Understand a donation pledge
Before using the Pledges module day-to-day, take a few minutes to understand exactly what a pledge is — and what it is not — in Unisoft. This page lays out the conceptual foundations used everywhere else in the documentation.
What is a donation pledge?
A donation pledge is the commitment of a donor to give a specific amount to your organization, before the payment actually takes place.
Typical example:
During the annual gala, David Cohen tells you he commits to give €1,800 to support the new prayer hall. You record this pledge in Unisoft. David will then pay later — in one or several installments, by check, transfer or direct debit.
A pledge therefore captures a quantified intent, traceable, assigned to a donor, linked to an occasion (the gala, a holiday, a campaign).
Pledge vs Payment vs Subscription vs Fund
Four close but distinct concepts. Understanding the differences avoids many entry errors.
| Concept | What | Who | When | Unisoft module |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pledge | Future commitment | A specific donor | Before the payment | Pledges module |
| Payment | Actual receipt | A specific donor | At the time of the donation | Payments module |
| Subscription | Automatic recurring mechanism | A specific donor | At fixed due dates | Recurring payments module |
| Fund | Collective collection | Several donors | Over a given period | Funds module |
Pledge vs Payment
- A pledge is the intent; a payment is the act.
- A pledge can generate zero, one or several payments.
- A payment can be linked to zero, one or several pledges.
Pledge vs Subscription
- A pledge is a global quantified commitment (€1,800 in total).
- A subscription is a direct-debit mechanism that automatically debits the donor at regular intervals (for example €150/month).
- The two can coexist: a pledge of €1,800 can be covered by a monthly subscription that progressively settles it over 12 months. See Recurring pledges.
Pledge vs Fund
- A pledge is individual: it belongs to an identified donor.
- A fund is collective: it aggregates the contributions of several people toward a common goal.
- You can have ten distinct pledges for the same gala, or one fund for the renovation of a hall.
Anatomy of a pledge
A pledge contains the following information:
Main information
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Contact | The committed donor | Sarah Lévy |
| Reason | Free-form label of the pledge | "3rd aliyah Shabbat Berechit" |
| Occasion | Context (free text or chosen) | Rosh Hashana, Passover, Annual gala |
| Type | Free-form classification | "Aliyah", "Hagbaha", "Honor" |
| Amount | Total amount pledged | €1,800 |
| Currency | Euro, dollar, shekel, pound | EUR |
| Date | Date of the linked occasion | September 12, 2026 |
| Association | Associated legal entity | Main association |
| Booklet | Target budgetary booklet or campaign (optional) | "Works 2026" Booklet |
Automatically calculated balances
As payments come in, Unisoft maintains a balance cache updated in real time:
| Calculated field | Description |
|---|---|
| Paid | Total amount already paid to fulfill the pledge |
| Remaining | Balance still to be fulfilled (amount − paid) |
| Last payment | Date of the last payment received |
| Active subscription | Indicates whether a recurring subscription covers the pledge |
| Linked payments | List of payments that have fulfilled the pledge |
💡 You have nothing to recalculate: these values are updated with every validated, deleted or refunded payment.
Lifecycle of a pledge
Step details
- 1
Creation
An administrator enters the pledge (manually or via the Express bulk mode). The balance cache is initialized: paid = 0, remaining = amount.
- 2
Partial payments
At each payment assigned to the pledge, the cache is automatically updated. A payment can come from:
- A direct entry (check, transfer)
- A multi-pledge payment
- A recurring subscription
- A payment link sent to the donor
- 3
Reminders
As long as there is a remaining balance, you can follow up with the donor via SMS or email — manually or automatically.
- 4
Closing
- Fulfilled: when
remaining ≤ 0, the status automatically switches to Settled. - Canceled: if you decide to withdraw the pledge, it switches to Canceled (soft delete for traceability).
- Fulfilled: when
Soft delete: why canceled pledges remain visible
When you cancel a pledge, Unisoft does not physically erase it: it is marked as inactive but remains viewable in the Canceled tab.
Why?
- Keep a trace of the commitments made (useful for internal audits)
- Verify after the fact why a given pledge was not fulfilled
- Restore a pledge canceled by mistake
Canceled pledges do not appear in KPIs or in normal financial exports.
What happens when a payment is received?
When a payment is assigned to a pledge (directly, via link, via subscription, via multi-reason payment), Unisoft:
- The balance cache is recalculated in real time
- The status is possibly promoted (Pending → In progress → Settled)
- A tax receipt is generated for the amount paid (not the pledged amount — see Tax receipts and pledges)
- The donor history is updated
Multi-currency
A pledge has a single currency (EUR, USD, ILS, GBP). Global KPIs are displayed per currency: no automatic conversion, to preserve accounting integrity.
If you manage pledges in several currencies, you will see several KPI cards side by side ("Total amount in €", "Total amount in $", etc.).
Special cases
| Case | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Pledge partially fulfilled then abandoned | Stays accounting-wise with a non-zero balance; remains in the In progress tab. You can cancel it manually or keep it for the record. |
| Pledge covered by an active subscription | The Edit and Cancel actions are disabled to preserve the consistency of the automatic direct debit. See Recurring pledges. |
| Pledge linked to a campaign | The amount will automatically flow into the campaign statistics. See Pledges and campaigns. |
| Pledge on behalf of a company | If the contact is of type Professional, the tax receipt will bear the legal name and the company ID. |
What's next?
Now that you understand what a pledge is, you can: