Donation Receipt Template: Six Free Examples and the IRS Rules
A donation receipt must name your charity, the donor, the date and the cash amount or a description of property, and say whether you gave anything in return. It is required for gifts of $250 or more. Six free templates, for cash, event, in-kind, year-end, religious and payroll gifts, are in the Word download.
A donation receipt is the written acknowledgment that lets a donor deduct a gift. Below are six templates, for a simple cash gift, a gift with something given in return, an in-kind gift, a year-end summary, a religious organization and payroll giving, followed by the rules each one has to meet. All six are in the free Word download.
What a donation receipt must include
| Element | Required? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Charity’s name | Yes | As registered with the IRS |
| Donor’s name | In practice | The receipt must identify whose gift it is |
| Date of the gift | Yes for gifts under $250 recorded only in writing | Include it on every receipt |
| Amount of a cash gift | Yes | Cash includes checks, cards and transfers |
| Description of a noncash gift | Yes | Describe it; do not value it |
| Whether you gave anything in return | Yes, for gifts of $250 or more | The statement most often left out |
| Description and good-faith estimate of what you gave | Yes, if you gave something | Not needed for token items |
| Intangible religious benefits statement | Only if that is all you gave | Fixed wording, below |
| EIN | No | Commonly expected; helps the donor |
| Signature | No | An email receipt is valid |
| Donor’s Social Security number | No | Never ask for it on a receipt |
For any single gift of $250 or more, the donor cannot claim a deduction without a written acknowledgment from you that states the amount of cash or describes the property, says whether you gave anything in return, and if you did, describes it and estimates its value in good faith. That is section 170(f)(8) of the tax code, explained in IRS Publication 1771. It can be a letter, a postcard or an email, and one annual summary can cover many gifts.
Six donation receipt templates
Replace everything in square brackets. Every template uses language taken from the IRS requirements, so do not trim the sentence about goods or services.
1. Cash gift, nothing given in return
[Charity name]
[Address] | EIN [00-0000000]
[Date]
Dear [Donor name],
Thank you for your gift of $[amount] received on [date of gift] by [cash / check no. ___ / card / bank transfer].
No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution.
[Charity name] is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Please keep this receipt for your tax records.
[Name, title]
2. Gift with something given in return (event ticket, gala, auction)
[Charity name] | EIN [00-0000000]
[Date]
Dear [Donor name],
Thank you for your payment of $[amount] on [date] for [event name].
In exchange, you received [dinner and entertainment / auction item description], with an estimated fair market value of $[value]. The amount of your contribution that is deductible for federal income tax purposes is limited to the excess of your payment over that value: $[amount minus value].
[Name, title]
3. Noncash (in-kind) gift
[Charity name] | EIN [00-0000000]
[Date]
Dear [Donor name],
Thank you for your donation, received on [date], of: [description, e.g. 12 boxes of children’s books in good condition / a 2019 laptop, model ___].
No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution. As required by the IRS, we have described your gift but not valued it; the value you claim is for you to determine.
If you claim more than $500, you will need IRS Form 8283 with your return, and over $5,000 a qualified appraisal.
[Name, title]
4. Year-end summary for monthly and repeat donors
[Charity name] | EIN [00-0000000]
[Date, by 31 January]
Dear [Donor name],
Thank you for your generosity in [year]. Your gifts are listed below.
[Date] $[amount] [method]
[Date] $[amount] [method]
Total: $[total]
No goods or services were provided in exchange for these contributions [except: ___, estimated value $___].
[Name, title]
5. Religious organization
[Congregation name] | EIN [00-0000000]
[Date]
Dear [Donor name],
Thank you for your contributions totalling $[amount] in [year].
No goods or services were provided in exchange for these contributions other than intangible religious benefits.
[Name, title]
6. Payroll deduction pledge card wording
[Charity name] | EIN [00-0000000]
I pledge $[amount] per pay period to [charity name], to be deducted by [employer].
[Charity name] provides no goods or services in exchange for contributions made by payroll deduction.
When the receipt has to be sent
The law calls it a contemporaneous acknowledgment, which has a precise meaning: the donor must have it by the earlier of the date they file their tax return for the year of the gift or that return’s due date, including extensions. In practice that means sending annual summaries in January, before people file. A receipt sent within a few days of the gift is better for the relationship; the legal deadline is simply the latest it can arrive and still count.
The deduction is the donor’s, and so is the burden. If you never send an acknowledgment for a $250 gift, you face no penalty, but your donor loses the deduction. That makes a late or missing receipt one of the quickest ways to lose a good donor.
Gifts under $250
Gifts under $250 do not need a formal acknowledgment, but the donor still needs a record: a bank record, such as a cancelled check, a credit card statement or a bank transfer, or a written communication from you showing your name, the date and the amount, under section 170(f)(17). Separate gifts are not added together to reach $250, so a donor who gives $50 a month does not need a formal acknowledgment for each gift, although a year-end summary is still the courteous thing to send.
When the donor gets something back: the $75 rule
When a donor pays more than $75 and receives goods or services in return, such as a gala dinner, a concert ticket or a gift, you must give them a written statement that only the excess over the value received is deductible, with a good-faith estimate of that value. This applies whatever the donor pays above $75, not only at $250. A $100 ticket for a dinner worth $40 gives a $60 deduction. Failure costs $10 per contribution, up to $5,000 per fundraising event or mailing, under section 6714, unless the failure was due to reasonable cause.
Form 990 asks about this directly. Part V line 7a asks whether the charity received such payments and line 7b whether it told donors the value. Our analysis of the IRS extract:
| Charity revenue | Full-990 filers | Received quid pro quo payments (7a) | Of those, did not tell donors the value (7b) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $250,000 | 80,459 | 2.7% | 5.9% |
| $250,000 to $1m | 92,701 | 5.7% | 4.5% |
| $1m to $5m | 59,011 | 12.6% | 2.3% |
| $5m to $25m | 25,966 | 19.2% | 1.5% |
| Over $25m | 11,549 | 24.9% | 0.9% |
| All | 269,686 | 8.4% | 2.8% |
One in twelve charities that file the full return report quid pro quo payments, and almost all say they made the disclosure. But the smallest charities are six times as likely as the largest to state on the return that they did not. The comparison with events is also striking: a quarter of the same charities report fundraising event income, against 8.4% reporting payments that need this disclosure, which suggests either that many event tickets are $75 or less, or that some charities are answering no without checking. If you hold a paid event, the second template above is the one to use.
Token benefits you can ignore
Small thank-you items do not count as goods or services. For 2026, according to Revenue Procedure 2025-32, a benefit is insubstantial if its value is no more than 2% of the payment or $139, whichever is less, or if the donor pays at least $69.50 and receives only items bearing your name or logo, such as mugs, tote bags or calendars, that cost you $13.90 or less in total. Membership benefits for an annual payment of $75 or less, such as free parking or discounts, can also be disregarded. In those cases the receipt can still say no goods or services were provided. The amounts rise each year.
Noncash gifts
The single most common mistake on receipts is valuing a noncash gift. Do not. Your acknowledgment describes the property; the donor determines and claims the value. Several popular templates tell charities to enter an estimated value for donated goods, which is wrong.
| If the donor claims | The donor needs | The charity’s job |
|---|---|---|
| Any noncash gift of $250 or more | Your written acknowledgment | Describe the item, no value |
| Over $500 | Form 8283 Section A with their return | Nothing more, unless asked |
| Over $5,000 (most property) | Form 8283 Section B and a qualified appraisal | Sign Part V of Form 8283 |
| A vehicle over $500 | Form 1098-C from you | Issue 1098-C within 30 days of the sale or gift |
| Property you then sell within 3 years | Nothing | File Form 8282 with the IRS, if it was a Section B gift |
The thresholds are from Publication 526; vehicle rules are in Publication 4302. Gifts of stock are covered in how to accept stock donations, where the receipt names the shares and the number, not the price.
Auctions combine both rules: the item donor gets a description, and the winning bidder a statement of the item’s value. A winner’s statement is in how to run a charity auction.
Religious organizations
A religious organization that provides only intangible religious benefits, such as worship services, does not have to describe or value them. The receipt says that no goods or services were provided other than intangible religious benefits, as in the fifth template. Anything else, such as a dinner or a retreat, must be described and valued in the usual way.
Payroll giving, donor-advised funds and gifts through platforms
- Payroll deduction. The donor’s record is a pay stub, Form W-2 or other employer document showing the amount, together with a pledge card from you. For deductions of $250 or more, the pledge card must say that you provide no goods or services in exchange; the sixth template is that wording. Each deduction from each paycheck is treated as a separate contribution.
- Donor-advised fund grants. The donor took the deduction when they put money into the fund, and the fund’s sponsor acknowledges that gift. Thank the adviser warmly, but do not word your letter as a tax receipt.
- Online platforms and payment apps. Some platforms send receipts in your name and some do not. Check which before a campaign, so donors do not receive two receipts or none. See payment apps for nonprofits and text fundraising.
- Raffle tickets. Not deductible, so never receipt them as donations. See can a nonprofit hold a raffle.
Worth saying on a 2026 receipt
From 2026, people who do not itemize can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts to charity, or $2,000 for a married couple filing jointly, under section 170(p). Gifts to donor-advised funds and supporting organizations do not count. Most donors take the standard deduction, so many of them will be able to deduct their gifts for the first time and may not know it. A line in your year-end summary costs nothing: “From 2026, cash gifts may be deductible even if you do not itemize. Please ask your tax adviser.”
Receipt, thank-you or both?
A receipt is a tax document; a thank-you is a relationship. They can be the same letter, as in the first template, but a receipt alone is a poor thank-you. Many charities send a warm thank-you within 48 hours and a formal annual summary in January. Examples are in donation thank-you letters, and how thanks fits into keeping donors is in donor stewardship.
Automating receipts
Any donor database worth paying for generates receipts with the required statement, sends them by email on receipt of the gift and produces year-end summaries in bulk. Check three things before you rely on it: that the goods-or-services sentence is on every template, that event and auction payments are recorded with the value of the benefit so the deductible amount is right, and that noncash gifts are recorded without a value on the receipt. See donor management software.
Checklist before you send
- Your legal name, and preferably your EIN; see nonprofit EIN.
- The donor’s name and the date of the gift.
- The amount for cash, or a description, with no value, for property.
- The goods or services sentence, with a description and estimate if something was given.
- For payments over $75 with a benefit, the deductible amount stated.
- Sent in time for the donor’s tax return, and a copy kept.
Where the figures come from
The disclosure figures are our analysis of the IRS Statistics of Income extract of Form 990 returns, 269,686 501(c)(3) organizations that file the full Form 990, Part V lines 7a and 7b. Script: bin/analyse_soi_quidproquo.py. The rules were read in Publications 1771, 526 and 4302, Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and sections 170 and 6714 of the Internal Revenue Code on 16 October 2026. This page explains general rules and is not legal or tax advice.
Download this template
Free, no email address, no signup. The full text is on this page as well, so you can read it before you download it.
Questions people ask
What should a donation receipt include?
Your charity's name, the donor's name, the date, the amount of cash or a description of property, and a statement of whether you gave anything in return, with a good-faith estimate of its value if you did.
Is a donation receipt required for every gift?
A written acknowledgment is required for single gifts of $250 or more. For smaller gifts the donor can rely on a bank record, but sending a receipt is still good practice.
When must a donation receipt be sent?
The donor must have it by the earlier of the date they file their return or the return's due date, including extensions. Most charities send annual summaries in January.
Should a receipt show the value of donated items?
No. Describe noncash gifts but do not value them. The donor determines the value, and over $5,000 most property needs a qualified appraisal.
Does a donation receipt need to be signed?
No. The IRS does not require a signature, and an email acknowledgment is valid if it contains the required information.
Do I need the donor's Social Security number?
No. A donation receipt should never ask for or show the donor's Social Security number.
What is the $75 quid pro quo rule?
If a donor pays more than $75 and receives something in return, you must tell them in writing that only the excess over its value is deductible, with a good-faith estimate. The penalty is $10 per contribution, up to $5,000 per event.
Does a church need to give donation receipts?
Yes, for gifts of $250 or more. If only intangible religious benefits were provided, the receipt says so instead of valuing them.
Is a donation receipt the same as a thank-you letter?
It can be one letter, but they do different jobs. Many charities send a quick thank-you and a formal annual receipt in January.
Is there a free donation receipt template?
Yes. The six templates on this page, for cash, event, in-kind, year-end, religious and payroll gifts, are free to download as a Word document.
This is reference information, not legal or tax advice. Rules vary by state and change over time. For a decision that carries real consequences, check the current text at irs.gov or your state registry, and talk to a nonprofit attorney or CPA.