Providing donors with proper receipts is not only good practice but frequently required to enable donors to deduct the contributions on their income tax filings. It's a good idea to provide a receipt or acknowledgment for all donations.

Receipts include

Name of the organization to which the donation was made and its  tax-exempt status (i.e. "a 501(c)(3) charitable organization");

Name of the organization or name of the person who donate;

Date the donation is made;

Amount of the donation;

Statement regarding whether anything of value was received in return for the contribution.

Non-Cash Gifts

If the non-profit group receives non-cash gifts the donor should be asked to value the gift. Donors should be cautioned that gifts of used as clothing, furniture and others should be valued at the price the used item can be sold for, not the original purchase price. If the value of the non-cash gift is worth more than $5000 the IRS requires a qualified written appraisal. Appraisals are recommended for non-cash gifts valued at $1000 or more. Remember, penalties starting at 20% of the amount of underpaid taxes if donations are overvalued.

Unreimbursed Expenses

Volunteers and others may deduct their expenses. To deduct car expenseswritten records of the mileage driven for charitable purposes must be kept, along with the date driven and the name of the non-profit group for which the driving was conducted. If the donor opts to use actual auto expenses instead of the standard mileage deduction the operating expenses must also be recorded. For other expensesrecords to prove the amounts donated should be kept. In all cases, an acknowledgement from the non-profit group that describes the services provided, the value of the expenses donated and whether anything of value was received in return for the donation should be provided.

Organization records

Non-profit groups should keep records of all donors and donations received. Generally only the names and addresses of the largest donors must be included on annual information return (i.e., IRS Form 990). Therefore, investing in a good software package to track all donations is a good idea.