Pledge and Gift Comparison

Fundraisers have a number of different options with Gifts and Pledges. This page outlines some of the key differences.

The following table outlines the accounting and processing differences of various types of Gifts and Pledges. Gifts and Pledges can be created either in Fundraising or through Centralized Order Entry (COE). In COE, you do not choose whether to create a Gift or Pledge. Instead you add a donation, and NetForum creates either a Gift or a Pledge based on the order type you choose (shown as options in the table below).

Gifts and Pledges Comparisons
Type	Option	Accounting transactions		Creates receivable?	Initial payment required?	Creates payment schedule?	Renewable?	Recommendations
Gift	One-time	Creates terms invoice for full gift amount.		Yes	Yes	No	No	Use for donations when you have a full or partial payment. Does not support installment schedule; use Pledges if you need a schedule. If you do not have a payment yet, then create a Pending Signed pledge and set the schedule for 1 installment.
	Recurring	Each repeated gift will create a new terms invoice for the recurring gift amount.		Yes	Yes	Yes	Recurs indefinitely until stopped	Use for indefinite monthly giving (or other term interval such as quarterly) when you can record a credit card or ACH for automatic processing.
Pledge	Signed	Same as Installment Payments. Creates a single terms invoice for the full pledge amount. Allows you to set number of payments.		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes via Pledge Renewal	Choose Signed when you are certain the donor will fulfill the pledge. This choice creates a receivable for the full pledge amount.
	Verbal	Same as Installment Billing. Initially creates one terms invoice for the first payment. To enter a Verbal pledge with no payment information, set the first invoice / payment date in the future. An iWeb user must use the generate next installment button to create the next invoice for the next installment. Creates a Schedule for payments in the background.		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes via Pledge Renewal	Use when you are not certain the donor will fulfill the entire pledge. Recognize revenue for first payment only.
	Pending Signed	Creates a proforma Installment Payments invoice. Will convert the proforma to a terms invoice for the total pledge amount, after first payment. Initial and subsequent payments will pay down the balance.		No	No	Yes	Yes via Pledge Renewal	Use when you are not certain the donor will come through with the pledge. Will not create an A/R receivable until you either apply the first payment, or until you change the invoice from proforma to terms. Typically used for larger gifts such as in capital campaigns where you want to log the pledge as an open pledge, but not book A/R.
	Installment Billing	PledgeInvoiceEnable is False	For each installment that gets generated, will create either an Order without A/R (until payment is applied) for the installment amount.	No	No	Yes	Yes via Pledge Renewal	Use when you have little confidence that each pledge payment will be fulfilled, even if the first installment is paid, as you will never create a receivable for subsequent installments. A/R is booked only when the payment is processed.
		PledgeInvoiceEnable is True	Creates one terms Invoice for each installment when the Pledge is saved.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes via Pledge Renewal	This was the original attempt to offer the ability to create a receivable for the full pledge amount. Abila now recommends using Signed pledge (which was created in 2011.01) instead of this feature, but we have maintained this feature for legacy applications that use it.
COE FR	Installment Billing	PledgeInvoiceEnable is True	With this type, saving the Order will create a Pledge. If an initial payment is made, then all installments are generated as terms invoices with the term specified. If no initial payment is made, then no installments are generated (this logic differs from the login compared to when a Gift is added from the Fundraising module). Overpayments that are more than the first installment become an overpayment credit; the overpayment will not get allocated into the 2nd (or subsequent) installment. After saving the order, you can apply the credit toward the next installment.	Yes, if initial payment is made, then all installments will be generated	No	Yes	Yes by Pledge renewal	Works just like Add Gift except as noted when no initial payment is made and PledgeInvoiceEnabled is true.
		PledgeInvoiceEnable is False	Creates an installment billing pledge with a schedule but no invoice unless an initial payment is made, in which case the first installment will be generated.	Yes, if an initial payment is made, then the initial installment will be generated, but not the subsequent ones.	No	Yes	Yes by Pledge Renewal	Works like Add Gift for installments.
	Installment Payments	Same as Signed Pledge in Add Gift page.		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes by Pledge Renewal	Same as Signed Pledge. If you also add Proforma then Installment Payments becomes similar to Pending Signed Pledge.
	Prepaid	Same as a one-time Gift.		Yes	Yes	No	n/a	Same as one-time gift.
	Proforma	Creates a Pledge with a proforma invoice. The pledge amount is not included in constituent giving totals until invoice is paid.		No	No	No	n/a	This is similar to a proforma Pledge. On the Add Gift page in Fundraising, this type of pledge is a Pending Signed Pledge.
	Terms	Creates a Gift with a terms invoice with a full balance.		Yes	No	No	n/a	This is similar to a terms Gift. On the Add Gift page in Fundraising, this type of gift is not available

Additional notes:

• Recurring gifts added in 2011.01.
• Signed and Verbal pledges added in 2011.01.
• Verbal changed to Pending Signed in 2015.1 beyond.
• PledgeTypeList allows you to choose which of the Pledge option(s) you want for your system.