FundRaiser Blog

The FundRaiser Software Blog is an excellent resource for nonprofit organizations looking to learn more about fundraising, donor management, membership management, and much more.

Pledges on Paper

Pledges on Paper

Dear Kim:  

A small family foundation run by a friend of our board chair promised us $10,000 at the beginning of the year and they have not yet paid it. Our board chair was recently told by her friend that the foundation probably wasn’t going to be able to pay because the market had wiped out a lot of their assets, but I can’t understand why they didn’t pay sooner.

I am the office manager and I have looked all over for any paper work related to this grant and can’t find any-no proposal, no letter saying we are getting the grant, nothing. We need the money and it is in our budget, but the board chair wants to pull it out and cut costs to balance the budget.   I think the board chair is a wind-bag and this money was never in the pipeline, but I don’t know what to do about it.  I am the office manager and don’t feel I have any power.  Our Executive Director doesn’t know how to proceed either and said she would be curious what you thought. 

~Stalling for Dollars

Dear Stalling:  

I am seeing a lot of donors use these last two months as excuses to do what they wanted to do anyway, which is say no to certain requests and shy solicitors to claim they asked but, “Oh, the market. Woe, woe.”  A lot of how you proceed will be determined by what result you want, given that the result of getting the $10,000 doesn’t look to be in the cards.  Do you want to embarrass the board chair?  The Executive Director?  The foundation?  Do you want to get better systems in place so that grants are not booked as income unless you have a grant agreement on file? If you make too much of a fuss you may simply embarrass yourself.   I know you need the money, but in the scheme of things, $10,000 isn’t that much, and the ED and Board Chair should be encouraged to think about how to replace that money rather than cutting costs.  The Executive Director needs to be more firm about systems and needs to talk to the Treasurer of the board about having a paper trail for pledges. If you have an audit, the auditor will help you design proper systems. The Treasurer could use this as a teachable moment for all the board to show why we insist on having written pledges.  I wouldn’t let it just go by without any discussion, but I would use your valuable time to insure nothing like this can happen again. 

Good luck!

~Kim Klein

To learn how FundRaiser can  help you track money and communicate well with other staff members about organizational financials 

Contact us for a free FundRaiser Software evaluation tour

A Pledge or a Promise?
Finance vs. Development

Related Posts

Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar
texting donors Constant Contact email memorial giving banquet announcements updates community supported gardens increasing giving amounts major gift prospects personalizing letters Codes fundraising flash sales how to handle auction gifts capital campaign charity golf tournaments new leadership user spotlights tech tip thank you letters appeal operating systems GoFundMe project segmenting donors gift entry Volunteer module donor profile donor relations National Change of Address Crowdfunding Campaign new version training donor engagement Donor Portal social media Groupings vacation on site training development director grants Company culture community arts nonprofits data entry correspondence budget features advanced tab motivation foundations holiday giving follow up operational costs disaster relief salutation premiums adding personal notes to letters mailing donor contact information transparency understanding giving trends prospects passwords donor retention rate giving levels how-to videos small donations Task List donor loyalty membership benefits Reminders giving history letter Resiliency targeted mailings board members the Ask planned giving reports Tickles building donor relationships upgrade upgrading donors gift notes field customer service solicitors FundRaiser Spark corporate sponsors moves management training tip Personalizing #GivingTuesday Cloud ROI look and feel overview New Year product news donor recurring gifts NCOA processing ticket sales brick campaign welcome packet FundRaiser Hosted repeat donors relationship tracking tax summary letters donor prospects merge fields lapsed donor community broadcasting spreadsheets campaign management donor preferences donor recognition appeal letters Importing Data membersip benefits End of Year Letters donor slip pictures campaign new nonprofit data conversion Facebook annual campaign government grants role of nonprofits Network for Good grassroots campaign communications online donations mode code PayPal legacy giving donor source FundRaiser Basic case study donation history Thank You Excel accounting software planning add ons Congratulations change of address updating volunteers donor attrition support merge notes monthly giving importing csv user interface correspondance donor retention pledges mission driven animal rescue in honor of donations spare fields security major donors In-Kind gifts Thanksgiving raffle event management office technical support publicity materials anonymous donors arts endowment campaign word processor direct mail online donations GivingTuesday Reporting to IRS holiday tribute gifts Snow Birds happiness LYBUNTS password protection annual maintenance plan letter templates donor targeting SYBUNTS donor attrition rate custom page gift acceptance policy data analysis donor advised funds large donations fundraising letters backing up data phoning donors motivation code alumni new features nonprofit fundraising Facebook campaign entering auction gifts Alternative Addresses customer portal membership programs auction volunteering general holiday letters ticketsales new donors

Connect With Us

  800-880-3454 ext 3
  Email Us
  Request More Information
  Monday-Friday
      8:30AM-5:30PM CST

Customer Portal Login Form

User Name:
Password:

If you are not sure about your Customer User Name, please call 800-543-4131 and we will be able to help you.

Or you have lost your password, Request Password