Easily connect a gift to a pledge or goal

In this article:

What is the pledge/goal connector?

When a gift is added to your account that should be tied to a pledge, you can easily connect it using the pledge/goal connector, available from the View menu on the Fundraising page in your account.

The pledge/goal connector searches for gifts that have been given by a constituent who also has open pledges or goals, by looking at pledges or goals that have the same constituent, campaign, and fund to determine whether any gifts can be attached to them. 

The pledge/goal connector can be useful in cases where you want to map a form that allows you to automatically apply a gift to a pledge balance. While it isn’t possible to do this directly within the form, you can connect these gifts to existing pledges once they are saved in LGL by using the pledge/goal connector. In a case like this, you’ll want to make sure the pledges, and the gifts that should pay them, are coded with the same campaign/fund. Then you can use the pledge/goal connector once a week or so to connect any up that have come through.

NOTE: In case you are considering using a pledge for recurring donations, please read why we recommend against doing that.

Using the pledge/goal connector

Follow these steps when using the pledge/goal connector:

  1. Start in the Fundraising tab (click directly on the tab or on the Giving option in the submenu). Then choose the “Connect to pledge/goal” view as shown here:
  2. Change the date range in your search from “This fiscal” to “All dates”. This step and the previous one are shown in the screenshot below:

The view you select here displays the gifts in your account that may be related to a pledge or goal.

Here's an example of the type of result you may see when using the pledge/goal connector:

The available options here suggest that the $500 gift might be a payment against one of this constituent's open pledge installments. A random option is selected, and you can then choose the correct selection from the other available options. ( NOTE: It is always best to pay against an installment if there is one, instead of directly against a pledge because if you bypass an installment it won't close on its own).

If you determine that the gift should not be connected with any of the options shown, you can check the bottom option of "None" to remove the gift from the queue.

Connect a gift to a goal, pledge or pledge installment during gift entry

When a constituent makes a pledge payment, you can directly link the gift to a goal, pledge, or pledge installment as part of the gift entry process. Within the gift record, use the  Connect to an open pledge, goal or installment dropdown menu and select the appropriate option.

Enter the rest of your gift data and click  Save.