Pledge Forms vs. Recurring Gifts: Setup and Integration

GiveCampus provides two flexible options to manage donor commitments—pledge forms and recurring gifts. This guide explains the differences between these options and discusses setup considerations for cases like payroll deductions.

Overview

There are two primary giving methods on GiveCampus:

Pledge Forms: Record a commitment with or without payment information, according to the form’s settings. A donor can arrange a single future payment or installments.
Recurring Gifts: Schedule repeated payments, including finite or ongoing plans, using the recurring choices offered on a giving form.

Understanding Pledge Forms

Pledge forms support future commitments both with and without payment information. Their behavior depends on the payment and installment options enabled on the form.

Deferred payment: Donors can commit now and pay later.
Automatic collection: When enabled, donors can provide payment details for a future payment or scheduled installments.
Payment-free pledges: A form may also allow a commitment without payment details, for later collection and reconciliation.
Payroll deductions: These require coordination with the employer; GiveCampus does not collect payroll deductions through an external payroll integration.

Understanding Recurring Gifts

Recurring gifts are designed for donors who prefer automated, ongoing donations. Their features include:

Immediate Payment: An initial payment is processed immediately along with the donor’s authorization for future automated charges.
Automated Processing: These gifts are fully integrated with GiveCampus’s payment system, ensuring seamless transactions.
Sustained Giving: They work best when establishing a consistent donation stream.

When to Use Pledge Forms

Use pledge forms when:

Use a pledge form to collect a commitment with a payment date or installment plan, including a single future payment.
If the donor will pay outside GiveCampus, allow pledges without payment information and arrange collection and reconciliation separately.

When to Use Recurring Gifts

Recurring gifts are ideal when:

Immediate, Automated Payment is Needed: Donors authorize a first payment and set up automated future payments.
Continuous Support is the Goal: This option supports building a sustained giving program through regular, ongoing donations.
Integrated Payment Processing is Required: They leverage GiveCampus’s integrated system for seamless fund management.

Reporting and Fulfillment

Both pledge forms and recurring gifts are visible in your reporting dashboards, though they are tracked differently:

Payment-free pledges require follow-up to collect and reconcile payment.
Future-dated or installment pledges with scheduled collection use recurring subscription records, even when there is only one installment. A recurring label does not by itself mean the donor has an ongoing commitment.
For NXT exports, subscription-backed payments use RecurringGiftPayment; other payments use Donation. Do not change a valid pledge schedule merely to remove a recurring label.

Key Limitations

Pledge forms do not integrate directly with payroll systems.
Payment-free pledges require a separate collection and reconciliation workflow.
Review the scheduled number of payments and dates to distinguish a single future pledge payment from ongoing recurring giving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: A donor wants to pay monthly until a fixed end date (for example, monthly payments that stop in a future month). Which option should I use, and how do I set it up?

A standard Giving Form with a finite recurring option is suitable when the donor wants the first payment now and subsequent monthly payments for a set duration. A Pledge Form can also support scheduled installments when configured for them. To use a standard recurring option:

Open the giving form that the donor will use and enable recurring giving in the form's settings. This is a per‑form setting, so no new form or campaign is required.
At checkout, have the donor select the appropriate time‑bound recurring option. Standard forms offer "Monthly (for a number of years)". If your school has also enabled the monthly-by-number-of-months option, use "Monthly (for a number of months)" to match the donor's request and set the duration accordingly.

Q: Can an administrator view or cancel a time‑bound recurring subscription on behalf of a donor?

A: Yes. Administrators can manage recurring subscriptions as follows:

Go to Online Giving > Manage Gifts > Recurring Subscriptions.
Locate the subscription in the list.
Note: In addition to the two monthly options, forms can also offer a "Yearly" recurring frequency if your school has enabled it.

The Actions dropdown includes a Cancel option, which cancels the recurring subscription directly from the list without opening the detail page.

Click the link in the Donation ID column to view subscription details, or select Modify from the Actions dropdown.

The Actions dropdown also includes a Send Donor Link to Modify option, which sends the donor an email with a link to update their subscription details directly. This option is available for subscriptions processed through Stripe or Spreedly and does not appear for subscriptions using other payment processors.

Q: What if my giving form doesn't show monthly recurring options?

A: If the form lacks a monthly recurring option, enable recurring giving in the form's settings. Once enabled, donors will see the time‑bound recurring choices.

Q: When is a Pledge Form the right choice instead of a Recurring Gift?

Use a Pledge Form to collect a commitment for a future payment, an installment plan, or payment outside GiveCampus. For payment-free commitments, appropriate situations include:

The donor will pay outside GiveCampus (for example, via payroll deduction or mailed check).
You need to record the commitment now and follow up offline for payment.

For automated pledge payments, enable payment collection and the appropriate schedule on the pledge form. A single future payment still uses a recurring subscription with one installment.

Q: Quick decision checklist

Donor wants automatic monthly charges (starting immediately) and for charges to stop after a specific duration → Use a standard Giving Form with the time‑bound Recurring Gift option ("Monthly (for a number of years)" or "Monthly (for a number of months)" if available).
Donor is making a commitment and will pay outside GiveCampus, or you only want to record the pledge now → Use a Pledge Form and follow up offline.

Q: Anything I should watch for or other gotchas?

Ensure recurring giving is enabled on the form before donors see the monthly options.
When an administrator modifies a subscription via Online Giving > Manage Gifts > Recurring Subscriptions > Actions > Modify, the changes affect future installments and the donor receives a notification.

Conclusion

Choose the form based on when the donor will pay and whether GiveCampus should collect the payment automatically. Confirm the installment count, dates and payment-information settings rather than relying only on the record’s recurring label.