How to Apply Pledge Payments Using Online Express

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Jackie Cistaro
Jackie Cistaro ✭
Ancient Membership Facilitator 1 Photogenic
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
Hi, maybe I missed something because I'm a new Online Express user, but I put in a credit card donation the other day, but it was actually a payment for an existing pledge...so the person's record ended up with a pledge and a cash gift for the same amount and fund. Normally when I do a check batch or even a manual credit card batch using our old online donation system, I get prompted when a constituent has an open pledge. Does this happen anywhere in online express or in the online express batch? If not this is going to be a real problem next Fall, as we get a ton of pledges and people pay them off later.



Thanks for any help or advice!



--Jackie Cistaro
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  • Jenny Vazquez
    Jenny Vazquez ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Photogenic First Reply
    Hello, the only way I have learned how to check for existing pledges is by manually checking each one by clicking the paper icon leading to the drop down to check if there's a pledge. if so, then apply it.



    the only other way it prompts you automatically is by entering a constituent in a batch from scratch. Hope this makes sense.



    Good luck
  • Jackie Cistaro
    Jackie Cistaro ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    Thanks so much, Jenny! I've actually never used that icon in batch before, but now I guess I'll have to. It's pretty disappointing though, because for our Annual Campaign, we rely heavily upon pledges and we're really trying to promote our online donation page. It just seems like it's going to be really time consuming and possibly leave more room for error. I'm wondering if there are any other ways to help this...I was even thinking of mentioning to my supervisor that we create a donation page just for pledge payments so that I would at least know ahead of time...but I guess that would mean the donor would have to remember to use that particular page. Thanks again!
  • Matthew Garbarino
    Matthew Garbarino Blackbaud Employee
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 3 Photogenic
    Making payments toward an outstanding pledge usually requires a user to log in to the website with a username and password. We are thinking about other ways we may be able to accomplish this with less friction and a better experience for the donor.



    We are also looking into improvements to transaction processing, so this feedback is certainly helpful!
  • Jackie Cistaro
    Jackie Cistaro ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    Thanks, Matt! I appreciate your feedback! While some of our donors right after making a pledge, go right onto our donation website (our old one) and just do their pledge payment, others only pay after they've been billed (for our annual campaign we typically send out bills 4 times a year, and maybe 3 times for our capital campaign). I am by no means a tech person, but maybe some kind of code would work. For instance, let's say when we send out bills/invoices we instruct donors that if they wish to pay their pledges online they need to enter a specific code on the donation page, and this code would provide notice in one of the online express transaction windows that their gift was for a pledge. At least this way we'd know before putting the donations in a batch that their gift was for a pledge instead of having to look at each one. I know it wouldn't be a perfect solution, but it would help! Please keep us posted with updates!
  • Jenny Vazquez
    Jenny Vazquez ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Photogenic First Reply
    Your welcome :) We have a website that donors use just to pay their pledge but when its downloaded to be processed on OE, you still have to manually apply the pledge by pressing the button I previously told you about..



    Matt, wish OE can incorporate something easier :)



    thanks!
  • Steph Williams
    Steph Williams ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 2 Name Dropper Photogenic
    Jackie Cistaro:
    Thanks, Matt! I appreciate your feedback! While some of our donors right after making a pledge, go right onto our donation website (our old one) and just do their pledge payment, others only pay after they've been billed (for our annual campaign we typically send out bills 4 times a year, and maybe 3 times for our capital campaign). I am by no means a tech person, but maybe some kind of code would work. For instance, let's say when we send out bills/invoices we instruct donors that if they wish to pay their pledges online they need to enter a specific code on the donation page, and this code would provide notice in one of the online express transaction windows that their gift was for a pledge. At least this way we'd know before putting the donations in a batch that their gift was for a pledge instead of having to look at each one. I know it wouldn't be a perfect solution, but it would help! Please keep us posted with updates!
    In a roundabout way, you could do this manually just by asking the donor to note some sort of code or message in the "comments" field of the donation form. This comment appears on the email, and I believe, in the transaction details on the Online Express download.



    Of course, there's still room for user error, but it may help you catch some!

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