Hi there,
Does anyone know or have experience using the Pledge Billing Utility for reminders? Is that even possible without charging donors? I have been told it is but with all the research I've done -- I'm officially stumped.
We are trying to figure out going forward how to get better about sending reminders, to donors with open pledges, quarterly, semi-quarterly, and such. We started using the Pledge Balance Detail report, which is great for past pledges, but basically we would like to make this a more efficient process with future pledges so that the reminders are sent in more of a timely manner.
Would love to hear ideas!
Thank you!
Hi Christie,
I'm only familiar with using pledge billing as a utility, but it certainly has a "review only" feature to ensure patrons aren't charged, so it's conceivable that there are other ways to use it. I also rely on the Pledge Balance Detail for billing. If it doesn't already have it, what you'll want for future billing is "next date due" and "next amount due" to aid your work. (my copy is custom with a bunch of fields including email, phones, and mailing which is super helpful)
Megan
I second Megan's suggestion about the review only mode. I use the Pledge Billing Utility along with the Pledge Balance Detail Report as well. The Pledge Balance Detail Report is a way for me to double check that the payments were processed without going into each account.
We use Pledge BIlling to send reminders, and find it helpful! We will typically set any pledge requiring a pledge reminder to "Normal Billing" and then run the report on "Normal Billing" through a list containing the patrons due for reminders. I like to run the report in review mode first, but then update transactions through it, which will add "Bill Sent" to the "Transactions" tab on the pledge. I then export the report data to Excel and create the letters from there. I also find the "Promotion Details" helpful in this report, as it adds another way to verify who has and hasn't been included on recent runs of the report.
We use this report to charge patrons with scheduled credit card payments too, but running the report through a billing type other than "Credit Card Billing" removes the danger of charging someone erroneously. The only downside to using the report for reminders is that you can't consolidate pledges for patrons who have outstanding pledges on multiple campaigns, as Mark alluded to.
Max
This is awesome --- thank you!