The Problem with Most Nonprofit CRMs (and How HubSpot Actually Fixes Pledge Management)

A donor pledges $10,000 to your capital campaign, payable in monthly installments. You log it in your donor database, send a thank-you, and move on. Three months later, someone asks, “How much of that pledge has been fulfilled?” Cue the scramble: spreadsheets, finance emails, maybe a post-it note on someone’s monitor.

That’s the nonprofit pledge management problem — and it’s one of the biggest blind spots in most “purpose-built” CRMs.

Why Pledge Management Feels So Hard

A pledge isn’t a one-time donation — it’s a promise that unfolds over time. It’s part relationship, part revenue forecast, part operational headache.

The problem? Most nonprofit CRMs can record a pledge, but they can’t really manage one. They were built for record-keeping, not relationship management — and that shows fast once real money starts moving.

Here’s what we mean:

• They log pledges, but don’t track them. You can enter a total, but not the installments, balance, or timeline behind it.
• No automation for follow-up. When payments are due or late, the system stays silent — no reminders or thank-yous.
• Disconnected from payments. Donations through Stripe or Classy don’t automatically update pledge records.
• Reports lack real insight. You see total pledged, but not what’s been paid or what’s overdue.
• Limited flexibility. Custom fields, multi-contact pledges, or tailored statuses? Usually not possible.

Because of this, pledge management becomes a manual patchwork of spreadsheets, shared drives, and “did we ever follow up with that donor?” conversations. It’s not that your team is doing anything wrong — it’s just that your tools weren’t designed to support the complexity of multi-step giving.

These systems were built for data entry, not relationship management. And that’s why they break down as soon as real donor relationships and payment cycles come into play.

That’s where HubSpot comes in. It’s flexible enough to treat pledges like what they are — relationships to manage, not just records to store.

How HubSpot Can Be Set Up to Handle Pledge Management

HubSpot isn’t a traditional donor database. That can make it feel a little intimidating for nonprofits, but that’s also exactly why it works. Its flexibility lets you build a pledge management model that actually fits how fundraising happens: dynamic, trackable, and automated.

Here are ways you can customize your HubSpot setup to support your pledge and donor management more effectively than your donor-specific platform.

1. Create a Pledge Pipeline (or Custom Object)

Every pledge needs to live somewhere in HubSpot — not buried as a note in a donor record, but as its own trackable record.

There are two main ways to model that, depending on how complex your pledge management needs are:

Option 1: Use a Pledge Deal Pipeline (most common)

For most nonprofits, pledges work best as Deals in a dedicated “Pledges” pipeline. Each Deal represents one donor commitment and includes fields like:

• Total pledged amount
• Installment frequency
• Start and end dates
• Remaining balance
• Status (Active, Fulfilled, Overdue)

Because Deals are native to HubSpot, you can easily automate follow-ups, trigger tasks, and report on progress. It’s straightforward and requires zero extra configuration.

Option 2: Create a Custom Pledge Object (for advanced setups)

If your organization tracks complicated multi-year or shared pledges — or needs to associate multiple Contacts, Organizations, or Payments with a single pledge — a custom object might make more sense.

This gives you more flexibility to:

• Track individual installments as linked records
• Manage complex donor relationships (households, matching gifts)
• Customize reporting by campaign or fund

It takes more setup (and Operations Hub Enterprise), but it scales with larger or more data-intensive fundraising teams.

2. Automate Installment Tracking and Follow-Up

This is where HubSpot starts doing what traditional donor databases can’t — actually managing pledges, not just recording them.

Here’s how it can work:

• Track payments automatically. When a donor makes a payment through Stripe, Classy, Donorbox, or another platform, HubSpot can update the pledge balance and marks that installment as complete.
• Flag overdue payments. Workflows can send internal alerts or create follow-up tasks when a payment is late, so nothing slips through the cracks.
• Automate donor communication. Send gentle reminders before a payment is due — and personalized thank-yous or acknowledgment messages right after each one comes in.

Whether you’re managing 20 pledges or 2,000, HubSpot keeps everything moving — so your team can spend less time chasing data and more time building relationships.

3. Build Real-Time Dashboards and Reports

Once your pledge tracking is up and running, HubSpot’s built-in reporting makes it easy to see what’s happening — no spreadsheets or exports required.

A lot of the insight you need already lives in HubSpot’s native dashboards. And if there are any gaps, you can easily customize them to show the metrics that matter most for pledge management and leadership visibility.

Here’s what that can look like:

• Deal (Pledge) Pipeline Reports. Use HubSpot’s existing deal stage and revenue tracking reports to see total pledged vs. received and which pledges are overdue or fulfilled.
• Forecasting Reports. The built-in “Forecast” dashboard can show projected revenue from active pledges, giving finance real-time visibility into upcoming cash flow.
• Activity Reports. See follow-up activity across your team — how many pledge reminders were sent, thank-yous delivered, or overdue pledges contacted.
• Custom Filters. Break down pledges by campaign, fund, or donor type with simple filters — no data export or custom coding required.

Because these are HubSpot’s native reports, they keep updating as data changes. That means your dashboards are always current, and everyone from fundraising to finance is looking at the same truth.

If HubSpot still feels new, here are some of our favorite trainings to help you get your footing.

The Result: Real-Time Visibility and Fewer Headaches

When pledges live in HubSpot, the day-to-day of fundraising looks completely different. You’re no longer chasing updates or reconciling spreadsheets. You can actually see your revenue pipeline and know what’s happening in real time.

Here’s what that means in practice:

• Fundraisers stay proactive. They know which pledges are up to date, which need follow-up, and which donors might need a personal touch.
• Finance gets reliable data. Forecasts are based on live pledge and payment data — not manual updates.
• Donors feel seen. Timely reminders and thank-yous happen automatically, creating a consistent and professional experience.
• Leadership has clarity. Reports show pledged vs. received, fulfillment rates, and campaign performance, with no manual cleanup needed.

Instead of managing data, your team manages relationships. And that’s the whole point.

Rethinking Pledge Management and Nonprofit CRMs

HubSpot isn’t a donor-specific platform, and that’s exactly where it stands out. At the end of the day, nonprofits are businesses. They need the same visibility, automation, and operational alignment as any other organization. With the right setup, HubSpot delivers all of that — plus the flexibility to scale with your organization and support your most valuable relationships. 

When it comes to customizing HubSpot for nonprofits, we’ve done this a few times. Reach out anytime, we're happy to help you make it work for your team.