Pledge follow-up automation

Purpose

1. Automatically engage donors who made pledges but have not completed donations, increasing follow-through rates and providing gentle reminders through preferred communication channels.

2. Maintain transparent financial records and donor engagement history for reporting and stewardship purposes.

3. Reduce manual administrative workload for staff in Alliance churches, ensuring timely and consistent follow-up.

4. Enhance donor experience by providing timely, personalized, and professional communications that match denominational standards.

Trigger Conditions

1. New pledge logged in Donation Management system with incomplete status after a set interval (e.g., 7 days).

2. Scheduled periodic review of all outstanding pledges for automated follow-up.

3. Donor responds or updates pledge status via a tracked link or communication channel.

4. Update in church management platform showing no donation matching the pledged amount after a reminder window.

Platform Variants

1. Twilio SMS

• Feature/Setting: SMS integration — configure API to send templated reminders triggered by outstanding pledge status.
  
• Sample: Use Twilio Messaging API with scheduled “Pledge Reminder” template personalized for donor name and pledge amount.
  

2. SendGrid

• Feature/Setting: Transactional email — use dynamic templates for pledge reminders, trigger via API on pending pledge.
  
• Sample: POST request to SendGrid v3 Mail Send endpoint with dynamic template ID and merge pledge data.
  

3. Mailchimp

• Feature/Setting: Automated journeys — add donors into a “Pledge Follow-up” sequence triggered via webhook.
  
• Sample: Mailchimp Automation API "Start Journey" for tagged donors.
  

4. HubSpot

• Feature/Setting: Workflow automation — enroll contacts with “pledge-pending” property in nurture sequence.
  
• Sample: Trigger “Pledge Reminder Email” workflow when property “pledge_status” = “pending.”
  

5. Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud

• Feature/Setting: Process Builder/Workflow — schedule follow-up tasks or emails for open pledge records.
  
• Sample: Create workflow rule: “Open Pledge for 7 days ⇒ Send Email/Task/Create Case.”
  

6. Slack

• Feature/Setting: Channel alerts — configure webhook or bot to post pledge follow-up reminders to finance/stewardship team.
  
• Sample: Slack Incoming Webhooks API posts pending pledges daily.
  

7. Microsoft Teams

• Feature/Setting: Power Automate integration — post actionable card reminders for follow-up tasks.
  
• Sample: Power Automate connector with scheduled flow triggers Teams message to pledge manager.
  

8. Google Sheets

• Feature/Setting: Scripted reminder — Apps Script checks for outstanding pledges and triggers email/SMS actions.
  
• Sample: Apps Script scheduled trigger runs daily to email list of overdue pledges.
  

9. Pledge Management Software (e.g., Bloomerang)

• Feature/Setting: Automated communications — configure to send reminders after a configurable period post-pledge.
  
• Sample: Use Bloomerang’s workflow to auto-send emails/SMS to “Pledge Not Fulfilled” contacts.
  

10. Planning Center Giving

• Feature/Setting: Pledge workflows — automate follow-up messages via built-in templates.
  
• Sample: Automated email sequence for pledges marked as incomplete after preset days.
  

11. Constant Contact

• Feature/Setting: Email automation — create segment and schedule auto-reminders to list.
  
• Sample: Segmentation rule on “Pledge Outstanding,” trigger email at intervals.
  

12. Church Community Builder (CCB)

• Feature/Setting: Automated process queues — assign tasks and communications for unfulfilled pledges.
  
• Sample: CCB Process Queue: “7 Days No Pledge Completion ⇒ Send Reminder Email.”
  

13. Zapier

• Feature/Setting: Multi-platform orchestration — connect pledge source with comms platforms for reminders.
  
• Sample: “New Pledge in Google Sheets → Send email via Gmail.”
  

14. ActiveCampaign

• Feature/Setting: Automated email sequences — apply “pledge-pending” tag to trigger follow-up series.
  
• Sample: Automated email campaign starting with tag application.
  

15. Blackbaud RE NXT

• Feature/Setting: Workflow automation — schedule follow-up emails or staff tasks for open pledges.
  
• Sample: Use “Automations” to notify staff or email constituents at delay intervals.
  

16. Zoho CRM

• Feature/Setting: Workflow rules — auto-send pledge reminders when “Pledge Fulfilled” field is false.
  
• Sample: Workflow triggers email when pledge record remains open after 10 days.
  

17. Mailjet

• Feature/Setting: Automated transactional email — API sends personalized reminders for each late pledge.
  
• Sample: Use Mailjet Send API with pledge info merged into templates.
  

18. Tithe.ly

• Feature/Setting: Giving reminders — automate pledge follow-ups through scheduled messages in admin panel.
  
• Sample: Recurring reminders for unfulfilled pledges.
  

19. Donorbox

• Feature/Setting: Email automation — send reminders through Donorbox’s follow-up function.
  
• Sample: Automated completion reminders for donors post-pledge.
  

20. Airtable

• Feature/Setting: Automated notifications — scripting block monitors pledge status and sends follow-up via partner services (e.g., Outlook).
  
• Sample: Airtable Automation: “Status = Unfulfilled” → send email/SMS action.
  

21. Freshdesk

• Feature/Setting: Ticketing workflow — create and assign follow-up tickets for overdue pledges.
  
• Sample: Ticket auto-generated for finance volunteer on overdue pledges.
  

Benefits

1. Increases overall pledge completion rates, securing more funding.

2. Frees staff from repetitive outreach, allowing focus on ministry and stewardship.

3. Delivers consistent donor experience, reducing fall-through from missed follow-ups.

4. Supports audit readiness through full digital records of all donor communication.

5. Enables tailored escalation approaches (e.g., from email to phone) for higher-value pledges.

6. Strengthens trust and transparency between givers and church leadership.