Pledges and Legacies are features in the Opportunities Interface that let organizations track and record promised Donations that haven’t yet been received.
In this article, we’ll guide you through:
- What are Pledges and Legacies?
- How to Create Pledges and Legacies
- How to Process Donations towards Pledges and Legacies
- How to Edit Pledges and Legacies
- How to Delete or Cancel Pledges and Legacies
- Reporting and Segmentation on Pledges and Legacies
TIP: Pledges and Legacies are created and managed in the Opportunities Interface. User Accounts will need the Opportunities User role. If you don’t have this user role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add the Opportunities User role.
What are Pledges and Legacies?
Pledges and Legacies can be used to record secured Donations without having to accept any payment at the time the Donations are promised.
TIP: Pledges and Legacies can only be created for and paid off with Donations. You can’t pay off a Pledge or Legacy with other Items such as Memberships or Ticket Sales.
- A Pledge is a common way to keep track of future gifts which have been promised by Donors. They can also be used to record income paid in long-term installments, such as from trusts and foundations. Pledges have a set value of Donation to be received and a set date(s) when the gift and/or installments of the gift will be received.
- A Legacy is similar to a Pledge but without set dates of receipt. They are a common way to record income that will be given to your organization upon a Donor’s passing. Legacies have a set value of Donation to be received.
VIDEO: Jump ahead to our Spektrix Training: On-Demand video - Pledges and Legacies for a guided walkthrough of this process.
How to Create a New Pledge or Legacy
You can create a new Pledge or Legacy from a Customer Record in the Opportunities Interface.
From the People Dashboard, search for the Customer you’d like to add a new Pledge or Legacy for. Click into their Customer Record and select the Pledges & Legacies tab.
How to Create a New Pledge
Click on the New Pledge button to create a new Pledge.
If the Customer doesn’t have any Opportunities, the New Opportunity Pop-Up Screen will appear, prompting you to add one.
TIP: All Pledges must be linked to an Opportunity.
If the Customer has any existing Opportunities, you’ll be prompted to select an Opportunity. You can do the following from this screen:
- Choose an active Opportunity.
- Check the box Show closed opportunities to view and select closed Opportunities.
- Create a new Opportunity by clicking the Add New Opportunity button, which will take you to the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.
REMINDER: If you use a Campaign Structure based on financial years and a Pledge will span across several financial years, consider how you need to allocate your pledged income for accounting purposes. Remember, one pledge is associated with one opportunity's campaign. For more information on Campaign Structure, read Introduction to Campaigns and Campaign Structures.
After an Opportunity is linked, the Create New Pledge pop-up screen will appear, where you can fill the following information:
- Fund (Required): Choose which Fund you want the Pledge to go towards
- Date of Pledge (Required): The date that the Pledge was made (this date can be in the past or the future)
- Number of installments (Required): The total number of installments in the overall Pledge
- Date of first installment (Required): The date when the first installment will be paid
- Installment frequency (Required): Enter a number value and select days, weeks, months, or years
- Pledge Value (Required): Enter a Donation value as a total (installment amounts will be calculated) or by installment amount (total amount will be calculated)
Click Create to create and save the new Pledge.
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In this example, a Customer is making a $20,000 Pledge that will be paid over four months with a payment of $5,000 paid each month.
When creating a new Pledge, the User will enter 4 for Number of installments, each representing a month, and the Installment frequency will be entered 1 with Months selected from the dropdown. The value will be entered as 20,000 for the Set Total Value. Alternatively, you can enter 5,000 for Set Value of each installment.
When the Pledge is created, it will appear in the Pledges & Legacies tab. When the Pledge is expanded, you can see the following installments:
How to Create a New Legacy
Click on the New Legacy button to create a new Legacy.
If the Customer doesn’t have any Opportunities, the New Opportunity Pop-Up Screen will appear, prompting you to add one.
TIP: All Legacies must be linked to an Opportunity.
If the Customer has any existing Opportunities, you’ll be prompted to select an Opportunity. You can also choose to check Show closed opportunities to view and select closed Opportunities. Or you can click the Add New Opportunity button, which will take you to the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.
REMINDER: If you use a Campaign Structure based on financial years, we recommend a separate campaign for Legacies as the actual date of receiving the Legacy will be unknown.
After an Opportunity is linked, the Create New Legacy pop-up screen will appear, where you can fill the following information:
- Fund (Required): Choose which Fund you want the Legacy to go towards
- Date of Legacy (Required): The date that the Legacy was promised (this date can be in the past or the future)
- Amount of Legacy (Required): The total Donation amount that you will be receiving
TIP: If money pledged in a Legacy has been specified for a particular purpose, you can keep it apart from other Donations by creating a restricted Fund just for that specific Legacy.
Click Create to create and save the new Legacy.
How to View Pledges and Legacies
Pledges & Legacies Tab
Pledges and Legacies can be viewed in the Pledges & Legacies tab in the Customer Record found only in the Opportunities Interface.
You can view all Pledges, including:
- Pledge amount: The total amount pledged.
-
Given amount to date: The total amount given towards the Pledge.
REMINDER: In order for a Donation to count towards a Pledge, it must be processed from the Pledges & Legacies tab.
- Campaign: The Campaign of the Opportunity that is linked to the Pledge.
- Current Opportunity Stage: The current Stage of the Opportunity that is linked to the Pledge. The Opportunity will also indicate if it has been closed.
- Pledge date: The date the Pledge was made.
For each Pledge, you can also click on the green + plus button to expand the Pledge and view each installment, including:
- Installment amount: The amount for each installment as calculated when creating the Pledge
-
Given amount to date: The amount given towards the installment
REMINDER: In order for a Donation to count towards a Pledge installment, it must be processed from the Pledges & Legacies tab.
- Paid status: The paid stamp will appear when the installment is paid in full
- Installment date: The date of the installment as calculated when creating the Pledge
You can view all Legacies, including:
- Legacy amount: The amount promised in a Legacy.
-
Given amount to date: The amount given to date towards the Legacy.
REMINDER: In order for a Donation to count towards a Legacy, it must be processed from the Pledges & Legacies tab.
- Campaign: The Campaign of the Opportunity that is linked to the Legacy.
- Current Opportunity Stage: The current Stage of the Opportunity that is linked to the Legacy. The Opportunity will also indicate if it has been closed.
From the Pledges & Legacies tab, you can:
- Process Donations towards Pledges and Legacies
- Edit Pledges, Pledge Installments and Legacies
- Delete and cancel Pledges and Legacies
Timeline Tab
Pledges and Legacies can also be viewed from the Timeline tab in the Customer Record found only in the Opportunities Interface.
On the Timeline tab, you will see Pledges and Legacies in relation to the date of interaction:
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Pledge Date: The date the Pledge is made. This will include:
- Total value pledged
- Amount given to date
- User who created the Pledge
- Campaign of the Opportunity that is linked to the Pledge
- Current Stage of the Opportunity that is linked to the Pledge
- Closed status, if the Opportunity has been closed
-
Pledge Installment Date: The date of each Pledge Installment. This will include:
- Calculated value of the installment
- Status if the installment has been paid in full or part
- Campaign of the Opportunity that is linked to the Pledge
- Current Stage of the Opportunity that is linked to the Pledge
- Closed status, if the Opportunity has been closed
-
Legacy Date: The date the Legacy is made. This will include:
- Total value pledged
- Amount given to date
- User who created the Legacy
- Campaign of the Opportunity that is linked to the Legacy
- Current Stage of the Opportunity that is linked to the Legacy
- Closed status, if the Opportunity has been closed
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Donation Date: The date when a Donation has been made towards a Pledge or Legacy. This will include:
- Total amount donated
- Fund donated to
- User who processed the Donation
- Campaign of the Opportunity that is linked to the Pledge or Legacy
- Current Stage of the Opportunity that is linked to the Pledge or Legacy
- Closed status, if the Opportunity has been closed
REMINDER: A Donation on the Timeline will not indicate if payment was made towards a Pledge or Legacy.
From the Timeline, you can:
- Click on a Pledge or Installment to edit the Pledge
REMINDER: You can edit a Pledge Installment from the Pledges & Legacies tab.
- Click on a Legacy to edit the Legacy
- Click on a Donation to view the Order
Donor Profile Report
Pledges and Legacies will also appear in the Donor Profile Report.
They will appear at the top of the profile under Outstanding Pledges and Legacies and All Opportunities with the amount Pledged. As Donations are received towards these Pledges and Legacies, the Pledged value will decrease.
Opportunities Dashboard
From the Opportunities Dashboard, you can see a quick overview of Pledges and Legacies linked to open and closed Opportunities.
In the Opportunities Dashboard, Opportunities are listed with Pledged and Received amounts. The amount displayed is the current amount pledged which is linked to the Opportunity and not yet received. As Donations are made towards the Pledge, the value will decrease under Pledged and increase under Received.
People Dashboard
From the People Dashboard, you can see a quick overview of Pledges and Legacies linked to Active Opportunities.
In the People Dashboard, a Customer’s total Pledged and Received amounts in all open Opportunities are summed. The amount displayed is the current amount pledged and not yet received. As Donations are made towards the Pledge, the value will decrease under Pledged and increase under Received.
How to Process Donations towards Pledges and Legacies
You must process any Donations made toward a Pledge or Legacy directly from the Customer’s Pledges & Legacies tab in the Customer Record. This can only be found in the Opportunities Interface.
REMINDER: Any Donations taken outside of the Pledges & Legacies tab, including Donations taken in the Opportunities Interface, won’t count towards the Pledge or Legacy amount.
If a Donation is made outside of the Pledges & Legacies tab but the Opportunity selected is the one linked to the Pledge or Legacy, the Donation will count towards the Opportunity amount but won’t count for the Pledge or Legacy that is linked.
How to Process a Pledge Installment Donation
To make a Donation towards a Pledge, you must make the payment through the Customer’s Pledges & Legacies tab in the Customer Record. This can only be found in the Opportunities Interface.
- Find the Pledge you would like to make a Donation towards or create a new Pledge.
- Click on the blue Basket icon button to add a Donation to the Basket/Cart.
- Choose a Sales Channel.
- A pop-up for Donation amount will appear. This will include the total amount due for the latest installment.
TIP: This will include and automatically calculate any past due payments. You can also replace this with any amount.
- Click OK to add the Donation to the Basket/Cart. The Customer and Opportunity will also be added to the Basket/Cart. For Organizations, you’ll need to select a Facilitator.
- Process the Donation and confirm the transaction.
Once an installment has been paid in full, a Paid sticker will appear next to the installment.
An installment can be partially paid but won’t have the Paid sticker. When the next Donation is made towards the Pledge, the Donation will first go towards the partially paid installment until it’s fully paid before going towards the next installment.
For example, if a pledge has three $5,000 installments, and a donor only pays $2,000 for the first installment, it will be considered partially paid. If they donate $5,000 for the next installment, $3,000 will fulfill the first installment and their second installment will be partially paid at $2,000.
You can also edit a pledge installment and adjust its total amount to reflect what is actually received. For example, changing the second installment to $2,000 will now make that installment fully paid.
How to Process a Legacy Donation
The process for Legacies is similar to Pledges, except that they don’t have installments as they are one-off gifts.
To make a Donation towards a Legacy, you must make the payment through the Customer’s Pledges & Legacies tab in the Customer Record found only in the Opportunities Interface.
- Find the Legacy you would like to make a Donation towards or create a new Legacy.
- Click on the blue Basket icon button to add a Donation to the Basket/Cart.
- Choose a Sales Channel.
- A pop-up for Donation amount will appear. This will include the total amount due.
TIP: You can also replace this amount.
- Click OK to add the Donation to the Basket/Cart. The Customer and Opportunity will also be added to the Basket/Cart. For Organizations, you’ll need to select a Facilitator.
- Process the Donation and confirm the transaction.
Once a Legacy has been paid in full, a Paid sticker will appear next to the Legacy.
A Legacy can be partially paid but won’t have the Paid sticker.
You can also edit a Legacy and adjust its total amount to reflect what is actually received.
How to Edit Pledges and Legacies
You can edit a Pledge or Legacy to reflect the amount actually received or make adjustments such as adding installments.
If you need to make a change to a Pledge or a Legacy, you can do so through the Customer’s Pledges & Legacies tab in the Customer Record found only in the Opportunities Interface.
How to Edit a Pledge
Next to the Pledge you’d like to edit, click the pencil icon. You’ll see the Edit Pledge pop-up:
From here you can change the Fund that the Pledge is currently going towards.
You can also add one or more installments by checking the box next to Add installments to this pledge.
Fill the following fields to create additional installments. For example, entering 1 to the Number of installments will bring the Pledge to a total of 6 installments in the example above.
Any value entered into Add installments to this pledge will be in addition to the existing Pledge. For example, if you have a $100,000 Pledge and you edit the Pledge, check the Add installments to this pledge box and enter a Total value of new installments of $40,000, the new total value of the Pledge will be $140,000.
TIP: If you’d like to change details about the pledge such as reducing the total number of installments, changing the date and frequency or even change the value of the Pledge, you should edit the Pledge Installments.
Click Save to make your changes. Click Cancel to discard any changes.
TIP: If you need to change the Opportunity linked to the Pledge, we recommend deleting or canceling the Pledge and creating a new Pledge.
How to Edit a Pledge Installment
After creating or editing a Pledge, the value and dates for each installment will be automatically calculated. However, you can edit the value and dates for each individual installment.
Click the green + icon button next to a Pledge to expand and view its installments.
Click the pencil icon next to the Installment to make an edit. You’ll see the Edit Pledge Installment pop-up:
You can edit the Installment Date and the Value of the installment.
REMINDER: If you edit the installment value to be less or equal to the given amount of a previously partially paid installment, the Paid sticker will now appear. For example, if the original installment value was $5,000 and $3,000 was paid, you can edit the installment to $3,000, which would result in the Paid sticker appearing for the installment.
Click Save to make your changes. Click Cancel to discard any changes.
How to Edit a Legacy
If you’d like to edit a Legacy, click the pencil icon next to the Legacy. You’ll see the Edit Legacy pop-up:
Edit the Fund, date of legacy or amount of legacy. Click Save to make your changes. Click Cancel to discard any changes.
TIP: If you need to change the Opportunity linked to the Legacy, we recommend deleting or canceling the Legacy and creating a new Legacy.
How to Delete or Cancel Pledges and Legacies
You can also delete or cancel Pledges and Legacies.
How to Delete a Pledge, Installment or Legacy
WARNING: Deleting a Pledge, installment or Legacy is a permanent action. You can’t delete any Pledge, installment or Legacy that has a Donation paid towards it. You’ll need to return the Donation in order to delete the Pledge, installment or Legacy.
Click the red x button next to the Pledge, installment or Legacy. A pop-up asking you to confirm deletion will appear. Click Confirm to delete or Cancel to stop deleting.
How to Cancel a Pledge or Legacy
Canceling a Pledge or Legacy allows you to continue reporting on a Pledge or Legacy that may have been promised and/or received a Donation but can no longer continue receiving any Donations.
WARNING: Canceling a Pledge or Legacy is a permanent action. However, the canceled Pledge or Legacy will remain on the Customer Record. The canceled Pledge or Legacy can’t be edited and can only be removed by deleting it. Deleted Pledges or Legacies can’t be reported on.
Click the Cancel button next to the Pledge or Legacy. A pop-up asking you to confirm the cancellation will appear with the text: Please confirm that you would like to place this Pledge/Legacy in the canceled state. This cannot be undone. Click Confirm to cancel or Cancel to stop canceling.
TIP: You can report on canceled Pledges or Legacies by selecting the Cancelled metric under the Pledges & Legacies, Pledges or Legacy wrappers when creating a Criteria Set.
How to Use Opportunities and Activities with Pledges and Legacies
All Pledges and Legacies must be linked to an Opportunity.
At which Stage you’d like to close an Opportunity linked to a Pledge or Legacy is decided by your organization. You can still process Donations made towards Pledges and Legacies on closed Opportunities.
You can also use Activities to track when you expect to receive Pledge Installments.
Reporting and Segmentation on Pledges and Legacies
Opportunities Segment
You can segment Customers based on who has made Pledges and Legacies through an Opportunity Segment and by filtering by the Pledged Amount metric.
TIP: Creating this segment will only look at Customers who have Opportunities that have Pledges or Legacies that haven’t been fully paid. Customers who have paid off their Pledges or Legacies won’t be included.
Campaign Summary Report
Pledges are included in the Campaign Summary Report.
Under the all Campaigns section, each Campaign includes Total Amount Pledged and the percentage of the Campaign it accounts for. This only includes income which is yet to be received.
In the individual Campaign section, Total Amount Pledged is broken down by Installment Date - month and year. Indicated is the number of Installments expected for each month and year. This only includes income which is yet to be received.
Pledge Instalments by Campaign Report
To take a look at Pledge details, you can run the Pledge Instalments by Campaign Report. This Standard Report keeps track of your outstanding earned income by tracking Pledge due dates and payment schedules. It is also helpful in financial forecasting and offers a snapshot of outstanding and received income.
The Pledge Instalment by Campaign Report takes a look at the following:
- Grand Total Values: Total Pledged as well as Total Fulfilled (Given) to Date and Total Outstanding (Remaining). These figures are also broken down into Fund and Campaign.
- Campaign Breakdown: Pledges broken down by their Campaigns.
- Fund Breakdown: Pledges broken down by Fund.
- Pledge Instalment Breakdown: Pledges are broken down by Campaign and then by Donor and Pledge. Pledge Installment breakdown includes the Installment Amount, the Installment Date, paid status and Amount Given.
TIP: The Pledge Instalment by Campaign Report accounts for Donations larger than what is Pledged by including a line for Surplus Donation Amount for each Pledge in the Pledge Instalment Breakdown section. We recommend that you edit Pledges and/or Pledge Installment amounts to reflect what is actually received so that the report can update the Pledged Values.
Donations towards Pledges and Legacies
All Donations made towards Pledges and Legacies will appear as Donations received. So they will appear as Donations in Payments and Activities Reports and in Donations Reports such as the Donations Analysis Report, the Donation Conversion Analysis Report, the Donations Report and the Donor Giving History Report.
Additionally in an Analysis Report, you can identify if Donation has been made towards a Pledge using the Pledge Donation output metric, which will output TRUE or FALSE.
Custom Reports on Pledges and Legacies
You can build a Custom Report on Pledges and Legacies.
The Pledges & Legacies Report Type shows a row for each Pledge / Legacy.
Criteria Set
The following metrics are available in the Pledges & Legacies, Pledges and Legacies wrappers:
| Metric | Details |
| Campaign | Select from one or more Campaigns, Sub-Campaigns and Sub-Sub-Campaigns. You can also choose to exclude your selection. |
| Cancelled | Check the box to only look at Cancelled Pledges and/or Legacies. |
| Customer | Filter Pledges and/or Legacies based on Customer details. |
| Date | Select a Date range for the Pledge and/or Legacy Date. |
| Date Cancelled | Select a Date range for when the Pledge and/or Legacy was cancelled. |
| Fund | Select from one or more Fund. You can also choose to exclude your selection. |
| Fund Attributes |
Select one or more Fund Attributes. |
| Total Value Given | Select a value range for the Total Value Given to date. |
| Total Value Promised | Select a value range for the Total Value Promised. This is the value initially entered during the creation of the Pledge or Legacy or later edited. |
Under the Pledges wrapper, you can also create Criteria Sets using the following metrics:
| Metric | Details |
| Installment Amount Given | Select a value range for the Installment Amount Given to date. |
| Installment Amount Promised | Select a value range for the Installment Amount Promised. This is the value initially calculated during the creation of the Pledge or later edited. |
| Installment Amount Remaining | Select a value range for the Installment Amount Remaining to date. |
| Installment Date | Select a Date range for the Installment Date. |
Output Columns
The Pledges & Legacies Report Type shows a row for each Pledge / Legacy, with additional rows if including Pledge Installment information.
The following wrappers and metrics are available for output:
| Wrappers | Metrics |
| Pledges & Legacies |
|
| Campaigns |
|
| Installments |
|
You can also output various Customer information linked to the Pledge or Legacy.
For more information on building Custom Reports, take a look at Introduction to Building Custom Reports.
On-Demand Training Video - Pledges and Legacies
In this section of our Spektrix Training: On-Demand video on Fundraising and Opportunities, we cover Pledges and Legacies.
This chapter is a guided walkthrough of:
- What is a Pledge?
- What is a Legacy?
- Creating a Pledge and Pledge Installments
- Creating a Legacy
- Managing Donations and Payments for Pledges and Legacies
VIDEO TIP: With our Spektrix Training: On Demand videos- you can stop, restart or move to specific chapters. Click the CC option to turn on captions. Click in the Settings menu cog icon to control speed, captions and quality.
Further Reading
You now have the information you need to create and manage Pledges and Legacies. For more information on features in the Opportunities Interface, check the section on Donor Pipeline and Stewardship in the Support Centre.