Free Donation Receipt Template

What to put on a donation receipt

A donation receipt is what lets your donor claim the gift on their taxes, so the IRS wants specific things on it. Put your organization name and address, your tax ID (EIN), the donor name, the date, and the amount. For any gift of 250 dollars or more you must state whether the donor received goods or services in return, and if not, say so in writing. That one sentence is the part people forget and the part the IRS actually requires. For non-cash gifts, describe the item but do not assign it a dollar value, since that is the donor job.

What a receipt usually lists

A donation receipt is usually one line, but a few situations add more:

• The cash gift amount, on a single line
• A description of a non-cash item, with no value assigned
• A note that no goods or services were provided in return
• The fair market value of anything the donor received back, if applicable
• Your EIN and the contribution date

When to give a receipt

Send the receipt promptly, and definitely before the donor files taxes. The IRS requires a written acknowledgment for any single gift of 250 dollars or more, and donors will ask for one regardless of the amount. A year-end summary receipt covering all of a donor gifts is also fine and saves everyone the per-gift paperwork.

Storing and sending receipts

Donors remember the nonprofits that make giving painless, and a fast, correct receipt is part of that. If you run a small nonprofit and dread the December receipting scramble, a free WaffleInvoice account can record each gift and send the acknowledgment automatically so you are not formatting PDFs at midnight on the 31st.