How to record gifts and send receipts

Record each gift by hand or from a spreadsheet, keep it to a fund and a campaign, and send receipts that a person approves first.

Updated 2026-10-24

Giving keeps every gift your organization receives. Gifts are recorded here, not taken online: there is no donate button, because card payments are not switched on.

Giving starts switched on for non-profits. For any other kind of business, an owner or admin switches on Giving in Settings → What you use. Only positions that see money see gift amounts.

Record a gift

1. Open Giving and stay on the Gifts tab.
2. Press Record a gift.
3. Choose the donor, type the amount and the date, and pick the method: cash, check, card taken elsewhere, bank transfer, PayPal, in kind or other.
4. For a gift in kind, type what was given. The amount is its fair value as you record it.
5. Optionally pick a Fund (it shows as "Designated to" on the receipt) and a Campaign.
6. If the donor got something back, such as a dinner at a gala, type its value under Goods or services given in return. The receipt then says what was received.
7. Press Save.

Switch on Anonymous to the public and the donor's name is left off your public campaign page.

To key in a stack of checks at once, see How to enter a batch of gifts. For tributes, soft credits and employer matches, see Tributes, soft credits and matching gifts.

Import gifts from a spreadsheet

Press Import CSV on the Gifts tab and pick an export from PayPal, Givebutter or your bank. Otto suggests which column is the date, the amount, the email and the name; check them and change any that are wrong. Pick whether dates are month first or day first, and the method for these gifts. You see how many gifts would come in, how many donors are already on your list and how many are new, before anything is saved.

The same columns are remembered for the next export from the same place. A transaction id column stops a second import of the same file adding the gifts twice.

Send receipts

Receipts carry your organization's legal name and your charity or EIN number, so add those first:

1. Open the Receipts tab.
2. Under Receipt wording, type the Legal name and the Charity or EIN number. The thank-you line and the two sentences about goods received are yours to change.
3. Press Save.

The To receipt list shows each gift without a receipt. Press Receipt on one gift, or Send all for every gift waiting, which makes one email per donor. Every receipt waits in Reviews until a person approves it; nothing reaches a donor before that. The wording is yours, and Otto gives no tax advice beyond it.

Year-end statements

On the Donors tab, each donor has a link to last year's statement: every gift that year with the total, ready to print or save.