For PTAs, PTOs, booster clubs and school foundations
PTA and booster club donation receipts: which payments get a tax letter, and a free template
A school parent group collects money a dozen different ways in one year: dues, a fun run, wrapping paper, the fall carnival, spirit wear, a silent auction, a business sponsor, a direct-donation drive. Only some of that is a tax-deductible gift. This page sorts the common ones, gives you an acknowledgment letter template for the real donations, and shows how to make a letter for every donor from your treasurer's spreadsheet in one afternoon.
Your first batch of letters is free. Donor data never leaves your browser.
First: is your group a charity the IRS recognizes?
Everything below assumes your PTA, PTO or booster club is exempt under Section 501(c)(3). Local PTAs chartered by a state PTA are usually covered by the state's group exemption. Independent PTOs and booster clubs must have their own IRS determination letter. A group with only an EIN and a checking account is not a charity, and nothing it collects is deductible, so do not put the word "tax-deductible" on a single letter until you have confirmed your status in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search.
Which payments are donations?
| Money that came in | Deductible? | What the family gets from you |
|---|---|---|
| Direct-donation drive, fun run or read-a-thon pledge, "write a check instead of selling" campaign | Yes, fully | Acknowledgment letter with the no-goods-or-services statement (required at $250+) |
| PTA membership dues | Yes, when member benefits are insubstantial | Acknowledgment letter; mention any benefit of real value |
| Wrapping paper, cookie dough, spirit wear, yearbooks, school supply kits | No — a purchase at fair value | A plain thank-you; no tax language |
| Carnival, gala or dinner tickets; auction purchases | Only the amount above fair market value | Quid pro quo letter stating the value received (required above $75) |
| Raffle and 50/50 tickets | Never | Nothing tax-related |
| Fees or fundraising credits that reduce a family's own child's costs | No — private benefit | A receipt for the fee, not a donation letter |
| Business sponsorship (name and logo acknowledgment) | Deductible for the business as a sponsorship or business expense | Thank-you describing exactly what they received |
| Donated auction items, supplies, equipment | Yes, non-cash | In-kind letter describing the item, no value |
What the donation letter must say
IRS Publication 1771 applies to a PTA exactly as it does to a hospital foundation. For every gift of $250 or more the donor needs a written acknowledgment that includes:
- Your organization's name (the PTA or booster club, not the school district).
- The amount of cash, or a description of donated property with no value.
- The date of the gift (or the list of gifts on a year-end statement).
- A statement that no goods or services were provided, or a description and good-faith estimate of their value.
Donors must have the letter before they file. Most groups send everything by January 31 for the prior calendar year — which, for a school group running on a July–June fiscal year, means the treasurer needs the full calendar year's gift list, not the fiscal year's. See year-end statements.
Common mistakes in school groups
- "Your purchase is tax-deductible!" on the catalog order form. It is not. Only the gift portion of a payment is.
- One blanket letter for the whole family's year that mixes dues, the auction dinner and the direct donation without stating what they received back. Separate the lines, or use a statement that lists each gift with its goods-or-services value.
- Letters on school letterhead signed by the principal. The gift was to the PTA; the PTA sends the letter.
- Crediting a booster donation against the donor's own child's trip fee and still calling it a donation.
- Forgetting the business sponsors. They need the same acknowledgment with the benefits described.
PTA / booster club donation acknowledgment template
Replace the bracketed fields. Keep the goods-or-services sentence and the exemption sentence.
[PTA / PTO / Booster Club name] [School name and mailing address] EIN [00-0000000] [Date] [Donor name] [Donor address] Dear [First name], Thank you for your gift of $[Amount] to [PTA / PTO / Booster Club name] on [Date of gift]. Your support of [program, e.g. "the direct-donation drive" / "the new playground fund" / "the band trip scholarship fund"] makes a real difference for the students of [School name]. No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution. [PTA / PTO / Booster Club name] is recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code [as a unit of the [State] PTA under its group exemption / under its own IRS determination letter]. Please keep this letter with your tax records. With thanks on behalf of our students, [Signer name] [Title, e.g. Treasurer]
Wording for a fundraiser purchase (not a donation)
Use this paragraph, not the template above, for catalog sales, tickets and auction wins.
Thank you for supporting [PTA / PTO / Booster Club name]'s [fundraiser name] on [Date]. Your payment of $[Amount] was for [items purchased, e.g. "two spirit-wear hoodies" / "a family ticket to the fall carnival"]. The fair market value of what you received is $[FMV]; only the amount paid above that value, $[Excess], is a tax-deductible contribution.
Every family's letter from the treasurer's spreadsheet
Export the year's deposits with a Name, Date and Amount column. Add a Goods value column for anything the family received back (ticket dinners, auction items) and an In-kind column for donated items. The generator writes a clean donation letter or a quid pro quo letter for each row, flags pure purchases so they stay out of the tax letters, merges a family's gifts into one year-end statement, and exports PDF, Word or a mail-merge CSV.
Questions treasurers ask
Is our PTA, PTO or booster club actually a 501(c)(3)?
Check before writing "tax-deductible" on anything. Local PTAs that belong to a state PTA are usually covered by the state PTA's group exemption. Independent PTOs and booster clubs are only exempt if they applied (Form 1023 or 1023-EZ) and received their own IRS determination letter. A group that only has an EIN and a bank account is not a charity, and donations to it are not deductible. If you are unsure, search the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search for your EIN.
Are PTA membership dues deductible?
Mostly yes. Dues to a 501(c)(3) PTA are deductible except for the value of benefits the member receives. Because PTA member benefits are usually insubstantial (a newsletter, voting rights, a membership card), the IRS lets them be disregarded and the whole payment is treated as a contribution. If membership comes with something of real value — a free spirit-wear shirt, a discount card — state that value in the letter.
Wrapping paper, cookie dough, spirit wear, yearbook ads: do those families get a tax letter?
They bought something at roughly its retail price, so there is no deductible gift and no acknowledgment is required. A plain thank-you is nice; a letter that implies a deduction is wrong. Only a payment clearly above fair market value creates a deduction, and then you must state the value of what they received if the payment was over $75.
Fun run, read-a-thon and "write-a-check" direct-donation drives?
These are the clean ones. Pledges and direct donations with nothing given back are fully deductible, and every donor of $250 or more needs a written acknowledgment. Many PTAs have moved to direct-donation drives for exactly this reason: no inventory, no sales tax, and every dollar is a gift.
Carnival tickets, gala tickets, auction items and raffles?
Event tickets and auction purchases are quid pro quo: the deduction is the amount paid minus the fair market value of the dinner, entertainment or item, and your letter must state that value when the payment exceeds $75. Raffle and 50/50 tickets are never deductible. The parent who donated an item for the auction gets a separate in-kind letter describing the item without a value.
Can a booster club credit a family's donation against their own child's fees?
Not as a charitable contribution. If a parent's payment or fundraising credit reduces what their own child owes for the trip, uniform or tournament, the parent received a direct benefit worth the same amount, so there is no deduction — and the IRS has revoked booster clubs' exemptions over mandatory "individual fundraising accounts". Acknowledge gifts that benefit the whole program; treat fee payments as fee payments.
A local business sponsored our carnival banner. What do we send them?
A thank-you that describes exactly what they received (name and logo on the banner and in the program). If all they got was acknowledgment of their name, logo and slogan, the payment is a qualified sponsorship and the business deducts it; if you gave them advertising with prices, endorsements or calls to action, part of it is advertising income to you. Either way, describe the benefits honestly and never estimate what the exposure was "worth".
Volunteers who buy supplies out of pocket?
Their time is never deductible, but unreimbursed supplies are. If a volunteer spent $250 or more on supplies for the group and wants to deduct it, they need a letter from you describing the services they performed and stating whether they received anything in return — with no dollar amount. Their own receipts prove the cost.
Can the generator sort purchases from donations for us?
Yes, if your spreadsheet tells it. Put the payment in Amount and the value of anything the family received in a "Goods value" column: an empty or $0 goods value makes a clean donation letter, and a goods value below the payment gives the quid pro quo disclosure with the deductible portion spelled out. A row whose goods value equals or exceeds the payment is a purchase, not a gift: the generator flags it as "nothing is deductible" so you can drop it from the letter run and send the purchase wording above instead. Add an "In-kind" column for donated auction items.
Our sheet is a family roster, not a donation list. Will it work?
Yes. A roster headed "Family Name" or "Household" with a bare surname per row is addressed to the household ("Dear Rivera Family,"); a row that already reads "The Smith Family" or "Mary & Tom Diaz" is left as written. Student and Grade columns are ignored. If dues and extra gifts sit in separate columns ("PTA Membership" and "Direct Donation"), the two are added together on each letter and the treasurer flag tells the dues part from the outright gift. A "Paid?" Yes/No column keeps unpaid families out of the letter run.
General information based on IRS Publication 1771, Publication 526, Publication 557 and the IRS's guidance on booster clubs and qualified sponsorship payments, as of 2026. Not legal or tax advice. Exempt-status questions deserve a CPA or your state PTA office.