Managing Pledges and Monthly Donors in Sumac

Managing Pledges and Monthly Donors in Sumac

Overview

Pledges track donor commitments for future donations, including monthly/recurring gifts or one-time/irregular larger amounts (e.g., $10,000 over 2 years). Sumac automates recurring processing with credit cards or sends reminders for manual handling.

Alert
Online donations via Sumac's donation page automatically create pledges for monthly donors.

Creating a Pledge

  1. Open Contacts list → Search/add contact.
  2. Select contact → Add to Contact → Pledge.

Pledge Record Configuration

  • Commitment Date: Defaults to today (editable).
  • Pledge Status: e.g., Active (customizable by admin via dropdown options like Canceled/Pending).
  • Frequency (months between payments):
    • 1 = monthly
    • 2 = bimonthly
    • 6 = twice yearly
    • 0 = one-time or unknown/irregular
  • Day of Month: 1–28 (recommend 1st or 15th for online forms).
  • First Payment Date: Must match Day of Month; can override for immediate processing.
  • Last Payment Date: Optional (leave blank for open-ended).
  • Recurring Payment Amount: e.g., $100/month.
    • For irregular: Check Irregular Payments → field becomes Total Amount.
  • Exclude from automatic processing: Check to handle manually.

Donation Record Details

  • Donation Type: e.g., Pledge/Monthly Donor.
  • Link to Event/Campaign/Fund (optional).
  • Account Code (defaults if set).

Payment Details

  • Click Payment → select Payment Type and enter details (usually credit card).
  • After first processing: Customer Code saved; card number masked (last 4 digits visible).
  • Click OK

Click OK → Confirm donations/total → Save.

Tip: After saving, verify contact details before thanking donor.

Processing a Single Pledge

  1. Go to Fundraising > Pledges.
  2. Search by name.
  3. Select pledge → Special Editing > Process Pledges.
  4. Choose donation date (can override for today).
  5. OK → Creates donation/payment records and processes payment.
  6. Summary shows results (donor, recorded, processed).

Automatic Pledge Processing (Admin Only)

To Enable

  1. Utilities > Customize Database > Preferences > Donations and Fundraising > Pledge Automation.
  2. Check Turn on auto-pledge feature.
  3. Set:
    • Time of day: e.g., 9:00 AM (daily check/process).
    • Email report to: Addresses (one per line).
    • Send report: Every day or only processed days.
  4. OK.
Notes

Important:

  • Log in at least every 90 days or auto-processing disables (email notification sent).
  • Errors appear in Dashboard Notification Centre (red).

Exclude from automatic processing: Check this option on the pledge record to stop the automatic pledge processor from collecting this pledge. For example,  to pause it for a month or to handle it manually. Clearing the check does not catch up payments missed while it was checked; see Pausing a Pledge below.

Pausing a Pledge

To stop Sumac from collecting a pledge automatically for a period, open the pledge record, check Exclude from automatic processing, and click OK to save. The automatic processor skips that pledge while the box is checked.

The checkbox affects automatic processing only. You can still collect a payment for that pledge manually: go to Fundraising > Pledges, select the pledge, and choose Special Editing > Process Pledges.

Clearing the checkbox does not catch up missed months. When you uncheck Exclude from automatic processing, Sumac evaluates the pledge against the current month only and does not create a make-up donation for the month or months it was excluded. Processing resumes with the next scheduled auto-pledge run; any month that was skipped must be processed manually if you want to collect it.

Manual Bulk Processing

  1. Fundraising > Pledges.
  2. Advanced Search:
    • Due this month + check Not processed in this month, OR
    • Payments span this date.
  3. Search → Sort by Day of Month.
  4. Select pledges for today → Special Editing > Process Pledges.
  5. Choose date → Process.

IdeaTip: If all on 1st, process once/month; multiple days = multiple sessions.