Pledges and decisions

A gala pledge connects to its parent event and organization. It can record the pledged date, amount in US dollars and any donor restriction. Its status distinguishes Draft, Submitted, Approved, Rejected and Completed. That sequence gives the team a shared way to discuss a commitment without folding it into admission revenue or treating a draft as an approved pledge.

The text event reference can help a team locate a pledge, but the parent event reference is the relationship that joins it to the gala. When a reviewer opens Pending Pledge Review, the event and organization context should be visible beside the amount and restriction. A restricted gift needs the restriction visible in the decision, not buried in a separate conversation.

• Preparation. Event Coordinator records the commitment and its event and organization context.
• Review. Pledge Reviewer examines submitted commitments with amount and restriction visible.
• Follow-through. The team distinguishes an approved pledge from one whose documented status is Completed.

Agree who may enter a new pledge and who may decide it. Pledge Reviewer is responsible for reviewing submitted commitments. If the same person prepares and reviews a pledge, decide how the team will handle that conflict before using the review queue. A decision date should describe when the pledge decision was made, while the pledged date describes the commitment itself.

Clarify what Completed means for your team. The status alone should not be used as proof of a provider payment event. Finance Reviewer can inspect verified payment evidence separately, by event and provider reference. The app keeps those records in different places for a reason: a pledge is a documented commitment; payment evidence records a provider event.

Take a pledge for a named gala with a donor restriction and a pledged amount. Enter it as Draft, link the correct event and organization, then submit it. Pledge Reviewer opens Pending Pledge Review and checks the amount and restriction alongside the event. Record the outcome as Approved or Rejected, with the decision date when appropriate. The event’s pledge report should keep that status visible to the team.

Now compare this commitment with a payment evidence item for the same event. The amount may be useful for reconciliation, but the provider record has its own event identifier, type, verification state and reference. The team should investigate any gap before calling a commitment collected. If the event is closing, include pledge state in the closeout review rather than changing the event status and assuming every commitment has settled.

• Pending Pledge Review — Review submitted commitments with amount, restriction and event context.
• Verified Payment Evidence — Inspect confirmed provider records used in reconciliation.

See admissions and pledges for the operating sequence and event closeout for final reconciliation.