Pledge Reminder Best Practices

With pledges, donors can give large gifts as a series of installments over a period of time. Since donors often get busy over the life of a pledge, you should send them reminders of their commitments. In addition to acknowledgements and tokens of appreciation, pledge reminders can help you cultivate relationships with donors and acquire gifts. As donors give out of generosity rather than obligation, we recommend these best practices to ensure friendly reminders, not collection letters.

Note: In the database view, you can print pledge reminders from Print on the gift record.

Don't use a form letter. Keep pledge reminders short and personal, use the donor's preferred informal salutation, and avoid content that sounds computer-generated.

Include details about which installment is coming due, such as when it's due, how much is due, and the campaign or fund it applies toward.

To ensure prompt payment, send the reminder 30 days before the installment's due date. Include instructions on how the donor can make a payment online on your organization's website and — for the less tech-savvy — a postage paid envelope.

If a donor doesn't respond to a pledge reminder by the due date, follow up with another friendly reminder and postage paid envelope at the end of the month. After another month with no response, contact the donor to suggest another pledge schedule. Understand that donors likely want to fulfill their pledges, but circumstances can change.

  • If the donor can't pay the installment due to a temporary hardship, offer to suspend the pledge's schedule and reminders for a few months.

  • If the donor can't fulfill their pledge, consider writing it off to focus on viable commitments.