Year-end donor statements from a QuickBooks report

Which report to export

The layout we read and test against is Transaction List by Customer. In it, each donor (a "customer" in QuickBooks) sits on a line of their own, their transactions are listed under it, and a "Total for …" line closes the group. QuickBooks Desktop reports with the same shape, where the closing line reads "Total Baker, Ruth", are read the same way.

1. Open the report and set the date range to the tax year: January 1 to December 31, 2026.
2. Keep the Transaction Type column. It is how the tool tells a sales receipt or payment (money received) from an invoice, estimate or credit memo (not money received).
3. If you track funds with classes, add the Class column; it can become the fund on each line of the letter. Otherwise letters list the date and amount only.
4. Export to Excel (.xlsx) or CSV. You do not need to delete the report title lines at the top: the tool finds the header row under them.

A flat export works too: any list with a donor or customer name, a date and an amount on every row. What will not work is a summary report with one total per donor and no dates, because a statement lists each gift.

If you record donor addresses in QuickBooks, the transaction report usually leaves them out. You can still build every letter, then email them, or add an address column to a spreadsheet copy. Letters print with the address placed for a standard #10 window envelope when one is present.

What happens to each kind of row

• Sales receipts and payments are gifts received, and they go on the letter with their date and amount.
• Invoices, estimates, pledges and statement charges are kept out. A pledge that is invoiced and later paid would otherwise count twice: once as the invoice and once as the payment. In the example, the $600 building pledge stays out and the two $300 payments go in.
• Refund receipts, credit memos, voids and negative amounts are listed for review. The letter still shows the original gift, so you decide whether to change it.
• "Total for" lines are not added again. They are compared with the gift rows above them, and the tool says when a group does not add up.
• The Account column (often "Undeposited Funds") is where the money went, not what the gift was for, so it is never used as the fund.

Rows whose type, method or fund says stock, in-kind or vehicle are set aside for a separate acknowledgment, because a letter for donated property describes it without stating its value (IRS Publication 1771). Rows dated in the next January, such as a check written in December and deposited later, are listed so you can include each one on purpose.

Before you send the letters

The tool shows the file total, the amount in the letters and the amount set aside, and it lets you type the total from your books to compare. When the two match, every row is accounted for. It also lists names that may be the same donor spelled two ways ("Kim, Daniel & Grace" and "Daniel Kim"), so a household does not get two letters by accident. You choose to merge each pair or keep them apart.

The letter itself names your organization, lists each gift and the year's total, and carries the goods-or-services sentence you choose in step 3: the church wording about intangible religious benefits, the nonprofit wording, or your own. Those are the parts IRS guidance on written acknowledgments asks for. The acknowledgment requirements guide explains each one.

Honest limits

• We cannot test every QuickBooks version and custom report. If the columns are matched wrongly, step 2 shows each guess with an example value, and you can change it from the menu.
• The tool trusts the transaction types and amounts in the export. It does not connect to QuickBooks, and it cannot tell a gift from a payment for a sold item unless your file says so.
• If donors paid for event tickets or auction items, the export does not carry the value of what they received. See receipts for dinners, auctions and tickets.
• It does not give tax advice, decide what is deductible, or file anything with the IRS.

Not using QuickBooks? The same steps work for a gift list kept in a spreadsheet: see donor letters from Excel or Google Sheets.

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.