FundSvcs Community

I'd start all over again. But I would use language like the following to allow you to book a pledge. Otherwise, you cannot "book" an enforceable commitment:

If you do not accept DAF payments against pledges at all, and your donor wants to fulfill this pledge with DAF payments, you will not be able to book a gift based on the pledge, and the pledge will need to be phrased as a non-binding intention. If the donor had originally misunderstood the DAF issue, it is reasonable to amend the existing agreement - and your business office will need to deal with correcting the books. If you keep the pledge, and the donor continues to pay by DAF, you'll have to do the write-off dance each time, but in theory, you can keep the pledge on your books.

If you do accept DAF payments against pledges based on the IRS's guidance in notice 2017-73, there is no need to revise the agreement at all. So long as the DAF payment itself does not reference an existing pledge, you may apply it as payment against that pledge. Moreover, there is nothing special about the word 'pledge' vs 'commitment.' The donor is welcome to make that change if they wish, but it will not operate any differently - even if they think it would. A court would assess whether the gift agreement created a binding promise to give, or merely an intent to do so. The word 'commitment' would have the same effect as the word 'pledge,' all other things being equal.