Pledges

A pledge is an obligation to pay a particular amount for the specified occasion. All payments in the system should be applied to a pledge. This will ensure that all pledges and payments are properly tracked.

Creating Pledges:

1. Open the account to which you would like to add a pledge.
2. Click on the 'Pledges' tab
3. Right click and select New OR click on the New button

Pledge Information:

1. Select an Occasion (you can set it as your default by clicking on set as default so that it will automatically come up when entering pledges, payments, ads, raffles, etc.) You can also click on the smart search and begin typing in the occasion name.
2. Enter the pledge date - by default it is today
3. Enter Pledge amount
4. Referred By - account that this pledge was referred by, Press the search button (magnifying glass) to search for an account. This is typically used to track Family Fundraising/Give or Get programs.

Letter Information:

• Acknowledgement Letter - if this occasion is set to get an invoice, and there is only one invoice letter, it will automatically fill in. Otherwise, select the letter you want. (This does not refer to statements only to an acknowledgement letter.) 
• To be Printed - if this occasion is set to get an invoice, this will automatically be checked. If you do not want to send them an acknowledgement letter, uncheck this option. (This does not refer to statements only to an acknowledgement letter.) - If your organization sends invoices via email, select Email from the To Print drop down. The Email To option will by auto-select the default email. If relevant, select a different email for the invoice to be sent to. Emailing Invoices are run through our Automated Report Service/Advisor. 
• Letter Address - the address the acknowledgement letter and statement should go to. If a person has multiple open pledges and they have different addresses, each pledge will print on separate statements with the correct address 
• Name Format - If applicable, select an existing or create a new name format.. 
• Print Date - date the invoice printed 
• Period Start/End Date - These fields are used for tracking the time period that this pledge covers. e.g. A $300 pledge covers yearly membership. The Period Start Date would be entered as 1/1/2013 and the Period End Date as 12/31/2013.

Pledge Links

The pledge can be linked or applied to tuition contracts, an ad, or a reservation. Click the Reservations button to open the selected account in the Quick Reservation Window.  

Billing Plans

Pledges can be billed in multiple installments. Billing plans can be based upon specified intervals and dollar amount installments. Every pledge must have a billing plan to be included in any statements report. The reason for this is because the billing plan is what generates the current amount due. If the billing plan is cleared, the pledge will remain with a due amount of $0 and no bills would be sent.

Choose one of the 3 options in the billing plans section: 

1. Single Bill – click on this to create a single bill (i.e. one bill for the total pledge amount). Pledges are automatically created with a single bill if no other billing plan was created. 
2. Create Plan – create a billing plan with multiple installments 
   1. Click on 'Clear plan' to remove the existing plan (automatic single bill) 
   2. Click on Create plan and the Installment Creator will pop up. 
      • Pledge Information – Gets filled in according to the information entered in the previous screen 
      • Start Date - Begin From - when the billing plan should begin (Check lunar for the installments to be based on the Hebrew calendar.) 
      • Calculate -
        • Full Amount will create a billing plan that totals the full amount of the pledge. 
        • The Outstanding option will generate a billing plan from the outstanding amount.
      • Distribution Options - Select By Quantity or By $ Amount Example: Donor wants to pay $1000 pledge in intervals of $100. Set 'By $ Amount' = $100) 
      • Frequency Options - Select the interval -how often they should be billed (ieMonthly) or spread (billed over the specified number of months) Example: Bill Donor $1000 spread over 12 months. Set 'Spread' = 12 months Generate Plan - creates the billing plan base on the criteria you entered. You can change any of the individual installments in the grid. 
      • Make sure that the total of all the installments add up to the total pledge amount or they will not be billed for the remainder amount. (Select from the Early Pay Options - whether prepaid installments will be applied to the next installment or to the end of the plan) 
      • Apply or OK to save the billing plan 
3. Clear Plan - completely removes the billing plan. The donor will not receive any statements/bills for this pledge.

Associations

Associations can be used to identify accounts or pledges. Linking associations to individual pledges will help you group pledges so that in the future you will easily be able to pull them up based on the association. 

Example: Many pledges were elicited by a newspaper ad. Create an association called Yated Magazine. Each pledge gets tagged with the association Yated Magazine. Create reports to analyze the profit that came from the Yated 

Note: The association group must be set up as 'Used on pledge' in order to be able to link that association to the pledge. 

• From an Account: Check the appropriate associations in the Associations box from the pledge screen. 
• From Quick Pledge: Select the default associations from the Associations box on the screen. You can also select additional associations for the single pledge being saved by checking the Flag Prompt. A window will appear when the program attempts to create the pledge, allowing you to select the appropriate associations. 

Note: the Flag prompt can be used from the payment screen in the 'create pledge' section and on any pay now controls (ie- raffle screen, dedications)