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 Info Tab

  • 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)

  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).

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.