Introducing Pledges on Checkout: Let Donors Commit Now, Pay Later

We've all been there. A donor is excited about your mission, they're on your checkout page, they want to help... but the timing just isn't right. Maybe it's the week before a big payment is due. Maybe they're waiting on a bonus. Maybe they just need a little more time.

Until now, you had two choices: lose that moment of connection entirely, or manually chase down pledges through spreadsheets and follow-up emails. Neither option is ideal.

Today, that changes.

Introducing Pledges on Checkout Pages

We're excited to roll out a feature that lets you capture donor intent in the moment, even when they can't pay immediately. With "Pledge for later," your supporters can commit to a future gift right on your checkout page, and you can track every step of that commitment without lifting a finger.

Think of it as meeting donors where they are: ready to commit, just not ready to pay today.

What's Actually New?

Here's what you can do now that you couldn't before:

Enable pledges directly on your checkout pages

Donors see a simple "Pledge for later" option alongside one-time and recurring gifts. They choose their amount, pick a start date (at least 10 days out), and set up their payment schedule, whether that's a single future payment or monthly installments.

Secure the commitment with card tokenization

Donors add their payment card while pledging, but nothing gets charged by Almabase. Instead, the card is securely tokenized and passed to Blackbaud Merchant Services (BBMS) and Raiser's Edge NXT (RENXT), which handle all the actual charging. Your donor makes one commitment, and the system takes care of the rest.

‍

Let the system do the follow-up
Each checkout page now includes a "Pledges" tab with full visibility into status, balance, and installment schedules. Paid, Failed, Overdue, all mirrored from RENXT every single day, automatically.

One important safeguard: pledge payments won't execute until they're synced to RENXT. If the first installment date arrives and the pledge hasn't synced, it's automatically cancelled. This keeps your data clean and prevents any surprises.

Why You'll Actually Love This

You stop losing people who want to give
When someone says "I really want to support this, just not this week", you don't have to let them walk away anymore. You've got a real answer for them.

Your follow-up basically runs itself
Remember those pledge tracking spreadsheets? The reminder emails you had to manually send? Yeah, you can retire those. RENXT handles the charges, Almabase keeps your dashboard current, and you get your evenings back.

You can actually plan ahead
There's a huge difference between "Sarah might give us $500" and "Sarah pledged $500 starting March 1st." That difference shows up in your forecasting, your board reports, and how you talk to major donors.

Everyone has less stress
Donors get a straightforward way to follow through. Your team gets reliable data. Nobody's chasing anybody down for forgotten promises.

Ready to Try It?

Just create a new Checkout Page and you'll see the "Pledge for later" option. One heads up: your BBMS needs to have CSC set to "None," but don't worry. We'll let you know if you need to change that.

(Quick note: This is for BBMS users right now.)

‍