TEMPLATE: Donor Acknowledgement Letters for Newly Formed Organizations [SUBSCRIBERS-ONLY]

These donor acknowledgment letter templates are intended for newly formed organizations that receive donations prior to getting approval of 501(c)(3) status, including an initial acknowledgment with an explanation of the organization’s pending status, and follow-up letters updating the donor once the organization’s tax-exempt status is official.

The included sample language is intended to generally satisfy basic IRS requirements for the most common donation scenarios, including cash contributions, non-cash contributions, as well as cash and non-cash gifts that are treated as quid pro quo contributions. 

Template donor acknowledgment letters for contributions received by established organizations are available here.

And for more guidance on the rules on which these templates were based, make sure to check out our 5-minute lesson on on drafting donor acknowledgement letters.