Creating Pledge Forms – GiveCampus University

Overview

Online pledges allow your donors to commit to a future gift through your GiveCampus Giving Forms. Donors can choose to pay their pledge in full at a later date or set up installment payments over time. This feature helps secure future commitments while offering donors flexible payment options.

Getting Started

Pledge Forms are a type of GiveCampus Giving Form, with many similarities to traditional Giving Forms. If you’re new to Giving Forms, we recommend reviewing these articles first:

Setting Up a Pledge Form

1. Initial Form Creation

Go to your Giving Forms dashboard.

In the New Form dialog, select Pledge as the form type.
Enter a form name, choose a form category, and click Create Form.

2. Pledge Settings

Open the pledge form’s settings and configure the pledge options for the form.

Installment payment periods: Choose whether to offer monthly installments, yearly installments, or both.
- Enable one, both, or neither option.
- Note: One-time pledge payments are always available.
Payment Options Choose how donors provide payment information:
- Allow donors to submit their payment details for automatic processing.
- Allow donors to pledge without providing payment information upfront.
- Enable one or both options.

Minimum Pledge Amount – Specify the lowest amount a donor can pledge on this form.

Pledge Payoff Period – Optionally, check Set a maximum pledge payoff date to reveal a date picker for choosing the latest date by which donors must fulfill their pledge. We recommend basing this on your initiative, such as using a fiscal-year cutoff or a multi-year date.

Note: The option to allow donors to pledge without providing payment information is available only for schools that have completed Stripe onboarding. If you don't see this checkbox, your Stripe setup may not be complete.

3. Form Questions, Language, and Imagery

To customize your Pledge Form:

Go to the Forms tab > Form Builder to add pre- or post-payment form questions.
Edit language and images for the Pre-Payment, Payment, and Post-Payment stages under their respective tabs.

4. Email Confirmations and Notifications

Donors are notified after submitting their pledge. If they provide payment information, they’ll also get updates about charges or changes to their pledge.

Customizing pledge confirmation emails

Customize your pledge confirmation emails to reflect your organization’s voice and branding. You can update the email content, subject line, and remove merge tokens for a cleaner, more generic confirmation.

To edit your confirmation email templates:

Open your pledge form in Online Giving > Giving Forms and navigate to the Email Templates tab.
Select the appropriate pledge confirmation email template.
Update the subject line, body text, and merge tokens as needed.
Send yourself a test email, then click Activate Email Template to make your changes live.

Tip: For a minimal confirmation, use clear, concise language without extra merge tokens so donors receive a straightforward acknowledgment.

Donors without payment information receive a confirmation of their pledge but no automated reminders at this time.

To manage email templates:

Go to Pledge Form Settings > Email Templates.
Review, edit, and activate the following notifications:

Email Notifications:

Payment Provided: Confirmation Sent when donors submit a pledge with payment information.
No Payment: Confirmation Sent when donors submit a pledge without payment information.
Payment Provided: First Installment Reminder Sent 3 days before a donor’s first installment is charged (if it’s at least 2 months after the pledge was established).
Payment Provided: Annual Payment Reminder Sent 2 days before annual payments for multi-year pledges. Note: In the first year, donors receive the “First Installment Reminder” instead.
Payment Provided: Pledge Cancelled Sent when a donor cancels future pledge payments.
Payment Provided: Pledge Paid Sent when a pledge is paid in full. Sent when the first and only payment is made on the same day as the pledge commitment.
Payment Provided: Pledge Failed Sent if a donor’s payment method fails.
Payment Provided: Pledge Reactivated Sent when a previously failed payment is successfully reactivated.

How installment amounts are calculated and what donors see

When a donor opts for installment payments, the pledged amount is divided into equal installments rounded down to the nearest cent. The final installment includes any remaining cents so the total equals the full pledge. For example, a $1,000 pledge split over 12 months will display $83.33 for the first 11 charges and $83.37 for the final charge.

What donors see on the pledge payment page

The payment form shows a Payment Amount banner displaying the per-installment amount and payment frequency (for example, "$83.33 per month").
If the pledged amount does not divide evenly, a note appears on the banner: "Your last installment will be $[last amount] to fulfill your full $[total] pledge." If the amount divides evenly, no extra note is shown.

Reporting and records

Reporting fields (such as pledge total and subscription total) reflect the full pledge amount, not the per-installment figure.
If an admin edits a pledge to change the number of installments or the total amount, the system recalculates so that the final installment adjusts to cover the revised total.

What fundraising staff should know

The final installment may be a cent or two higher than the earlier ones. This rounding difference is intended to ensure the full pledged amount is collected.
The Payment Amount banner always shows the correct per-installment amount along with any note about the final installment when applicable.

Scope and limitations

This rounding behavior applies only to multi-installment pledges. One-time pledges charge the full amount in a single transaction.

Reporting on Pledges

Click here pledge reporting tips.
If you are leveraging the GiveCampus API, please review updates to the Recurring Subscription API.

FAQ:

Can I accept pledges through Social Fundraising campaigns?
- At this time, pledges can only be processed through Giving Forms. Our recommendation is to keep an eye on pledges as they come in and then enter them as Offline Gifts in the campaign.

Can I modify the pledge?
- Yes! When reviewing pledges, you'll see a Donation ID--this is where you can modify the pledge commitment including designation, payment information, etc. Note that you can even add payment information after the fact if the donor did not enter it at the time of making the pledge!
Why aren't ACH or Digital wallets offered as payment methods?
- ACH and digital wallets do not allow for preauthorization for payments being made at a later date. Only credit card payment is available for pledge payments.

More Questions?

Contact support@givecampus.com.

How scheduled pledges appear in reporting and integrations

A pledge with payment information scheduled for a future date uses a recurring subscription to collect the payment, even when it has only one installment. Seeing “recurring” on that record does not mean the donor selected an ongoing recurring gift. Check the number of installments and payment date to confirm the intended schedule.

A one-time pledge due on a future date can therefore correctly appear as recurring. Do not cancel it or recreate it as a donation just to change that label.

Pledge setup	What to expect
No payment information provided	A commitment is recorded; submitting it does not itself charge a payment method.
Payment information provided for a future payment or installments	A scheduled subscription collects the payment or payments. A one-installment schedule is still treated as recurring.
Payment charged immediately	Review the actual payment and any remaining schedule rather than inferring the type from the form’s name.

Raiser’s Edge NXT export

The integration classifies an exported recurring payment as a RecurringGiftPayment; other exported donations use Donation. Using a Pledge Form does not automatically create a Pledge record in NXT. Do not change export settings or a donor’s schedule solely because the payment is labeled recurring. If you need to link a payment to an existing NXT pledge, follow the NXT integration’s pledge-payment linking instructions.

Recurring Gifts vs. Pledge Forms

Understanding the Difference

Recurring Gifts on Standard Forms:

Allow donors to make ongoing donations with flexible end dates
Can be indefinite (ongoing) or time-bound (e.g., monthly for 1 year)
Process automatically on the selected schedule
Begin immediately - the first installment is charged the day the recurring gift is set up
Cannot be scheduled to start on a future date
Managed through Giving Forms > Giving Experience > Recurring Giving

Pledge Forms:

Create formal pledge commitments that can be fulfilled later
Allow donors to commit now and pay in full later or in installments
Provide more structured pledge management and tracking
Best for capital campaigns or formal pledge drives

When to Use Each Option

Use Standard Recurring Gifts for:

Annual giving programs
Ongoing monthly or annual donations
Simple recurring support without formal pledging
Immediate donation processing with ongoing installments

Use Pledge Forms for:

Capital campaigns requiring formal commitments
Major gift solicitation with future payment plans
Situations requiring pledge tracking and fulfillment management
When donors need to schedule payments to start on a future date

URL parameters and autofill limitations for pledge forms

When building personalized links to a pledge form (for example, those shared in email outreach), note that while standard personalization fields work normally, not all pledge-specific settings can be pre-filled via URL parameters. In particular:

Installment frequency (single vs. multiple payments) cannot be preset.
Start and stop dates cannot be preset.
Pledge-specific parameters aren’t supported in autofill.
Standard personalization parameters (like donor name, email, and amounts) function as expected.

This means that:

Donor personalization remains effective—standard fields pre-filled from the URL appear when the form loads.
Donors must select the installment schedule and enter any applicable dates while completing the pledge.
To guide donor selections, adjust your form settings. For example, enable only one payment option or set a maximum payoff date using Pledge Parameters.

Requiring donors to choose schedule options on the form helps keep payment processing, reminders, and installment setups consistent.