Donation receipt 2025: Useful information & templates for associations

Donations are a valuable support for associations and charitable organizations. In 2024 alone, 16.7 million people in Germany donated a total of 5.1 billion euros to charitable causes. Donation receipts (also known as contribution receipts) are an important tool that benefits both sides so that donors can claim their donations for tax purposes and organizations can prove their non-profit status transparently.

In this article, you will find out what a donation receipt is, the types and amounts of donations for which you can issue them, where you can find suitable templates and the requirements for creating and storing them.

Contents:

1. What is a donation receipt?
2. What types of donations are there?
3. What requirements must an association fulfill in order to be allowed to issue donation receipts?
4. From which amount must a donation receipt be issued?
5. Where can I find templates for a donation receipt?
6. What else needs to be considered?
7. Find volunteers with vostel.de

What is a donation receipt?

A donation receipt or donation confirmation is a document that confirms the receipt of a donation by an association. Donors can submit the donation receipt to the tax office as proof of tax deductibility.

For the organization, donation receipts are an important tool for fundraising and building trust. They create transparency and make larger donations or permanent donations more attractive due to the tax advantage. In addition, associations can use this point of contact as an opportunity to thank the donor for the donation and its significant impact, thus strengthening the bond with the donor.

What types of donations are there?

Donations are special expenses and are voluntary contributions for which no consideration is expected. Donation receipts or contribution receipts do not only apply to pure monetary donations. In donation law, a distinction is made between four types of donation for which a donation receipt can be issued:

• Monetary donations are understood to be traditional financial donations, i.e. cash, bank transfer or direct debit. The donor’s surname, first name and address should be correctly noted on the donation receipt.

• A donation in kind is the donation of everyday items such as clothing, books or children’s toys. The purchase value of the items and details of the valuation must be stated on the donation receipt. If an item is as good as new, the amount on the purchase receipt can be taken as the purchase value. For used items, the current value can be determined based on the age, condition and original purchase price.

• Expense donations can be classified as monetary donations and describe expenses for the benefit of the association for which the donor waives reimbursement. These can be costs for telephone, postage, travel or costs for office supplies. The legal entitlement to payment and the waiver of this must be verifiable. In addition, the association must be in a financial position to pay the monetary claim at the time of the expenditure.

• In the case of compensation donations , a person donates their working hours to the association and thus waives their right to remuneration. The prerequisite for this is that remuneration has been agreed in writing with the association in advance, which is subsequently waived.

What requirements must an association fulfill in order to be allowed to issue donation receipts?

For an association to be allowed to issue donation receipts at all, the following requirements must be met:

• The association must be a non-profit organization and be able to prove this with a notice of exemption . For more information on the notice of exemption, we recommend the article by Deutsches Ehrenamt.

• The donations serve the charitable purpose of the association(special-purpose operation).

• The donations are made without providing anything in return and are based on the voluntary nature of the donors.

From which amount must a donation receipt be issued?

For all donations under 300 euros, a copy of the bank statement is sufficient proof of the donation for the tax office. If the donation amount is greater than 300 euros, a donation receipt issued by the association is required for tax deduction purposes.

Where can I find templates for a donation receipt?

All donation receipts, regardless of the type of donation, must be created according to a specific template. There are templates provided free of charge by the tax authorities for this purpose, which must be used by the association.

The templates differ depending on the type of donation and donor (e.g. natural person or legal entity). If none of these templates are used, the donation receipt will not be recognized by the tax office.

All templates for this can be found on the forms management system of the Federal Finance Administration under the search term “Zuwendungsbestätigung”.

What else needs to be considered?

For a donation receipt to be valid, it is not enough to simply use the correct form. There are also important requirements that must be observed when filling out, signing and storing the form. Errors can not only invalidate the receipt, but may even have liability consequences for the organization or the association’s board.

Find volunteers with vostel.de

You now know all about donation receipts, but you’re still missing the right volunteers? On our vostel.de platform, you can register with just a few clicks and put projects online for which you are looking for support, thereby reaching our large community of committed volunteers.

We are also happy to support you personally with the registration and creation of appealing applications. You can also find more valuable tips on recruiting and retaining young volunteers in our blog.

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