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  • 1.  Annual Tax Statements - Are organizations still sending these out?

    Posted 01-14-2026 12:18 PM

    Hi all,

    I wanted to see how many of you are still doing annual tax statements to donors?  As the threshold keeps increasing for those who itemize deductions, I feel these might be a thing of the past, but I could be wrong. Many fundraisers may like it as it is a good chance for stewardship touches, but I haven't heard donors asking for these pieces as much.  It still might be important for those employees who give via payroll deduction or recurring gifts, but we receipt when gifts are received.  Just wanted to gauge everyone's thoughts on this.  

    Thanks,

    Anna



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    Anna Simons
    The Community Solution Education System
    asimons@tcsedsystem.edu
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  • 2.  RE: Annual Tax Statements - Are organizations still sending these out?

    Posted 01-14-2026 12:26 PM
    I've advocated against these for many years, except for recurring donations. I believe a donor should receive their tax receipt withing 48 hours of their gift. They can always ask for a duplicate if they lost it. However, the annual receipts often create more work for you and your staff as many donors don't understand why DAF gifts don't show on those - or may question you about a gift they thought they made that doesn't appear on the list.

    And you are correct. Only 1 in 11 (or less) itemize these days and don't need any receipt.

    Instead, I prefer an annual impact report that doesn't list specific gifts, but acknowledges them as a donor and recites some of the ways donations benefitted the organization during the year. That is a stronger form of stewardship, in my opinion.

    John

    John H. Taylor, Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier Street
    Durham, NC     27705

    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987






  • 3.  RE: Annual Tax Statements - Are organizations still sending these out?

    Posted 01-14-2026 01:19 PM

    Hi Anna,

    We do it for our payroll deduction donors and our recurring donors. To get around the issues John mentioned (donors wondering why certain gifts don't appear) I specify in a footer that the statement only includes gifts made via recurring payment or payroll deduction and does not necessarily represent their entire giving for the year (if they made other gifts they would have already received the standard receipts/acknowledgments for those). We used to include their entire giving for the year, but it's been a few years since I switched to this method and I haven't received a single complaint. 



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    Tioga Anderson
    East Stroudsburg University Foundation
    tanderson@esufoundation.org
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  • 4.  RE: Annual Tax Statements - Are organizations still sending these out?

    Posted 01-15-2026 03:11 PM

    We send just a few dozen of these each January to our $10,000+ donors, trustees, senior administration, recurring donors, and anyone else that requests it. There are several donors, for example, who give multiple times a year, but not regularly, and they told us they don't want a receipt each time. We created a special code in our system that lets us know not to receipt each gift but to provide the year-end summary. The statement is a basic mergeable Word document that includes a nice thank you letter from the VP and an itemized list of their donations, identifying hard, soft, and non-charitable (such as a gala ticket) giving.



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    Russel Heskin
    University of La Verne
    rheskin@laverne.edu
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