Reserves — the percentage explained, with examples

If your Pledgix Go or Pledgix One campaign shows a Reserve held amount, this article explains precisely what that number is, how it's calculated, and when the money comes back to you.

What the reserve is

The reserve is a percentage of your payable net kept back temporarily before being paid out. "Payable net" means what's left of your online (gateway-processed) donations after the payment processing fees and the Pledgix platform fee on each donation — that's the pool payouts are made from, and the reserve is a slice of it. It exists because donations can be refunded or disputed by a donor's bank for a while after they're made — holding a small slice briefly means a late refund never puts your campaign in the negative. This is standard practice across the payments industry.

Two numbers define your reserve terms:

• The percentage — how much of your payable net is set aside. The standard is 10%.
• The hold window — how long reserved funds are expected to wait before the Pledgix team releases them. The standard is 90 days. This is the same hold-days setting that determines when disbursements begin after your compliance approval — one setting governs both. Release isn't an automatic timer — the team disburses reserved funds in line with your terms.

Your campaign may be configured differently — and if your reserve terms are ever set or changed, you receive an email spelling them out plainly, for example: "10% held for 90 days." Reserve terms are only ever changed by the Pledgix team, never silently.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a straightforward campaign. You raise $20,000 in online donations on standard terms (10% reserve, 90-day window). Per-donation fees come out first — say the processor's fees total $600 and the Pledgix platform fee across those donations comes to $700 (your actual rate is shown in your dashboard; on Pledgix Go the platform fee is 0%).

• Payable net: $20,000 − $600 − $700 = $18,700
• Reserve held: 10% × $18,700 = $1,870
• Available for payouts now: $18,700 − $1,870 = $16,830
• When the team releases your reserve per your terms: the $1,870 is disbursed too.

Total received over time: $18,700 — everything except the fees.

Example 2 — a campaign with a custom percentage. Your agreement sets a 5% reserve, and you raise $50,000 online. Suppose fees total $3,000, leaving a payable net of $47,000.

• Reserve held: 5% × $47,000 = $2,350
• That $2,350 follows behind the rest of your money and is released by the team in line with your campaign's hold window.

Example 3 — a refund lands during the window. A donor's $500 gift from Example 1 is charged back a month in. Your totals adjust down automatically, and the reserve absorbs the reversal — your already-received payouts are untouched. This is exactly the scenario the reserve exists for.

Where you see it

• The Reserve held tile on the balance dashboard in your Payouts & Transactions tab shows the amount currently set aside, with your terms right underneath (like "10% · released after 90 days"). It's calculated live from your payable net.
• The payout history table shows each payout's net amount; the payout record itself carries the full math, including any Reserve held line. See Reading your payout breakdown.
• The Still to pay out tile and the Available to pay out hero already account for the reserve, so they never overstate what's ready to send.

Reserve vs. fees — don't confuse them

| | Reserve | Fees | |---|---|---| | Whose money | Yours | The card processor's charge, plus Pledgix's platform fee | | Comes back? | Yes — released per your reserve terms | No | | Shown as | Reserve held on the dashboard and payout records | The Fees segment of the money-flow bar |

Reserve vs. the payout hold period

These work hand in hand:

• The payout hold period is a one-time waiting period after your compliance approval, before any disbursements begin.
• The reserve is ongoing — a slice of your payable net that trails your payouts until the team releases it under your reserve terms.

Both run on the same hold-days setting for your campaign — the number in "10% held for 90 days" is the same 90 days that sets your first-payout date. Both are covered together in Why some of your funds may be held.

Tip: If you believe reserved funds should have been released already, message the compliance team from the campaign chat (the chat icon in your campaign header) with your campaign name. Reserve terms are specific to each campaign, and the team can confirm your exact percentage, window, and release timing.