What Does a Nonprofit Donation Receipt Need to Say?

The $250 rule

The donor needs this acknowledgment by the earlier of the date they file their tax return for that year, or the return's due date including extensions. In practice, most organizations send it right after the gift rather than waiting — there's no reason to wait, and a prompt receipt is also just good donor relations.

The $75 quid pro quo rule

"Quid pro quo" just means the donor got something back — a dinner at a gala, a thank-you gift above token value. If the payment was more than $75 and included something of value in return, you need to tell the donor, in writing, what portion of their payment is actually tax-deductible (the amount above what they received).

What a receipt generally includes

This isn't the complete legal checklist — see the note below — but in practice a compliant acknowledgment generally covers:

• Your organization's name
• The amount of any cash contribution — or, for a non-cash gift, a description of what was given (not its dollar value; valuing an in-kind gift is the donor's responsibility, not yours)
• A statement of whether your organization provided any goods or services in exchange for the gift, and if so, a good-faith estimate of their value

How this connects to Briskly

Every donation logged in Briskly can generate a printable receipt with this information filled in automatically — organization name, gift amount or in-kind description, and date — so a volunteer treasurer doesn't have to build this from scratch in a word processor for every gift.

Checked directly against IRS.gov ("Charitable Organizations — Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements") 2026-08-01 for the two dollar thresholds quoted above. The complete, itemized content requirements live in IRS Publication 1771 ("Charitable Contributions: Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements") — that publication is the authoritative source; this page is a plain-English starting point, not a replacement for reading it.