For the treasurer who just received 100 shares of something
Stock and cryptocurrency donation acknowledgment letters: describe the shares, never the value
A gift of appreciated stock is the best gift many small nonprofits ever receive, and the letter for it is the one most often written wrong. The IRS wants you to describe what arrived and when; it does not want you to value it, and it especially does not want your sale proceeds printed as the donor's deduction. Here are the letters for stock and for crypto, transfer instructions to hand your donors, and the Form 8283 and 8282 rules that fall on you.
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What to write, who values it, and which forms apply
| Gift | Your letter describes | Donor's valuation | Forms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publicly traded stock or ETF | Number of shares, company and ticker, date received in your account | Mean of high and low price on the gift date | Donor: Form 8283 Section A over $500. No appraisal, no signature from you, no Form 8282 |
| Mutual fund shares | Number of shares (to three decimals), fund name and ticker, date received | Public redemption price (NAV) on the gift date | Same as stock |
| Bonds | Face amount, issuer, maturity, CUSIP if known, date received | Mean of quoted bid and asked, or dealer quotes | Same as stock if publicly traded |
| Closely held (private) stock | Number of shares, company, class, date the transfer was recorded | Qualified appraisal above $10,000 | Donor: Section B; you sign the donee acknowledgment above $5,000 and file Form 8282 if sold within 3 years |
| Bitcoin, ether, stablecoins, other crypto | Units and asset, your wallet address (abbreviated), transaction ID, date and time of the transfer | Qualified appraisal above $5,000 (CCA 202302012); exchange price is not enough | Donor: Section B above $5,000, you sign; Form 8282 if you sell within 3 years (most charities sell immediately, so plan on it) |
| NFTs | Collection, token ID, chain, date of transfer | Qualified appraisal above $5,000 | As crypto |
| Donor sold stock and sent you the cash | The cash amount, as an ordinary cash gift | None needed; the donor pays capital-gains tax | None |
| Stock given to a donor-advised fund, which granted cash to you | A thank-you to the fund sponsor and advisor that is not a tax receipt | Already done when they funded the DAF | None for you |
In every row the pattern is the same: you describe, the donor values. The acknowledgment proves the gift happened; Publication 561 and Form 8283 handle what it was worth.
What the letter must contain
- Your organization's name (and, helpfully, EIN).
- A description of the property: how many shares or units, of what, and the date they were received in your account. Not a dollar figure.
- The goods-or-services statement: "No goods or services were provided" or a description and good-faith value of what the donor received.
- Delivery before the donor files: by the earlier of their filing date or the return due date with extensions.
For a donor who also gave cash during the year, list the cash gifts with amounts and the stock gift without one, in the same year-end letter. The generator does this automatically.
Stock gift acknowledgment letter template
Replace the bracketed items. The third paragraph is the sentence that keeps the value out.
[Organization legal name] [Mailing address] EIN [00-0000000] [Date] [Donor name] [Donor address] Dear [Donor first name], Thank you for your gift of securities to [Organization name]. This letter acknowledges that on [date the shares were received in our brokerage account], we received [100] shares of [Apple Inc. (AAPL)] common stock transferred from your account at [donor's broker, if known]. No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution. For gifts of securities, the date shown is the date the securities were received in our account, and this letter describes them without assigning a value. The fair market value on that date, and any Form 8283 reporting, are determined by the donor. [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]
Cryptocurrency donation acknowledgment letter template
Record the transaction ID and your receiving address: that is the crypto equivalent of "received in our account".
[Organization legal name] [Mailing address] EIN [00-0000000] [Date] [Donor name] [Donor address] Dear [Donor first name], Thank you for your gift to [Organization name]. This letter acknowledges that on [date and time, UTC, of the on-chain transfer], we received [0.25 bitcoin (BTC)] at our wallet address ending in [...a9f3] (transaction ID ending in [...7c21]). No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution. Digital assets are treated as property for federal tax purposes. This letter describes the asset received and the date it was transferred to us, and does not assign a value; the donor determines fair market value and is responsible for any appraisal and Form 8283 reporting. If a qualified appraisal is required for your deduction, we will complete the donee acknowledgment in Section B of Form 8283 on request. [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]
Transfer instructions to publish for donors
Put this on your website or in your year-end appeal. Step 2 is what prevents anonymous share arrivals.
HOW TO GIVE STOCK TO [ORGANIZATION NAME] 1. Ask your broker to transfer the shares electronically (DTC) to: Receiving firm: [Brokerage name] DTC number: [0000] Account name: [Organization legal name] Account number: [00000000] Reference: your name 2. Tell us it is coming. Brokers often send shares without the donor's name. Email [treasurer@organization.org] with your name, the stock and number of shares, and the approximate date, so we can match the gift and send your acknowledgment. 3. Give the shares themselves, not the proceeds. If you have held them more than one year, you generally deduct the full market value and pay no capital-gains tax on the appreciation. If you sell first and give cash, you owe the tax. 4. Mutual funds take longer. Fund companies usually need their own transfer form and 2 to 4 weeks; start by early December for a year-end gift. Your gift date is the day the shares arrive in our account. We will send a written acknowledgment describing the shares and the date; you determine the value (average of the high and low price that day) for your Form 8283.
Stock, crypto and cash donors from the same spreadsheet
Put the description in the In-kind column (for example 100 shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) common stock or 0.25 BTC, tx ...7c21) and leave Amount blank. The generator recognises securities and digital assets, writes "received your gift of securities" or "gift of digital assets" with the date, adds the no-value sentence, prints no figure, keeps cash totals correct for donors who did both, and flags each letter with the Form 8283 and 8282 reminders for your side. Export as PDF, Word or a mail-merge CSV.
Stock and crypto gift questions
Why must the letter not state a value?
The written acknowledgment required by IRC §170(f)(8) must describe property other than cash but is specifically not required to value it, and IRS Publication 1771 says so directly. Valuing the gift is the donor's job, and if your figure differs from theirs (because you printed your sale proceeds, or the closing price instead of the mean of high and low) you have created a document that contradicts their return. Describe the shares, the ticker and the date; leave the number to the donor and their Form 8283.
What is the date of a stock gift?
For an electronic (DTC) transfer, the gift is complete when the shares are received in the charity's brokerage account, not when the donor instructs their broker. For a certificate mailed to the charity with a signed stock power, the gift date is the date of mailing. For a certificate the donor hands to their own broker to re-register in the charity's name, it is the date the transfer is recorded on the issuer's books, which can take weeks. This matters most in late December: a transfer instructed on December 29 that lands on January 3 is a next-year gift (Treas. Reg. §1.170A-1(b)).
How does the donor value publicly traded stock?
Fair market value is the average of the highest and lowest quoted selling prices on the gift date (IRS Publication 561). If there were no sales that day, a weighted average of the nearest trading days before and after is used. Mutual fund shares are valued at the public redemption price (NAV) on the gift date. The charity's eventual sale price is irrelevant to the donor's deduction.
Does a stock gift need a qualified appraisal?
Publicly traded securities never do, regardless of amount (IRC §170(f)(11)(A)(ii)(I)). The donor files Form 8283 Section A when all non-cash gifts for the year exceed $500, and the charity does not sign. Stock in a closely held company is different: above $10,000 the donor needs a qualified appraisal and your signature on Section B; between $5,000 and $10,000 they complete Section B without an appraisal.
Why is cryptocurrency treated differently from stock?
The IRS treats virtual currency as property (Notice 2014-21), not as a security, and in Chief Counsel Advice 202302012 it concluded that cryptocurrency is not a 'publicly traded security' for the appraisal exception even when it trades on an exchange. A donor claiming more than $5,000 for a crypto gift therefore needs a qualified appraisal from a qualified appraiser, and an exchange-reported value is not a substitute; the IRS also said the reasonable-cause exception does not rescue a donor who skips the appraisal. Your part: describe the asset and the transfer, and sign Form 8283 Section B when asked.
If we sell the stock or crypto right away, what do we owe the donor?
Nothing further for publicly traded stock, because you never signed Form 8283 for it. For property on which you did sign Section B (crypto over $5,000, closely held stock, art, vehicles), selling, exchanging or otherwise disposing of it within three years of receipt requires Form 8282 within 125 days, with a copy to the donor. Your sale proceeds go in your own books, not in the donor's letter.
The shares arrived without a name. How do we find the donor?
This is the most common stock-gift headache: DTC transfers frequently carry only the delivering broker and share count. Ask your custodian for the delivering firm's contact; ask recent donors who mentioned a stock gift; and prevent it next time by publishing transfer instructions that tell donors to email you before the shares move. Until the donor is identified, book the gift as unidentified securities and do not issue a letter to a guess.
Can we accept a stock gift if we have no brokerage account?
You need an account in the organization's name to receive a DTC transfer. Many small nonprofits open a free account at a discount broker, or use a community foundation or a donor-advised fund sponsor's stock-gift service that liquidates and forwards cash for a fee. If an intermediary converts the shares and sends you cash, the donor's gift was still the shares, made to whichever charity owned the account they landed in; make sure the acknowledgment comes from that charity.
Does a stock gift count for the new deduction for people who do not itemize?
No. The 2026 deduction for non-itemizers ($1,000 single, $2,000 joint) is for cash contributions only. A donor who takes the standard deduction gets no federal benefit from a stock gift, though they still avoid capital-gains tax if they would otherwise have sold. Donors who itemize deduct long-term appreciated stock at full market value, subject to a 30%-of-AGI limit and, from 2026, a 0.5%-of-AGI floor on total charitable deductions.
What about stock given to our donor-advised fund, or an IRA distribution?
If a donor gives stock to a donor-advised fund and the fund later grants cash to you, your letter goes to the fund sponsor and must not read as a tax receipt for the donor, who already deducted the gift to the fund. Qualified charitable distributions from an IRA must be cash; a donor cannot transfer shares from an IRA as a QCD. Both cases are handled by the generator's DAF detection and by the year-end guide.
What if the donor held the stock for less than a year?
Short-term capital-gain property is deductible only at the donor's cost basis, not market value (IRC §170(e)(1)(A)). That is a donor-side rule and nothing in your letter changes: you still describe the shares and the date. It is worth mentioning in your stock-gift instructions so donors pick their oldest lots.
Should we add a courtesy value line?
Some organizations add 'For your information, the mean of the high and low price of AAPL on June 10, 2026 was $X per share' below the required language. It is permitted and donors appreciate it, but it is also the line that gets copied wrong. If you do it, label it clearly as information rather than part of the acknowledgment, use the mean-of-high-and-low method, and never substitute your sale proceeds.
General information based on Internal Revenue Code §170(e)(1), §170(f)(8) and §170(f)(11), Treasury Regulations §1.170A-1(b) and §1.170A-13, IRS Publications 526, 561 and 1771, Notice 2014-21, Chief Counsel Advice 202302012, and the instructions to Forms 8283 and 8282. Not legal or tax advice; donors should confirm their own deductions with a tax adviser.