What a donation acknowledgment letter must include

The $250 written acknowledgment

For any single contribution of $250 or more, the donor needs a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the organization. Getting it is the donor's responsibility, but in practice donors rely on the charity to send it. According to Publication 1771, it must include:

1. the name of the organization;
2. the amount of any cash contribution (cash, check, card, bank transfer or online payment);
3. a description, but not the value, of any contribution of property;
4. a statement that no goods or services were provided in return, if that was the case;
5. if goods or services were provided, a description and a good-faith estimate of their value;
6. if only intangible religious benefits were provided, a statement saying so.

The donor's Social Security number or tax ID is not required. There is no IRS form. A letter, a postcard, a computer-generated form or an email works, and one annual summary can cover all of a donor's gifts for the year.

Gifts under $250 are not added together

The $250 test applies to each contribution, not to the year's total. Publication 1771 gives weekly church offerings as its example. A member who gives $50 every Sunday gives $2,600 a year but never makes a single contribution of $250. Each gift still needs a record, though. For any cash gift, of any size, the donor needs a bank record or a written communication from the charity showing its name, the date and the amount. A year-end statement that lists every gift with its date covers that rule too.

When it has to arrive

"Contemporaneous" means the donor receives it on or before the earlier of two dates: the day they file their federal return for the year of the gift, or the due date of that return, including extensions. Many charities send acknowledgments by January 31, which is a common target, not the legal deadline. A donor who files in early February needs the letter before then.

The goods-or-services statement

This is the sentence most often left out. A plain thank-you letter that lists the amount but says nothing about goods or services does not meet the rule. Use one of these:

• Nothing given in return: "No goods or services were provided in exchange for these contributions." This is the sentence in the example letter.
• A church or other religious organization that gives only things like worship services: "No goods or services were provided in exchange for these contributions other than intangible religious benefits." It does not need to value them.
• Something given in return, such as a dinner: describe it and give a good-faith estimate of its fair market value.

Small token items and some membership benefits can be disregarded; Publication 1771 explains those exceptions and the IRS updates their dollar limits each year.

Quid pro quo payments over $75

A separate rule applies when a donor pays more than $75 and part of the payment buys something, such as a gala ticket. The charity must give a written disclosure that the deductible amount is limited to the payment minus the value of what the donor received, with a good-faith estimate of that value. This applies even when the deductible part is small. The IRS penalty is $10 per contribution, up to $5,000 per fundraising event or mailing (IRS: quid pro quo contributions). Our guide to receipts for dinners, auctions and tickets shows the wording.

Gifts that need a different letter

• Property, such as stock or goods: describe it, but do not put a value on it. Valuing it is the donor's job.
• Vehicles, boats and airplanes over $500 have their own form, Form 1098-C.
• Grants from a donor-advised fund and IRA charitable distributions usually need different wording from a personal gift.

How Giving Receipts handles these rules

Every letter names your organization, lists each cash gift with its date and the year's total, and includes the goods-or-services sentence you pick: church, nonprofit, or your own. If your file has columns for the value and description of goods or services, the letter adds the disclosure for each of those gifts. Rows marked as stock, in-kind or vehicle are set aside rather than put on a cash letter, and grants from donor-advised funds and IRA distributions are listed for review. No Social Security number is ever asked for or printed.

Honest limits

• The tool cannot know whether you gave anything in return for a gift. You choose the sentence; it applies to every letter unless a gift has a goods value.
• It does not estimate the value of dinners, auction items or property, and it does not decide what a donor may deduct.
• This is a summary of IRS guidance, not legal advice. For the full text, read Publication 1771 and the IRS page on written acknowledgments; for your circumstances, ask a tax professional.

Giving Receipts turns the records you provide into letters. It does not give tax, legal or accounting advice and is not affiliated with the IRS. For your organization's situation, ask a tax professional. Sources and how we use them: About and sources.