When creating pledges there are two main ways the pledge total may be calculated. First, by designating the total to be paid (for example: $1000 total). Second, by designating a specific amount to be paid on multiple occasions, broken down by frequency of payments (for example: $25/week for a six month pledge period). Giving frequencies could range from "every week" to "every year" with many options in between. Pledges are also given "start" and "end" dates, though an "end" date isn't required. If the giver is willing, a pledge can continue indefinitely (for example: $200/year for the life, or membership duration, of the giver).
Note: Members counts pledges as due on the last day of the seven-day church week. So if your church week starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday, the pledge will be considered "due" on Saturday.
If your church has a custom week start date (Tuesday, for example) your pledges will be considered "due" on Monday.
Members calculates pledge progress by counting how many week "end" days appear in each month. So if you are using the standard Sunday-to-Saturday week, a pledge total will be divided by how many "due" days (or "end" days) appear in each month. In the example below, there are four "end" days in the month. This means the pledge amount expected for this month will be sub-divided into four installments.
Keep in mind, the week "start" day may not fall in the same month as the "end" day. There are two weeks in the sample month where this happens, but because of when the "end" day is, only the first week will count toward this month's pledge total. The other week will be counted toward next month, because it's "end" day falls in that month.
So when looking at pledge progress, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- When does the church week start?
- How many end days are there in the month?
- How many end days are there in the entire pledge period (if your pledge has and end date set)?
Members considers all this criteria when calculating pledge progress percentages. Here is an example of how a couple three-month, summer giving pledges might look:
When looking at Pledge Progress reports you may notice the "Pledged for date range", "Ahead/Behind", and "percent of Goal" amounts change based on what time frame is set in the view. In the first example below, the time frame is set to show only a part of the pledge span. In the second, the time frame has been expanded to show the entire three-month pledge time frame. Note how the numbers change based on these settings. These summaries are to give the user an idea of how the giver is doing so far.
Example 1: Up to current date
Example 2: To the end of the pledge period
