Before the Holiday Giving Rush: Get Gift Receipts Right
It's always a good time for churches to review how they receive, document, and acknowledge charitable gifts before holiday and year-end giving begins
Year-end appeals often bring designated contributions, benevolence requests, fundraising events, love offerings, non-cash donations, and donor questions about tax deductions for charitable contributions. Preparing now helps a church communicate clearly, avoid promises it cannot keep, and issue accurate contribution statements after year-end.
Four basic rules
1. A deductible charitable contribution must be a real gift. The donor must give up control of the money or property. A donor may designate a gift for a church-approved purpose, such as disaster relief, the food pantry, children’s ministry, or a building project, but the church must retain ultimate authority over how funds are used to carry out that purpose.
Before soliciting designated gifts, decide what the fund will support, who will approve spending, and what will happen if the project is fully funded, ends, or becomes impossible to complete. Clear appeal language prevents restrictions the church cannot honor.
2. The gift must be given to a qualified organization. Gifts made directly to an individual or family are not deductible charitable contributions, no matter how compelling the need. Most gifts made directly to foreign organizations are also not deductible, although a qualified U.S. organization may conduct ministries abroad if it controls the donated funds.
3. The gift must be money or property. Volunteers cannot deduct the value of donated time or services. They may be able to deduct qualifying, unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses that are directly connected with services provided to a qualified organization and are not personal, living, or family expenses.
4. Benefits received by the donor reduce the deductible amount. When a donor receives goods or services in return for a payment, only the portion exceeding the fair market value of those benefits may be deductible. For example, if a church sells a benefit-dinner ticket for $100 and the meal is worth $35, the potentially deductible amount is $65.
Designated purpose or designated person?
This distinction matters when a church wants to help someone facing a fire, medical emergency, job loss, or other hardship. A church generally should not accept money earmarked for a named person, pass it directly to that person, and issue charitable receipts to donors. In that situation, the church may be acting only as a conduit for personal gifts.
A church-controlled benevolence or disaster-relief program is different. Such a program serves a broad or open-ended charitable class, evaluates need, and allows the church—not individual donors—to select recipients and determine the amount and form of assistance.
The IRS explains that donors may support general disaster-relief purposes, but may not earmark deductible contributions for a particular individual or family. Disaster-relief guidance also emphasizes objective need evaluation and charitable-organization control over recipient selection.
Love offerings. A true personal love offering is spontaneous, unsolicited, and not payment for services. It is a personal gift to the recipient, not a tax-deductible contribution by the giver. Churches should not assume the label “love offering” controls the tax result. If the church organizes the collection, directs proceeds to an employee or minister, or connects payment to services, the arrangement should be reviewed before promising donors a deduction or deciding how the recipient will be taxed.
Timing matters at year-end
A charitable contribution generally belongs to the year in which it was paid or delivered. A pledge alone is not deductible; it becomes potentially deductible when fulfilled. A check mailed to the church is generally considereddelivered on the mailing date, and a credit-card gift is generally made in the year the charge occurs, even if the donor pays the bill later.
Deduction limits may apply. An individual’s charitable contribution deduction generally cannot exceed 60% of adjusted gross income, although lower limits may apply depending on the property and recipient organization. Excess amounts generally may be carried forward for up to five years.
Gift-receipt checkpoints
Substantiating a deduction is primarily the donor’s responsibility, but a church’s timely written acknowledgment may be essential. For every monetary contribution, the donor must keep a bank record or written communication from the organization showing the organization’s name, contribution date, and amount. Providing receipts for all gifts is a sound administrative practice.
For each individual contribution of $250 or more, the donor must obtain a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the recipient organization. Separate gifts are not combined to meet the threshold. A year-end statement may acknowledge multiple contributions if it identifies the individual gifts and dates.
The acknowledgment must include the church’s name; the amount and date of any cash contribution; a description of the donated property; and the required goods-or-services statement. If the church provided benefits, it should describe them and provide a good-faith estimate of their value. The church is not required to determine the value of the donated goods. Representatives of the church receiving charitable donations should not be the ones determining the value of the donation, even if the donor asks.
When a donor makes a payment greater than $75 and receives goods or services in return, the church must provide a written disclosure explaining that the deductible amount is limited to the payment exceeding the fair market value of benefits received, along with a good-faith estimate of that value. The $75 threshold is based on the donor’s total payment, not the deductible portion.
The church’s receipt for noncash gifts should describe the property but should not assign a value; valuation is the donor’s responsibility. Donors claiming more than $500 in noncash deductions generally must file Form 8283. For many non-cash gifts valued above $5,000, the donor also must obtain a qualified appraisal, and an authorized church representative may be asked to sign Form 8283 to acknowledge receipt—not to agree with the valuation.
If the church sells, exchanges, or otherwise disposes of certain donated property within three years, it may have to file Form 8282. Additional rules apply to donated cars, boats, and airplanes.
2026 donor note: Beginning with the 2026 tax year, individuals who do not itemize may deduct up to $1,000—or $2,000 for married couples filing jointly—of qualifying cash contributions to certain charitable organizations. For donors who itemize, a new floor generally limits the charitable deduction to contributions exceeding 0.5% of adjusted gross income. These are donor-level calculations, but accurate records and acknowledgments remain important.
Fall Readiness checklist
Review designated-fund appeal language.
Decide how excess or unusable restricted funds will be handled before accepting contributions.
Make benevolence decisions based on documented need and church-controlled criteria.
Set fair market values for meals, tickets, merchandise, and other fundraising benefits before promotion begins.
Update your receipt template with required goods-or-services language or modify this template to suit your needs.
Assign responsibility for unusual non-cash gifts and Forms 8283 and 8282.
Train staff and volunteers not to promise that a gift will be deductible.
Clear communication is part of good stewardship. When churches establish procedures before gifts arrive, they can honor donor intent, protect the integrity of charitable ministries, and enter the year-end giving season with confidence.
This article provides general educational information and is not a substitute for legal, tax, or accounting advice concerning a particular contribution or transaction.
