Thank every donor, every week

Check the gifts first

Start with what actually came in. Leave out failed and refunded payments, pledges that haven't been paid, and the same gift showing up in two systems. Gifts that arrive through a donor-advised fund or a giving platform can carry their own receipt rules, so Grantkeeper lists them separately for you to check.

Grantkeeper works from the export you send from your giving tool or donor database. It matches gifts to donors by name and email, flags possible duplicates, and leaves your records as they are. Merging donors or correcting a gift happens in your own system.

Personal thanks, then the acknowledgment

The thank-you comes first. Use the donor's name the way they gave it, say what the gift supports in one confirmed sentence, and sign it from a real person. Skip impact numbers you can't back up. Grantkeeper writes a Spanish version for donors who prefer it.

The IRS page on written acknowledgments says a single contribution of $250 or more needs one that names the organization, the cash amount or a description of a non-cash gift without its value, and whether any goods or services were given in return. For payments over $75 that are partly for goods or services, the IRS describes a separate disclosure: its example is a $100 gift with a $40 concert ticket, where $60 is the charitable part. Grantkeeper adds wording that matches the facts you confirm, and your treasurer or accountant checks it.

Send and record

Drafts come back as one list: donor, gift, draft, and anything still missing. Send them from your donor tool or email, then mark each gift as thanked so next week's run starts clean. A first-time donor and a long-time monthly donor need different notes, so tell Grantkeeper who is new and it writes those differently.

Year-end statements are a separate job. The IRS instructions note that separate gifts under $250 are not added together for the $250 rule, but an annual statement still helps donors see their year. The year-end statements recipe covers that work.

Fictional example: a monthly donor who gives $20 on the first of every month gets a short thanks for the first gift, then a note every few months that says what the steady support made possible, using only facts you confirm.

Pick a fixed day for the run, such as Thursday afternoon, so the week's gifts are in and the notes go out before the weekend. The weekly thank-you recipe shows the text to send.