Free Donation Receipt Template (PDF, Word & Excel)
A donation receipt is written by the organization that received the gift — a nonprofit, a church, a club — and given to the donor as a record of what was donated and when. Unlike an invoice, nothing is owed and nothing is being requested; the receipt documents a gift after the fact. Donors ask for these for their own records, so most organizations issue one for every gift as a matter of routine. It's below in PDF, Word and Excel, blank — fill in the giver, the gift and the date. No sign-up, no watermark.
Download the donation receipt template
Donation receipt template
A receipt for cash or donated goods, with an editable in-return statement.
Every download is free — no email, no sign-up, no watermark.
The Word file also opens in Google Docs.
What goes on a donation receipt
A donation receipt has a different center of gravity from a payment receipt: the organization's details carry the document, and one unusual line — what the donor received in return — does work no other receipt does.
- Organization name, address and contact — the receipt is issued on the organization's paper, so its details lead the page, not the donor's.
- Organization tax ID / registration number — a field on the template for whatever identifier the organization has. The template provides the line; what goes on it is the organization's to fill.
- Receipt number — one sequence for all donation receipts. Organizations that issue hundreds a year live and die by this field at reconciliation time.
- Donor's name and address — as the donor wants it recorded.
- Date of the donation — the date the gift was received, which for a mailed check can differ from the date it was written. Record the received date.
- For a cash gift: the amount — figures on the line, and the payment method next to it.
- For a donated item: a description, not a value — "12 folding chairs, used, good condition", "one sofa". The organization describes what arrived; the template deliberately has no value line for goods, and writing one in changes the document from a record into an appraisal — which the person signing it usually isn't in a position to make.
- What the donor received in return — the line that makes a donation receipt a donation receipt. If the gift came with something back — event tickets, a dinner, an auction item — describe it; if not, the template's editable wording says so plainly. Organizations routinely include this statement on every receipt, and the template ships it as two checkboxes: _nothing was provided in return_ / _the following was provided in return:_.
- Authorized signature — a named person signs for the organization: treasurer, office manager, pastor. A rubber-stamped org name with no human attached is the weakest version of this document.
Frequently asked questions
Someone donated furniture, not money. What goes on the receipt?
A donated item gets a description in the donor's receipt — what it is, roughly what condition, how many — and no dollar value. The organization records what arrived; putting a price on it isn't the receiving organization's call to make on this document.
Who should sign a donation receipt?
A named person with a role — treasurer, office administrator, whoever handles the organization's records — signs each receipt. If the same handover also needs a record of condition and transfer (equipment, a vehicle), pair the receipt with an acknowledgement receipt, which is built for exactly that.
What does the "nothing in return" line mean?
The "nothing in return" line records whether the donor got something back for the gift — dinner tickets, an auction item, merchandise. The template ships both versions as checkboxes with editable wording. If your organization isn't sure how to word it for its own situation, that's a question for its accountant. This isn't tax advice.