Causeview Advancement Pledge Manager - How to Create a Pledge Opportunity & Pledge Plan

A Pledge is a type of gift, where a constituent promises to give a certain amount of money in installments over a set period of  time.

In Causeview, pledges are entered as opportunities where you can specify the pledge amount you hope to raise from the donor and keep track of your progress through opportunity stages. Once a pledge opportunity is created, you can then create a pledge plan which includes how many installments the donor wishes to make, installment dates and amounts and where the donor wishes the funds be allocated to.

Pledge Opportunities can be created for both individual donors as well as organizations.  

In this article, we will cover how to create a new pledge opportunity and pledge plan.

Create a New Pledge Opportunity

1. Navigate to the Opportunities tab and click on New Opportunity.

If you are on an individual or organization record, you can also navigate to the opportunities related list and click on the "new" button.

2. Select "Pledge" as the opportunity record type and click on Next.

3. Populate the details of the pledge opportunity and click on Save.

• Opportunity Name - opportunity name
• Individual or Account Name - the name of the individual donor or the organization making the pledge
• Amount - the total pledge amount
• Close Date - the expected close date
• Stage - the opportunity stage
• Probability - the opportunity probability

Once you save the information, you will be taken to the Pledge opportunity you had just created.

Create a Pledge Plan

The next step after entering a pledge opportunity is to create a pledge plan. A pledge plan is usually determined with your donor. The pledge plan includes details about the number of installments the donor wishes to make, installment dates and amounts, as well as allocation information.

Please note that even when you create a pledge plan, installment and allocation records are not created until the pledge opportunity status is "Closed Won". If the pledge opportunity is not yet "Closed Won", the pledge plan you create is a temporary plan to help you work with the donor on planning installments and allocations. 

1. From the pledge opportunity, click on Create Pledge Plan.

2. Populate the following information:

• Amount - automatically takes the amount specified for the pledge opportunity but you can enter a different amount if needed.
• Start Date - the expected date of the first installment.
• Installment Structure - defines how the total Pledge Amount is going to be broken down (either by defining the number of installments or the amount per installment)
• Frequency - refers to the installment frequency

Click on Create Plan after you've provided the above information.

3. Pledge Manager will automatically create installments based on the amount, start date, installment structure and frequency you specified. The next step would be for you to specify the allocation information. Populate the Appeal, Fund and Amount to be allocated.

If you would like to split the allocation, click on Add Allocation to add additional allocation rows. 

If you would like to apply the same allocation information to all the other installments, click on Apply to Remaining.

Pledge Manager allows you to specify different allocation information for each installment if you wish to. You simply need to expand the installment to populate the allocation information.

4. Once you've populate the allocation information for all installments, click on the Save.

5. A confirmation message will display. Click on Ok to continue creating the pledge plan.

6. Pledge Manager will display a success message notifying you that the plan has been successfully created. Click on Return to Opportunity.

The pledge opportunity will update to include details from the pledge plan 

Causeview's Pledge Manager makes it easy for you to create pledge opportunities and pledge plans for both individual donors and organizations.

Please note that payments can only be applied to installments once the pledge opportunity is "Closed Won".

You can always make changes to the pledge plan either before or after a pledge opportunity is deemed "Closed Won". 

Related Article: Causeview Pledge Manager - Modify a Pledge Plan (Overview)