END-OF-YEAR CHALLENGES FOR CHARITIES

Every year at this time, nonprofits gear up to be bombarded with requests for charitable gift receipts, which donors need to file their tax returns. In most cases, these receipts went out when the donation was originally received, but donors have a way of misplacing those slips of paper, especially when the gift was made early in the year.

Many charities also have to deal with last minute donations from donors who must get their donation in before the end of the year. Like you, I have had to deal with last minute transfers of stock (and balky brokers) and even more challenging issues like getting a charitable gift annuity set up before the end of the year.

We naturally comply with these requests and hope that most of our donors are organized enough to be able to locate their receipts at tax time. We also hope that they and their attorneys and financial advisors plan ahead and allow time to accomplish a gift in a timely manner. In the spirit of always looking for easier ways to do things, I have been trying to think of ways to make our end-of-year tasks easier and quicker so that we can enjoy the holidays, too. Here are a couple of ideas that I have thought about but have not seen used by nonprofits.

We should try making the process of requesting a duplicate receipt easier for the donor and less time consuming for your gift receipt staff. With so many people now using the Internet, I would suggest that the charity place a prominent line on its home web page saying something like, "To request a receipt for a donation made to us this year, please click here!" This link could take the donor to page explaining the information needed to issue the receipt and allowing the donor to simply click on an email link to make a request. Your gift receipt staff could quickly sort through these email requests each day and either mail or email the receipt to the donor.

A second idea I have been thinking about involves those last minute gifts at the end of the year. Many charities send out those preprinted brochures asking donors to consider another gift before the year ends and instructing donors how to accomplish this. For charities with good email addresses for their donors, why not send this appeal via email? Why not put this information on the web site as well? Millions of people do their holiday shopping online now, and for those people convenience is of paramount importance. Let's make it easy for them to get the information they need to make that last minute gift to us and at the same time make it easier for us to get everything done before the end of the year.

Finally, here is a brief review of the gift substantiation requirements that might be helpful:

• Cash gifts over $250 must be documented with a gift receipt from the charity; any "quid pro quo" received from the charity must be indicated on the receipt.
• Gifts to a charitable remainder trusts do not require a gift receipt; but if the trust is funded with something other than cash, a Form 8283 must be filed by the donor.
• Gifts to fund a charitable gift annuity do require a gift receipt showing the value of the charitable interest.
• Property gifts under $500 require a receipt giving a brief description of the property and a statement that no goods or services were provided by the charity to the donor. No gift value should be given because valuation is the donor's responsibility.
• Property gifts of $500 or more require filing a Form 8383 by the donor; the charity should also provide a receipt.

My wish for you and your charity: May you receive many end of year gifts from generous donors, and may you get them all processed in time to spend a happy holiday with your family!