Online Pledges 

If your church members make pledges to a specific Contribution fund, you will want to use this feature. It makes the back-office work SO much easier! Whether or not you are using online giving at your church, you can still use Online Pledges. It works very much like other online Registrations. First, create an Organization for your pledges.

Then, go to the Settings tab and change following:

• assign it a Registration Type of “Online Pledge”
• select the Online Notify Person/s. This should be the person who has the Finance role for your church.

Then, go to Edit Registration Settings (under Other Management) and do the following:

• create the Confirmation email (if you have art work associated with your pledge drive, you could add the HTML to your email)
• enter the Donation Fund ID (which should be a Pledge Fund)
• check Allow Only One
• create Instructions if you want those
• Then just post the link on your website or email your members letting them know they can pledge online.

Here’s how it works behind the scenes:

When the first person makes an online pledge, a new Bundle gets created in Contributions. As long as you leave the Bundle open, all subsequent pledges will be added to that Bundle automatically. Once you close that Bundle, the process starts all over with a new Bundle getting created the next time a person makes an online pledge. I would probably close the Bundles at the end of the week, but it is up to you. The pledge is assigned to the correct person in the database without your staff having to do anything!

Here’s what else happens when a person makes an Online Pledge:

• the person making the pledge receives a Confirmation email (see sample below)
• the designated Online Notify Person gets a notification email

One more nifty feature is the ability for a person to return to the online pledge page if they want to increase their pledge. They will see their current pledge and any contributions that have been made toward that fund. The system will capture both pledges but will combine them on their giving statement with all contributions applied against the total. You might want to mention that in the confirmation so they they would have the link handy.

Here’s how if works for the person making the pledge:

If they do not login with their BVCMS username/password:

• they enter the information requested to find their record/profile in the database
• once they hit Submit, they will be emailed a one-time link to make their pledge
• when they click the link, they will see a box in which they can enter a dollar amount
• then they click Submit and will receive an email Confirmation

NOTE: We send the link in an email (instead of taking them directly to the pledge page) as a security precaution. You do not want someone to be able to pretend to be you and make pledges on your behalf. Also, if a person does not have an email address on their record, they will see a message telling them to call the church.

If they login with their BVCMS username/password:

• they select the family member making the pledge (if the family has joint contribution statements, it doesn’t matter if it is the husband or the wife)
• then they see the page where they can enter he dollar amount of the pledge
• they then click Submit and will receive an email Confirmation

Sample confirmation (notice the code to display the amount pledged):

Hi {first},

Thank you for your total pledge of ${amt} toward this year’s pledge fund. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs.Greenbucks in our Finance office: greenbuck@yourchurch.org.

You can return to the pledge website at any time should you wish to make an additional pledge.

Click here if you would like to make an online contribution at this time.

Samples for the Find and Options Instructions:

FIND:

If you have a username and password for BVCMS, please click "Login with an account" below to make your pledge.

If you do not have a username and password for BVCMS, please enter the information below so that we can find your record in the church database. You will receive an email with a one-time link that will allow you to make a pledge.

Note: If you do not have an email address on your record in the church database, you will be asked to call the church (Mrs. Greenbucks at 555-5555) to provide that information before you can make an online pledge. This is to prevent someone from anonymously making a pledge for you!

OPTIONS:

Please enter the amount of your pledge. You can return at any time if you wish to make an additional pledge. Also, any amount that you have given toward this fund will be displayed below.

FAQs:

Q: Will a person be added as a member to the Organization I create for the pledges?

A: No. The Organization is used as a place to create the registration settings and will not have members.

Q: Will the staff notification have the amount of the pledge in the email?

A: No. It will merely indicate the name of the person and that they have made a pledge.

Q: Will the System Admin be able to see the pledge amounts in Manage Transactions?

A: No. The amounts are redacted.

Q: Does the church have to be using online contributions in order to benefit or use Online Pledges?

A: No. While the Online Pledges are added to a person’s giving record in Contributions on BVCMS, it does not go through a merchant account. It functions more like an online registration.