What does your gift receipt say about your organization?

As I ran a ton of errands this weekend, one of my stops was my local Walgreens for a few miscellaneous items. As I left the store purchases nestled snugly in my granny cart (don't judge 4 flights of stairs is NYC is no joke) the clerk handed me a small novela of receipts. There was one that was just an ad for something, I purchased, one was a coupon hoping I'd buy another item and then the register receipt that was the length of my body. Good grief! As I pondered the waste, thinking about how I hated paper and only kept receipts when the IRS tells me I have to, I thought about our receipts that we send as organizations an what they say about us. As noted here in a previous blog post receipts and acknowledgment letters are NOT the same thing.

Have you looked at your receipt lately? Is it easy to read, colorful, does it share your mission and have a  message of gratitude? Are you wasting the back of it with empty space?

Remember the tax receipt is one of the only items of print a donor will ever keep. What kind of lasting impression will you have with them? When they look at it during tax time will they smile or frown?

 

Here is an example of a receipt I designed when I was at NYU Poly.  Note it has a message of gratitude, clear tax information and on the back is the Donor Bill of Rights. Something to remind donors we have their best interests at heart at all times.

A well done receipt doesn't have to be overly complicated, but it does have to be clear, direct and responsible. Receipts don't need to overwhelm with information. Keep it simple.

Also, please don't forget a receipt's purpose. It is a tax document and a quick way to let the donor know we have received their gift. It should leave your office within 24-48 hours of the receipt of the gift; no exceptions. Also, please don't include a BRE or another ask in with the receipt, that's tacky. Give your donors room to breathe before your resolicit them, you may even want to thank them too!

Also, don't forget to receipt responsibly. If someone has set up a reoccurring or monthly gift (don't have a monthly giving program yet? You SHOULD)  don't send them a receipt every time. One at the end of the calendar year is sufficient. Also give them the option to receive their receipts digitally should they like to.  

So this spurs me to action. We need more receipt samples from across the world. Please send me a redacted or blank receipt and I'll share them with everyone on the website. I found some samples here but we need more! Add yours to the collection and help serve as a resource for others.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers,

Lynne

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