Settings

Receipt

Learn how to customize donors’ PDF receipts and choose when they’ll be generated.

By default, a tax-compliant receipt is emailed to donors as a PDF attachment for one-time and recurring donations. Settings for PDF receipts are configured in Dashboard > Settings > Receipt.

Receipt generation settings

If you plan to generate annual summary receipts for your recurring plans, you must turn off individual installment receipts before the start of the tax year. To do this, select Do not generate receipts under Recurring donations.

One-time

Choose whether to generate single individual receipts for all one-time donations. By default, these receipts will also be automatically emailed to donors. To disable this, set the One-time receipt email to Do not send in your main Dashboard email settings.

Recurring

Choose whether or not to generate separate receipts for each installment of recurring donation plans.

Only one receipt can be issued per installment. This means that if you opt to generate individual receipts for installments of a recurring donation plan, you will not then be able to generate annual summary receipts that include those installments.

Annual summary receipts

An annual summary receipt is a single receipt that covers all the installments made in a tax year as part of a recurring plan.

As mentioned above, annual summary receipts only include installments for which a receipt has not previously been generated. If a recurring plan included 12 installments in the course of the tax year and receipts were generated for the first 6 of those, only the latter 6 (for which no receipts have yet been generated) will be included in the annual summary receipt for that recurring plan.

Annual summary receipts can only be generated for money-based recurring donations. They can’t be generated for stock or crypto donations, nor can they include one-time donations.

Page one of an example annual summary receipt for a Canadian organization.

Page two of an example annual summary receipt for a Canadian organization.

If annual summary receipts are generated, one receipt will be issued for each recurring plan. For example, if one donor has three recurring plans, they will receive three separate annual summary receipts.

If annual receipts are generated from the parent account, they will also be generated for all recurring plans linked to the sub-accounts, provided the subaccounts inherit the parent account’s payment methods settings.

When annual summary receipts are generated, they are automatically sent out to donors by email too. Once generated, they can then be found in both the Donor Portal and the Dashboard.

Included donations

Donations made just before the end of the tax year will be included in the annual summary receipt for that tax year, once they have processed successfully. This is because the annual summary receipt includes all installments of the recurring plan that were created in the selected tax year, provided they eventually process successfully.

For this reason, we strongly recommend generating annual summary receipts no earlier than 2 weeks after the tax year ends. Some payment methods can take up to 2 weeks to process, so leaving extra time after the end of the tax year ensures all installments, including those made in the last days of the tax year, have time to process and are then included in annual receipts.

We strongly recommend waiting at least 2 weeks after the end of the tax year to generate annual summary receipts for the previous year.

Setting the tax year

When you click Generate annual receipts, you’ll then be asked to give the first day of the tax year in your country. For example, in the USA or Canada this would be January 1st, whereas in the UK it would be April 6th. All dates and times are calculated using your organization’s timezone.

You can generate annual receipts to cover 2023. If you want to create annual receipts covering January 1st to December 31st 2023, wait until January 1st 2024 and select January 1 as the tax year start date when generating receipts.

Calculating the year

Once you’ve picked a start date, you’ll see the exact date range, with the year included, for which receipts will be generated.

The tax year end date is automatically set as one calendar day previous to your tax year start date.

The year for generation is set as follows:

the tax year start date is set as one calendar year earlier than the current year
the tax year end date is set within the current calendar year

Examples

On June 1st, 2024, you choose to generate annual summary receipts and set the Tax year start date as April 6th. Annual receipts will be generated for April 6th 2023 to April 5th 2024.
On February 1st, 2024, you choose to generate annual summary receipts and set the Tax year start date as January 1st. Annual receipts will be generated for January 1st to December 31st 2023.
On November 1st, 2024, you choose to generate annual summary receipts and set the Tax year start date as December 1st. Annual receipts will be generated for November 1st to December 31st 2023. Note that this is not a complete tax year.

Creating and sending annual receipts

The last screen will let you review the details before the annual receipts are generated and emailed to your donors.

Receipt history

Once you’ve generated your first batch of annual summary receipts, you’ll see them in the receipt generation history table.

For more information, see our annual summary receipt FAQ.

Receipt customization

The PDF receipt template can be customized to include custom images and text.

Header logo

This is the logo that will be displayed at the top right of the PDF.

Minimum resolution: 160×160 px
Recommended resolution: 320×320 px

Receipt ID

You can use the Receipt ID property to create a custom identifier by combining alphanumeric characters and predefined merge tags. This functionality enables you to match your organization’s existing receipt formatting structure or adhere to regulatory requirements within your locale.

Merge tags

You can create custom IDs for your individual donation receipts and for your annual summary receipts. You can combine merge tags to create these custom receipt IDs.

Available merge tags for individual receipts:

Year: the year the donation was made, formatted as a four-digit number.
Sequential number: a non-repeating sequential number beginning with 1.
Annual sequential number: a numeric value based on a sequence that starts on the first day of a year and resets at the beginning of the next year. The sequence begins with 1.
Month: the month the donation was made, formatted as a two-digit month number.
Donation ID: the unique Fundraise Up identifier for the donation.
Recurring sequential number (monthly): a numeric value based on a sequence that starts on the first day of a month and resets at the beginning of the next month. The sequence begins with 1.

Available merge tags for annual receipts:

Year: the year the first donation in the receipt was made, formatted as a four-digit number.
Sequential number: a non-repeating sequential number beginning with 1.
Annual sequential number: a numeric value based on a sequence that starts on the first day of a year and resets at the beginning of the next year. The sequence begins with 1.
Recurring plan ID: the unique Fundraise Up identifier for the recurring plan.

Prefixes/postfixes

Because you can include alphanumeric characters for the Receipt ID value, you can add custom prefixes or postfixes to your identifier.

Example: [ORG] 123, or 123 [ORG]

Special characters

You can use special characters such as hyphens, brackets, or underscores, to create a custom format for your receipt identifier.

Example: Receipt_1234_06-2023, or MY-CHARITY_2-40_ABCDEDGH

Signature image

This image will be displayed above the signature name. In some regions, you may be required by law to include a signature image on the receipt.

There are no resolution requirements for this image, but we recommend uploading a high-quality PNG image with either a transparent or white background.

Requirements for Canadian organizations

If your organization is based in Canada, a signature image should always be included to comply with the Canadian Revenue Agency’s receipting requirements. The signature should belong to someone who is authorized to acknowledge donations on the organization’s behalf.

What information must be on an official donation receipt from a registered charity?

Signature name

The signature name property is a text field where you can include the name of the person responsible for processing donations or managing the organization. Most organizations include the name and title of their CEO or executive director.

Footer text

The footer text property is a multi-line text area where you can include boilerplate legal and regulatory information. This text should be reviewed and modified as needed before accepting donations to ensure it meets any compliance requirements.

For receipts issued by Canadian organizations, to comply with Canadian law, the footer will always automatically include:

Canada Revenue Agency · canada.ca/charities-giving · Agence du revenu du Canada · canada.ca/fr/services/impots/bienfaisance.html

Download receipts

By the end of every January, Fundraise Up generates a downloaded zip file of all the receipts generated by your organization during the preceding year, from January 1st to December 31st. This includes annual receipts — for which the date of the first donation in the receipt is used to assign the calendar year, if the annual receipt includes donation from two calendar years.

This enables your organization to maintain an official record of all charitable donations received throughout the calendar year using Fundraise Up.

In the Donor Portal, donors can also download zip files containing receipts for donations they have made during a given year.

Country-specific formatting

Some countries have specific requirements for how donation receipts are formatted. Fundraise Up supports country-specific formatting for the following locales:

Localization

Receipts are issued in the default language set for your Fundraise Up account. You can configure your default language from the Localization page in Dashboard settings.

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