcoming year. Typically, pledges are for a specific timeframe (i.e., January - December 2021), so when you enter a person's pledge, you enter the start date as 1/1/21 and the end date as 12/31/21.  In the case of pre-paid pledges, you will want to enter the start date as the date the person made their pre-payment (i.e., 12/31/20). This way, the payment that the person made early will count towards their pledge for the following year, both in your view of the pledge information in Breeze as well as the individual's giving statement.

Multiple Pledges Per Family

By default, Breeze will assume that all members of the family are to be considered under one pledge. If multiple members of the family would like to have separate pledges set up, this can be done with just a couple of extra clicks! 

  1. Go to Giving > Pledges.
  2. Choose the Campaign (or create a new one).
  3. Click "+ Add Pledge" in the top right corner.
  4. Fill out all the information on the window that pops up, then click "Show More Options."
  5. Deselect the button that says "Include all family members."

Now the pledge will only be attached to the name included in the pledge and not the whole family. 

2020-04-13_14-06-20__1_.gifCreating Pledge Statements

If you'd like to update your members on the progress of their pledges (including members who have pledged but not yet given), you can do so by creating custom pledge statements right within Breeze.

To create a pledge statement:

  1. Go to Giving > Reports.
  2. Choose "More" > "Pledged To" from the filter options.
  3. Under the "Pledged To" filter, select "Campaign Name."
    • Select "Include Non-Givers" if you'd like to include people who have pledged but have not yet given.
  4. Click the expand arrow to the right of the "Download as Excel" option.
  5. Choose "Print Statement" (or "Email Statement").
  6. Click the Pencil Icon in the bottom left.
  7. In the customization of your statement, including the mail merge option of "Pledges Summary," and edit the statement as needed.
  8. Click "Save."
  9. Click the "Expand Arrow" to the right of the "Download as Excel" option
  10. Choose "Print Statement" (or "Email Statement").
  11. Select "Print" (or "Continue to Compose Message" > "Send").

If you'd like to customize the pledge summary included in your statement, you can do so by following the directions outlined in Customizing Statements.

By default, the pledge summary will contain 1) the campaign name, 2) the date range, 3) frequency, 4) the amount paid compared to the total amount, 5) the amount remaining, and 6) the percentage paid. Note: If you find that your Pledge Campaigns page is loading slowly and you have more than 7 years worth of pledges in your Breeze account, deleting older Pledge Campaigns will help increase your page's load-time speed. Be sure to save your Pledge Campaign information for each campaign by selecting "Download as Excel" to maintain historical records of your older Pledge Campaigns.

Additional Information

 

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