Slate automatically applies pledge payments to the overall pledge and to the earliest installment that still has an outstanding balance, so you can tell  at a glance whether a donor’s pledge installments are ahead, behind, or on-track.

Creating a new pledge

To enter a new pledge:

1. Go to Records.

2. Select a donor record.

3. Select the Giving tab.

4. From the right, select Pledges.

5. Select New Pledge.

6. Configure the pledge settings as needed. These details auto-populate in the settings of fulfilling gifts.

7. Select Save.

💡 You can also create a new pledge with a form.

Overriding installment schedules

If you selected Configure Installments when you created your new pledge, Slate constructs an installment schedule based on your starting date, the number of installments, and the months between them.

You can override this schedule:

1. Select an existing pledge.

2. Select Override Installments.

3. Select Add Installment.

4. Enter an Amount and pick a date.

   

5. Repeat as necessary.

6. Select Save.

Fulfilling an existing pledge

To fulfill a pledge, either in full or in part as an installment, create a new gift and select the pledge from the Fulfilling list.

If you’re collecting a payment, you can assign the payment across multiple installments. If you’re collecting more than one payment, they can each be assigned to the a single installment.

Slate automatically handles the distribution of payments and calculates the remaining balance for each installment. Payments are automatically applied to the earliest installment with an outstanding balance.

Pledge settings

Type

Select the type of pledge (such as cash, property, stock, in-kind services, etc.). These pledge types can be created and modified by configuring prompts for Slate standard advancement fields. This field is required to save a pledge.

Campaign

Allows for the ability to associate an individual pledge with a particular fundraising campaign. Select the appropriate campaign from the list.

Fund

Select the appropriate fund from the list. These are particular accounts where people can donate. All pledges must be associated with a fund.

Opportunity

Associate the pledge with a potential gift suggested by institutional research and giving history. This will only display if there is an opportunity for the record.

Appeal

This field displays only if specific appeals have been set up. These are specific outreach efforts, such as a new graduate appeal.

Anonymous

If selected, the donor's name will not appear in external publications.

Revocable

Select whether the pledge can be reversed by the donor or if the gift is a contractual or legally binding agreement.

User

The gift officer to be associated with a solicitation or pledge. This defaults to the current user but can be changed.

Date

Select the date the pledge was made.

Status

Select the status of the pledge. Statuses for gifts, pledges, and planned gifts can be configured when setting up the Slate standard advancement fields. This field is required to record a gift.

Amount

Enter the amount of the pledge. This field is required to save a pledge.

Occasion

Should the pledge be made with a particular reason, such as In Honor Of or In Memorium, selecting the appropriate prompt will allow the pledge to be connected to a separate existing record within Slate.

Honoring

Search for a record within Slate for which to associate the occasion reason.

Honoring Other

If honoring an individual not in Slate, enter a free-text honoree name.

Notes

This field stores custom, internal notes associated with a gift, pledge, or planned gift.

External ID

This field allows for a unique ID to be assigned to a particular pledge, typically to export to other systems.

Suggested Soft Credits

This field pulls in linked relationship records to easily apply soft credits. Can be defaulted according to how the relationship records are configured.

Soft Credits

Search active records in Slate and add additional soft credits (non-relationships).

Documents

This field displays advancement materials associated with particular gifts, pledges, or planned gifts (such as copies of checks).  

Configure Installments

Select this option to set up installments.

Start Date Override

By default, the initial installment date will default to the date of the pledge. Inserting a date in this setting will override that date.

Number of Installments

Enter the total number of payments for which the pledge to be fulfilled.

Months Between Installments

Enter the monthly recurrence of the installment (e.g. every month = 1; every other month = 2; twice a year = 6; etc.).