Donation Receipt Template

A donation receipt is a charity's written acknowledgment of a gift. Both layouts on this page are marked "Received with thanks" rather than "Paid", because a gift is not a payment for goods or services. Each one says whether the donor got anything in return.

Cash donation receipt. Use it for gifts of money. In the US, IRS Publication 1771 counts cash, checks, gift cards redeemable for cash, and payments by credit card, electronic funds transfer, an online payment service or payroll deduction as monetary contributions (IRS Publication 1771). The receipt records the organization's name and EIN, the donor, the date the gift was received, the amount received and the form of payment.

Non-cash donation receipt. Use it for donated property: goods, equipment, furniture, clothing, food or other items. It describes what was given and leaves the value off, because the IRS says the acknowledgment should contain a "description (but not value)" of a noncash contribution (IRS: Charitable contributions, written acknowledgments).

Publication 1771 notes that its rules don't apply to a donated motor vehicle, boat or airplane with a claimed value over $500, and points charities to Publication 4302 for those. It also says donors generally can't deduct the value of services they give, so neither layout is meant for volunteer time.

1. Organization. Enter the organization name, address, EIN and a phone number or email.
2. Receipt details. Give each receipt a Receipt no. in sequence. Date issued is the day you write the receipt.
3. Donor. Enter the donor name and address. Leave out their Social Security number.
4. Contribution. Date received is the day the gift reached you, which may be earlier than the date issued. Enter the Amount received and the Form of payment, such as "Check no. 1048", card or bank transfer. If the gift was for a named fund or program, add that here; one of Publication 1771's sample acknowledgments mentions a gift "made in the name of its Special Relief Fund program".
5. Goods or services in exchange. If the donor received nothing in return, answer "No", leave the two "If yes" lines and the Deductible-amount statement (if goods or services were provided) line as "Not applicable", and leave Only intangible religious benefits were provided [ ] unticked. If they did receive something, answer "Yes", describe it, enter your good faith estimate of its value and fill in the deductible-amount statement. If the only thing they received was an intangible religious benefit, tick the box instead. The section on goods or services in return, below, covers both lines.
6. Signature. An authorized person at the organization signs and prints their name and title. Send the receipt to the donor and keep a copy.

The cash layout records one gift. To send a donor an annual summary instead, edit the Word file to list each gift with its date received and amount, and keep the goods or services statement.

A payment that is partly a gift and partly for goods or services, such as a gala ticket, a dinner or a thank-you item, is a quid pro quo contribution. In the US, if the donor pays more than $75, the charity must give a written disclosure statement. The IRS says the statement must (IRS: Quid pro quo contributions):

• "Inform the donor that the amount of the contribution that is deductible for federal income tax purposes is limited to the excess of any money (and the value of any property other than money) contributed by the donor over the fair market value of goods or services provided by the charity", and
• "Provide the donor with a good faith estimate of the fair market value of the goods or services that the donor received."

The IRS example: a donor gives $100 and receives a concert ticket valued at $40. The contribution part is $60, and a disclosure statement is still required because the payment is over $75.

• When. The statement must be in writing and can go out with the solicitation or with the receipt.
• Estimating the value. Any reasonable method applied in good faith works, including the price of similar goods or services sold commercially. In one IRS example, a charity offers a one-hour tennis lesson with a professional who charges $100 an hour commercially, so the good faith estimate is $100.
• Exceptions. No disclosure is needed for items of insubstantial value (the token exception), certain annual membership benefits for a payment of $75 or less, intangible religious benefits, or a sale with no gift element, such as a typical museum gift shop purchase. The token-exception dollar limits are adjusted for inflation each year, so check the current figures in Publication 1771 and on IRS.gov.
• Penalty. The IRS penalty for not making a required disclosure is $10 per contribution, up to $5,000 per fundraising event or mailing, unless the charity shows reasonable cause.

Where this goes on the templates

Both receipts have a "Goods or services in exchange" section, printed at the same size as the other fields:

• Goods or services provided in exchange (yes / no): answer "Yes".
• If yes, description and If yes, good-faith estimate of their value: describe what the donor received, for example "Concert ticket", and enter your estimate.
• Deductible-amount statement (if goods or services were provided): write the disclosure here, beside the estimate. The blank PDF has three lines for it. Don't move it into the footnote or other small print: Publication 1771 says the statement "must be made in a manner that is likely to come to the attention of the donor", and that "a disclosure in small print within a larger document might not meet this requirement". Suggested wording, adapted from the IRS text: "The amount of your contribution that is deductible for federal income tax purposes is limited to the excess of any money (and the value of any property other than money) you contributed over the fair market value of the goods or services we provided."

If you already gave the donor this statement when you asked for the gift, the IRS says "it is not necessary for the organization to provide another statement when it actually receives the contribution". The description and the good faith estimate still belong on the written acknowledgment for a contribution of $250 or more.

Intangible religious benefits

In the US, Publication 1771 says that if a religious organization provides only "intangible religious benefits" to a donor, the written acknowledgment "does not need to describe or value those benefits. It can simply state that the organization provided intangible religious benefits to the donor." It describes them as benefits provided by an organization "organized exclusively for religious purposes" that "are not usually sold in commercial transactions outside a donative (gift) context", such as admission to a religious ceremony. Education leading to a recognized degree, travel services and consumer goods are not intangible religious benefits.

In that case, answer "Yes" to goods or services, tick Only intangible religious benefits were provided [ ], and leave the description, the estimate and the deductible-amount statement as "Not applicable". The IRS quid pro quo page lists an intangible religious benefit among the cases where no disclosure statement is required.

A payment receipt confirms that a customer paid for goods or services. A donation receipt acknowledges a gift and says whether anything was given in return. If someone simply buys something from your organization, such as an item from your shop with no gift involved, give them an ordinary sales receipt; the IRS gives a typical museum gift shop purchase as an example with no donative element. For money paid against an invoice, use the payment receipt template. For goods or documents handed over with no gift involved, the items layout on the acknowledgment receipt template page fits better.