The sort answer is that, yes, this is still a quid pro quo in the eyes of the IRS.
Here's a longer answer.
If the donor is not intending to claim a deduction, it may not matter.
If the donor is intending to claim a deduction, they will need a written acknowledgment from your organization that either states that no substantial goods or services were provided to the donor, or that identifies and provides the fair market value of the goods or services that the donor received.
In this scenario, of course, you could not report that no goods or services were provided to the donor.
The "expect to receive" aspect is primarily related to the situation where there is a benefit that the donor expects to receive, or is entitled to receive, a benefit, and does not decline the benefit. In that case, the deductibility is reduced whether or not the donor actually receives the benefit. But if the donor actually receives a benefit, expectation does not matter.
We've discussed from time to time a possible case where, at the time of a gift, the donor does not expect to receive a benefit, the organization does not expect to provide a benefit, and the organization has no history of providing a benefit in similar circumstances, and then, some time later, the organization decides to offer a benefit. That's usually a general benefit to a class of donors, and not a bespoke gift to a single donor. Additionally, the key aspect there is that the unexpected benefit is not contemporaneous. There is some debate about whether such a scenario is ever valid, but, certainly, if the organization is providing a benefit contemporaneous to receiving the contribution (generally viewed by the IRS as on or before the donor files a tax return claiming the deduction), the benefit reduces the deductibility of the gift.
My US$0.02 worth; the usual disclaimers apply.
Good luck!
Alan
Alan S. Hejnal (he/him)
Data Quality Manager
