Every donor who gave $250 or more to your church during the year needs a written acknowledgment from the church to claim a tax deduction. That acknowledgment is the giving statement -- and if it is missing required information, the donor's deduction is invalid, regardless of how much they gave or how faithfully they attended.

This is not a technicality churches can afford to ignore. A giving statement error that costs a major donor their deduction is a trust-damaging event. This guide covers exactly what every statement must include, what mistakes to avoid, and how to get them out on time.

Under IRS rules, donors cannot deduct a contribution of $250 or more unless they have a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the organization. "Contemporaneous" means the donor must have the acknowledgment in hand before the earlier of: the date they file their tax return for the year of the contribution, or the due date (including extensions) of that return.

In practice, that means giving statements need to be in donors' hands by January 31 of the following year -- well before most people file their returns. Some churches set an internal target of January 15 to leave room for delivery issues or donor follow-up.

The $250 threshold applies per contribution, not per year. A donor who made twelve monthly gifts of $200 each ($2,400 total) technically does not require a written acknowledgment under the strict IRS rule -- but best practice is to provide statements to all donors regardless of amount. It builds trust, it simplifies your process, and it eliminates any risk that a donor is left without documentation they need.

What Every Statement Must Include

The IRS specifies the required elements for a valid written acknowledgment. Every giving statement must contain all of the following:

  • The organization's name. The legal name of the church exactly as it appears on its IRS filings.
  • The date or dates of the contribution. For a year-end summary statement, listing the date range (January 1 through December 31, [year]) with individual contribution dates or totals is standard practice.
  • The amount of each cash contribution. Cash includes checks, credit card payments, electronic transfers, and text-to-give -- anything that is not property.
  • A description (but not the value) of any non-cash contributions. If a donor gave property -- clothing, equipment, a vehicle -- describe what was given but do not assign a value. Valuation is the donor's responsibility, not the church's.
  • A statement that no goods or services were provided in exchange for the contribution, or a description and good-faith estimate of the value of any goods or services that were provided.
Watch Out

The goods-and-services disclosure is the most commonly missed element. If your church held a gala, auction, or benefit dinner where donors received something in return -- a meal, an event ticket, a prize -- the statement must describe what was provided and estimate its fair market value. The deductible amount is the contribution minus the value of what was received. Omitting this disclosure can invalidate the deduction for the entire gift, not just the non-deductible portion.

What Not to Include

A few things that do not belong on a giving statement:

  • Do not value non-cash gifts. The church should describe what was donated but never assign a dollar value to property gifts. That is the donor's job, and attaching a value creates liability for the church if the donor or IRS disputes it.
  • Do not include contributions the donor made to a separate organization. If your church runs a separately incorporated foundation or school, contributions to that entity are not contributions to the church and should not appear on the church's giving statement.
  • Do not include non-deductible contributions. Payments that are not charitable contributions -- payments for childcare, school tuition, purchases from a church store -- are not deductible and should not appear on the giving statement. Including them misleads donors and creates IRS exposure.

Special Handling for Non-Cash Gifts

Non-cash gifts require extra care at year end. The most common types churches receive and how to handle each:

Stock and Securities

The church should have a brokerage account to receive stock gifts directly. Acknowledge the number of shares and the name of the security. Do not acknowledge a dollar value. The donor's deduction is based on the fair market value on the date of transfer, which they determine.

Vehicles

Vehicle donations require IRS Form 1098-C, which the church must provide to the donor within 30 days of the sale of the vehicle (or within 30 days of the contribution if the church keeps the vehicle for its own use). This is a separate form from the standard giving statement and has its own specific requirements.

Cryptocurrency

Crypto donations are treated as property, not cash. The church should acknowledge the type and amount of cryptocurrency donated (e.g., "0.5 Bitcoin") but not the dollar value. The donor determines fair market value on the date of transfer using qualified appraisal rules for donations over $5,000.

Key Takeaway

For any non-cash gift, your job as the church is to describe what was given, document when it was received, and confirm no goods or services were provided in exchange. Valuation is always the donor's responsibility -- never the church's.

Delivery and Timing

Giving statements can be delivered by mail, email, or through your giving management platform. If delivering by email, make sure you have each donor's current email address and that your system can confirm delivery. A statement that bounces or goes to a spam folder is not a delivered statement.

For donors who have given online through a platform like Planning Center Giving, Pushpay, or Dime Payments, your platform may generate statements automatically. Review a sample statement before mass distribution to confirm it includes all required elements. Platform-generated statements vary in quality -- some are complete, some are missing the goods-and-services disclosure language.

Mail physical statements to any donor for whom you do not have a confirmed email address, and to any major donor as a courtesy regardless of email availability. A major donor who does not receive their statement and has to chase it down is a relationship problem, not just an administrative one.

If You Are Behind

If January 31 has passed and you have not yet sent giving statements, send them as soon as possible. The contemporaneous requirement means donors who have already filed their returns before receiving the statement may not be able to claim the deduction -- but for donors who have not yet filed, a late statement is better than no statement. Communicate proactively with donors about the delay and apologize for it.

Going forward, build giving statement preparation into your year-end timeline as a hard deadline, not an afterthought. It is one of the most direct ways the finance team serves the congregation.

How Dime Handles This

We review giving statement processes for every church client we work with. That includes checking that required disclosure language is present, that non-cash gifts are handled correctly, that the statement format meets IRS requirements, and that the distribution process is reliable. For churches using Dime Payments for giving management, statements are generated within the platform and reviewed by our team before distribution.

If you have questions about your giving statement process, or if you want someone to review a draft statement before you send it, reach out to our team. Getting this right is one of the most concrete ways we help churches take care of the people who give to support the mission.