As the end of the year approaches, it’s time to tackle a crucial task for nonprofit organizations: ensuring your end-of-year receipting process is seamless, accurate, and donor-friendly. Thoughtful and timely receipts comply with legal requirements and provide an opportunity to engage your supporters and strengthen relationships.
Sometimes, end-of-year giving statements can feel overwhelming. That’s why we’ve gathered expert tips, resources, and training opportunities to help you stay ahead of the curve and make this process as smooth as possible.
Why End-of-Year Receipting Matters
Receipts are more than just transactional records—they’re an opportunity to build trust and gratitude with your donors. Whether you’re sending one-time receipts or annual statements, a polished receipting process demonstrates professionalism, transparency, and appreciation for the generosity of your supporters.
However, end-of-year receipting presents challenges: large volumes of gifts, varying donor preferences, and the need to process everything accurately and quickly. Preparation is key to success—the accuracy and timeliness of receipts reflect the strength and respect in your relationship with donors.
Pro Tips for Streamlining Your Receipting Process
- Be timely: Getting one-time receipts in your donors’ hands within 48 hours is best practice and helps strengthen relationships with your donors. When it comes to annual receipts, it’s important they receive the receipts in a timely manner for tax purposes.
- Have a communication plan: Communicate with your donors ahead of time via email or even a PS message in an appeal, letting them know when they can expect their receipts in the mail or if they can get them online through the donor portal. Once they are available in a donor portal, send them another message letting them know how they can access them.
- Train your team: Make sure everyone on your gift team knows how to pull receipts, send them to donors, or how to coach donors on how to get the information themselves through the portal. This way, it seems like there is seamless communication when your donors contact you.
Virtuous Tips for End-of-Year Receipting
- Choose the Right Template
- For one-time receipts, select “Single Gift Per Receipt” and use Receipting Groups to stay organized.
- For annual giving statements, opt for “Multiple Gifts Per Receipt” to summarize a donor’s impact over the year.
- Leverage Donor Portals
- If you’re using Virtuous Giving or RaiseDonors, empower your donors with access to their giving history and statements via the Donor Portal. This feature saves time for your team and enhances the donor experience.
- Virtuous Resources
- Support Articles: A quick refresher on Receipts and Gift Processing.
- Free Academy Course: Watch our comprehensive training on Gift Processing, including detailed lessons on receipting.
Stay Ahead of the Year-End Rush
End-of-year receipting doesn’t have to be stressful. With the right tools, training, and preparation, your team can process receipts efficiently while focusing on what really matters—building stronger connections with your donors.
