When the room goes quiet, launch a challenge.
Every fundraiser has a lull — dessert is served, energy dips, wallets close. Challenge mode is the tool your MC reaches for: table versus table, section versus section, a matching gift with a countdown. Watch the room wake up.
✓ Money goes straight to your Stripe account✓ PledgesDone never holds donor funds✓ No percentage fees
Turn generosity into a (friendly) competition.
Launch "Table 14 challenges Table 7" and the projector becomes a scoreboard. Guests see their table’s total climb against their rivals’, and pledging stops feeling like a transaction — it feels like a team sport.
Challenges take seconds to launch mid-event, so the MC can respond to the energy in the room rather than follow a fixed script.
- Table vs table, section vs section, or whole-room targets
- Live scoreboard on the projector with running totals
- Launch, extend or close a challenge in seconds from the MC view
Matching moments that double the pace.
A donor offers to match the next $10,000 — challenge mode puts the offer on screen with a live progress bar. Guests watch their pledge count twice, and the match fills in minutes instead of being mentioned once and forgotten.
Every challenge pledge is still a real pledge.
Challenge pledges flow into the same live total, the same pledge management, and the same automated follow-up as everything else. The excitement is theatrical; the accounting is exact.
Choreograph the whole night.
Great fundraising nights are built in acts: the appeal, the challenge, the auction, the final push. PledgesDone gives your MC one console for all of it — see how to run a fundraising dinner for the full playbook.
Fundraising dinner software →Fundraising software overview →
Questions, answered.
What is fundraising challenge mode?
A live-event feature that lets your MC launch donor challenges mid-event — table versus table competitions, section targets, or matching-gift moments — with a live scoreboard on the projector that turns giving into shared momentum.
How quickly can we launch a challenge during the event?
Seconds. The MC or an organiser picks the challenge type, names the sides or the target, and it’s live on the projector immediately.
Do challenge pledges get followed up like normal pledges?
Yes. Every pledge made during a challenge is tracked identically — paid on the spot or entered into the automated SMS and email follow-up until it’s paid.
Can we run a matching gift through challenge mode?
Yes. Put the match on screen with a live progress bar — "every dollar doubled up to $10,000" — and watch it fill while the offer is still fresh in the room.
Is challenge mode included in every plan?
Challenge mode is part of the Impact tier ($499 per event) and above, together with live auctions, SMS/email follow-up and recurring giving.
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