Recording pledges
How to record pledge cards — one amount per person for a calendar year — see Pledged beside Given in Giving by person, change or remove a pledge, and what pledges deliberately don't do.
Many churches ask members to fill out a pledge card each fall — what they intend to give over the coming year. Psalmly keeps it simple: a pledge is one amount, for one person, for one calendar year (January 1 to December 31). Record the cards, and your treasurer sees what each person pledged right beside what they've given.
If your church doesn't use pledges, they stay out of your way: until you record the first one, the only sign of them is the Record pledges button on Giving by person — no Pledged column, and no Pledges section on anyone's giving page.
Recording pledge cards
Open Giving by person (in the sidebar, under Giving & finances) and choose Record pledges. On a phone it's in the ⋯ menu.
The year comes first, stated in a sentence at the top: Pledges for 2027, with the dates it covers. From October 1 it opens on next year, because cards filled out in the fall are usually for the year ahead — and it says so. Change the year there if your cards are for a different one; the Save button always names the year you're saving.
Then type in the cards, one line per person:
- Giver — search your members and your roster by any word. Someone who isn't on your list yet? Choose Add "…" to the roster to create them with just that name. A pledge needs someone on your list, so there's no one-time "non-member" option here.
- Amount for the year — the whole year's pledge, in dollars.
Use Add a pledge for the next card. If someone already has a pledge for that year, their line says Replaces their 2027 pledge of … — saving replaces it rather than adding a second one. A card with a giver but no amount can't be saved until you enter one.
Seeing pledged beside given
In Giving by person, a Pledged column appears next to Given whenever the dates you're viewing fall inside one calendar year that has pledges — "This year to date," for example. People who pledged but haven't given yet still appear, with $0.00 given, so in February you can see the whole picture. The Total line adds up the pledges too.
Choose dates that span two years — a July-to-June fiscal year, say — and the column steps away, since a pledge belongs to a single calendar year. The Export CSV includes the Pledged column whenever it's showing, along with one column per fund.
Changing or removing a pledge
Open the person's giving page — choose them in Giving by person, or See their giving from their profile in your Directory. Its Pledges section lists their pledges, newest year first. Choose Edit beside one to change the amount, or Remove pledge — a removal can be undone from the message that confirms it. Add a pledge opens Record pledges with them already on the first card.
The summary at the top of their page shows their pledge for the year you're viewing, beside what they've given — or, for someone with no pledge that year, No 2027 pledge.
If you merge two roster entries that both have a pledge for the same year, Psalmly shows both amounts and asks which to keep. See People without an account.
What pledges don't do
A pledge is a promise, not a gift. It never counts toward your giving totals, fund balances or anyone's statement. And it stays quiet on purpose: Psalmly sends no pledge reminders or emails, shows members no pledge screens, and draws no progress bars or "behind" labels — a pledge is pastoral, not a scoreboard. Pledged simply sits beside Given.
Pledges are for the whole year across every fund. If your church counts a pledge against one fund only, the CSV's per-fund columns let your treasurer work that out in a spreadsheet.