Adjusting Pledges

Adam Eggert

Question regarding how those handle changes in pledges.

Had a donor who did a 3 year pledge last calendar year. He now has increased that pledge amount in this calendar year. Do I adjust the pledge from last year, or do I write that pledge off and do a new pledge in this calendar year?

JoAnn Strommen

Obviously, you're aware of your options. If the increase is relevant to the previous pledge, I would increase that pledge amount. IMO, it's a more accurate representation of donor's giving - one larger pledge vs. two smaller pledges. This can be a factor when looking at largest gift ever given.


If you decide to create a new pledge, I would adjust original pledge to the amount paid, not write-off the unpaid balance. Write-offs still reflect the full original amount in most reports. The write-off is viewed as fulfilling the appropriate installments.

Adam Eggert

Thanks JoAnn. Currently no payments have been made on the original pledge. So best would probably just be to adjust original pledge to this new amount is what I'm hearing.

Faith Murray

Yes, adjust the original pledge. It's important to remember that your gift records are not exclusively internal. If you send pledge reminders or if your auditors send pledge verification letters, or if one of your Development fundraisers may answer a phonecall from this donor asking about his/her pledge balance – in each of these cases, having a single pledge reflecting total amount will make much more sense to the donor and save needless confusion.

Alex Wong

Updating old pledge consideration is well spoken. So I won't chime in there.

The consideration should be financially related. If you register Pledge (not payment) as revenue that your org report and last calendar year is “closed” financially, then you should not change the old pledge's amount. There probably is financial protocol on that in your org.