For non-cash gifts: goods, equipment, food, stock, services
In-kind donation acknowledgment letter: free template and the IRS rules for non-cash gifts
Someone donated a piano, a pallet of diapers, 200 shares of stock or a weekend of plumbing. The thank-you letter for a non-cash gift follows one rule that trips up almost every small nonprofit: describe the gift, never value it. Here is a template that gets it right, the thresholds ($250, $500, $5,000) in plain English, and a generator that handles in-kind rows alongside cash.
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What an in-kind acknowledgment must say
IRS Publication 1771 treats a non-cash gift like any other contribution: the donor needs a contemporaneous written acknowledgment for any gift of $250 or more, and it must contain:
- The organization's name.
- A description of the property — "one used upright piano", "300 pounds of canned food", "200 shares of Apple Inc. common stock" — but not its value. (Stock and crypto have their own page: stock and cryptocurrency gifts.)
- The date the property was received.
- A statement that no goods or services were provided in exchange, or a description and good-faith estimate of what the donor got back.
The value question is the donor's problem, not yours. They decide fair market value on their own return and, above $5,000, pay for a qualified appraisal. The best thing the charity can do is describe the item precisely enough that an appraiser or auditor can tell exactly what was given.
The thresholds at a glance
| Donor's claimed value | Donor needs | Charity does |
|---|---|---|
| Under $250 | A receipt or their own reliable records | Thank-you letter (good practice, not required) |
| $250 – $500 | Written acknowledgment from you | Letter describing the item, no value, goods-or-services statement |
| $500 – $5,000 | Acknowledgment + Form 8283 Section A | Same letter |
| Over $5,000 (one item or similar items) | Acknowledgment + qualified appraisal + Form 8283 Section B | Same letter, plus sign the Donee Acknowledgment on Form 8283; file Form 8282 if you dispose of it within 3 years |
| Vehicles over $500 | Form 1098-C from you | Issue 1098-C within 30 days of the sale or gift |
Common mistakes
- Writing "Thank you for your $1,500 donation of office furniture." Drop the number. Describe the furniture.
- Valuing donated services. Volunteer and professional time is never deductible; do not put an hourly rate on the letter.
- Treating a DAF grant or a gift card from a company as in-kind. A DAF grant is pass-through money (the fund already receipted the donor). A company's cash-equivalent gift is a cash gift.
- Forgetting the goods-or-services sentence. It is required on every acknowledgment, cash or non-cash.
- Sending one letter to the auction donor and the auction buyer. They need different letters — see the questions below.
In-kind donation acknowledgment template
Replace the bracketed fields. Keep the "has not assigned a value" sentence.
[Organization name] [Mailing address] EIN [00-0000000] [Date] [Donor name] [Donor address] Dear [First name], Thank you for your generous gift to [Organization name]. On [Date of gift] we received your non-cash contribution of: [Description of the property, e.g. "one used upright piano (Yamaha, serial no. ____)" / "approximately 300 pounds of canned food" / "12 folding tables and 48 chairs"] [One sentence on how it will be used: "The piano will be used for our after-school music program."] No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution. This letter describes the property received; [Organization name] has not assigned a value to it. Under IRS rules the donor is responsible for determining the fair market value of non-cash contributions for tax purposes. [Organization name] is a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Please keep this letter with your tax records. With gratitude, [Signer name] [Title]
Cash and in-kind gifts in one spreadsheet
Add a column called In-kind (or Item, Description, Non-cash) next to Amount. Leave Amount blank for a pure in-kind row and the generator writes a letter that describes the property and includes the fair-market-value disclaimer. A row with both an amount and an item gets one letter covering both. The sample data includes a donated piano so you can see the wording.
Questions about non-cash gifts
Should the thank-you letter state the value of a donated item?
No. The IRS asks the charity to describe the property, not to value it. Putting a dollar figure on the letter can be read as the charity vouching for a deduction it has no basis to vouch for. Thank the donor warmly, describe the item in enough detail that it is clearly identified, and leave the value to the donor and their appraiser.
Can we at least mention a value the donor told us?
You can keep it in your own records (you may need it for Form 990 reporting of non-cash contributions), but keep it off the acknowledgment. If a donor insists, some charities add a line such as "The donor has estimated the value at $X; this estimate was provided by the donor and not verified by [Organization]." Most CPAs prefer you simply omit it.
What does the donor need from us for a non-cash gift over $250?
The same contemporaneous written acknowledgment as for cash: your name, a description of the property (no value), the date, and the goods-or-services statement. Without it the deduction is disallowed, no matter how good the donor's own records are.
What changes for non-cash gifts over $500 and over $5,000?
Over $500 the donor attaches Form 8283 to their return (Section A). Over $5,000 for one item or a group of similar items, the donor needs a qualified appraisal and the charity must sign Section B of Form 8283 to confirm receipt — your signature confirms you received the property, not its value. If you sell, exchange or dispose of that property within three years, you file Form 8282 and send the donor a copy.
Donated cars, boats and airplanes?
Vehicles have their own rules. For a vehicle claimed at more than $500 the charity must give the donor Form 1098-C (or an equivalent statement) within 30 days of the sale or contribution, and the donor's deduction is usually limited to what the charity sold it for. A plain thank-you letter is not enough.
Donated services — a lawyer, a plumber, a graphic designer?
Not deductible, and the IRS does not want a dollar figure on any acknowledgment. Send a thank-you that describes the service without a value. The donor can deduct unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses (materials, mileage at the charitable rate), and if those exceed $250 they need a letter from you describing the services they provided and stating whether they received anything in return.
Gift cards, stock, cryptocurrency?
Gift cards are treated like cash for the donor (they know the face value) but your letter can still describe them: "a $100 gift card to Target." Publicly traded stock and crypto are non-cash gifts: describe the shares or coins and the date received, never the price. Crypto over $5,000 needs a qualified appraisal just like art. Stock and crypto letters, transfer instructions and the Form 8283/8282 rules have their own page: /stock.
Donated items for a silent auction or raffle?
The person who donates the item gets a non-cash acknowledgment describing it (no value). The person who buys it at the auction gets a quid pro quo disclosure: their deduction is only the amount they paid above the item's fair market value, and your letter must state that value. Two different letters for two different people.
Can the generator make in-kind letters?
Yes. Add a column named "In-kind" or "Item" with the description and leave the Amount blank for that row. The letter will say the organization received the non-cash contribution, describe it, and include the fair-market-value disclaimer. Rows with both cash and an item produce one letter covering both.
General information based on IRS Publication 1771, Publication 526 and the Form 8283 / 8282 / 1098-C instructions as of 2026. Not legal or tax advice. Appraisal and vehicle questions in particular deserve a CPA.