Every time you save a pledge, Rhythm applies the same rules, whether staff save it, a donor updates it on the Portal, or billing updates it automatically. This reference explains what those rules do, which statuses a pledge can have, and how Rhythm assigns pledge numbers.
Amount Outstanding Is Always Recalculated
Warning
Each time a pledge is saved, Rhythm sets its amount outstanding to the pledge amount minus the amount fulfilled. Rhythm uses that calculation even when the save includes a different outstanding amount. For example, if you save a $1,200 pledge with $1,200 fulfilled, the amount outstanding becomes $0, regardless of the outstanding value included in the save.
This recalculation uses the amount fulfilled value provided on the pledge. If the amount fulfilled is wrong, such as when a payment was recorded against the wrong pledge, the amount outstanding will also be wrong by the same amount.
Rhythm recalculates amount outstanding before it checks whether the figures balance. Because of that order, a pledge saved through the ordinary process cannot fail the "does not balance" check; by the time the check runs, Rhythm has already corrected the outstanding amount. You would only see a balance error when a pledge is written through an unusual path that skips the normal save process.
Shared Gift Rules Also Apply to Pledges
A pledge includes the same giving details as a gift, including the donor, fund, splits, soft credits, and tribute information. Before Rhythm saves a pledge, it checks those details against the same rules it uses for gifts. If Rhythm refuses a pledge save with a message you do not recognize from the pledge form, it is likely one of these shared rules; see A Gift or Pledge Was Refused for the confirmed refusals.
Pledge Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | The pledge is still being fulfilled |
| Paid | The pledge has been fully paid |
| Cancelled | The pledge was cancelled |
| Paused | The pledge is temporarily on hold |
A pledge's status must be one of these four values, and Rhythm refuses any save that uses another status. Rhythm does not control the order of status changes, so a pledge can move between any two of these four statuses in any order.
Required Progress Fields
Along with status, every pledge must include these fields as numbers:
| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Amount fulfilled | The amount paid toward the pledge so far |
| Remaining payments | The number of payments still expected |
| Amount outstanding | Recalculated on every save, as described above, and never accepted as submitted |
No Range Is Enforced on These Amounts
Rhythm requires amount fulfilled, remaining payments, and amount outstanding to be present and numeric. It does not check whether those values stay within a sensible range, so amount fulfilled can be negative or larger than the pledge's own amount.
If a pledge has a next payment date, that value must be a date with no time portion. A pledge's identifier can contain only letters, numbers, colons, pipes, and hyphens, and it is required after the pledge has been saved more than once.
Pledge Numbers
Rhythm automatically gives each new pledge a sequential number when it is created. Staff and donors refer to a pledge by this number, such as "Pledge #1042," rather than by its underlying identifier. You can also search for a pledge by this number in the Console.