Givebutter automatically issues emailed receipts after every transaction, including offline donations and auction item purchases. Receipts can be customized with a message at both the account and campaign levels to include tax-pertinent information, show your appreciation, and provide next steps for engaging further.
Receipts are sent immediately after a transaction occurs. If a donor needs a receipt re-emailed later, you can resend their receipt!
If you are an admin (or a team member on a campaign), you'll be sent an email notification when someone has submitted a transaction. This email notification is similar to the receipt the donor is sent. If you wish to follow up or thank them additionally, you can reply to the notification email, and your message will be sent directly to the donor!
You must be an admin (not an editor) to receive notification emails. If you are a team member on a campaign, you will only receive notification emails for donations credited specifically to you.
What's in a receipt? 🔎
Thank You Message
Thank You Message
A custom message can be added under Account Settings or in the Settings tab of a specific campaign. A message set at the account level will be the default for all of your campaigns. A message set at the campaign level will only be sent in reference to transactions to that campaign, and it will override an account-level message. Thank You messages are an ideal place to add tax information, as applicable. Please note that this message will appear in receipts for donations, ticket sales, and auction item purchases.
Campaign Information
Campaign Information
A section displaying the name of the campaign, funds raised so far, and a direct link to the campaign page. It also includes the team/team member they supported and any message left by the donor (as applicable).
EIN (for verified nonprofits)
EIN (for verified nonprofits)
If you're a verified nonprofit organization on Givebutter, a yellow verification badge, and your EIN will be automatically displayed below the campaign information.
Dedication
Dedication
If the donor submitted their donation in honor of or in memory of someone, this information would be listed, along with the email addresses of any recipients to be notified by the dedication.
Transaction Summary
Transaction Summary
Includes reference number, date, payment method, fund designation, contact and billing information, and an itemized summary of what was purchased. If this transaction is part of a recurring plan, their donation frequency, plan number, and creation date are also listed.
Tickets + Event Details
Tickets + Event Details
Included if the purchase included a ticket or is part of an event. Any tickets purchased under the donor's email address will be attached to the email as a PDF. Other tickets will be sent to the email addresses listed on the tickets, as entered by the purchaser during checkout.
Tickets are only sent to email addresses designated during the checkout process. When purchasing tickets, supporters will be prompted to provide contact information for each ticket. The purchaser will not receive Tickets purchased for a different contact/email address. An admin can always resend tickets to a different email address if needed.
Custom fields (Additional information)
Custom fields (Additional information)
If a campaign includes any custom fields, such as t-shirt size, or dietary preferences, answers to these will be included near the bottom of the receipt for the donor's reference. If the questions have been left blank, they will display as [BLANK].
Add a thank you message 🙏
At the account level
At the account level, the same thank-you message will be sent to all supporters for all campaigns on your account. Let your organization’s personality shine, but keep it generic enough to acknowledge any contribution.
Please note that this message will appear in receipts for donations, ticket sales, and auction item purchases.
Navigate to your Givebutter dashboard.
Click on Settings in the bottom left corner.
Click on Account.
Choose Thank You Message from the tabs on the left.
Add your custom message. You can add raw HTML, but dynamic variables are not supported.
Click Save!
At the campaign level
At the campaign level, the same message will be sent to all supporters for this specific campaign. Tailoring the message to each campaign’s specific cause will add a level of personalization.
Navigate to your Givebutter dashboard.
Click Campaigns from the left panel, then select the campaign.
Click on the Settings tab and scroll down to the Thank You Message section.
Add your custom message. You can add raw HTML, but dynamic variables are not supported.
Click Save!
If you do not set a campaign-level message, the account-level message will be used instead. The campaign-level thank you message overrides the message set at the account level.
Send yourself a test ✉️
Test receipts can only be sent at the campaign level. Navigate to the campaign's Thank You Message using the steps above, and then click Send Yourself a Test, which is located under the entry box. An automatically-generated receipt will be sent to the email address you are logged in with.
Tax information 🏦
If the beneficiary of your fundraising campaign (your own organization, or the final recipient of funds raised) has nonprofit status with the IRS, you can add tax-pertinent information to the thank-you message included on your receipts, such as:
A statement that the organization provided no goods or services in exchange for their contribution (if applicable)
A statement that the organization is a tax-exempt organization
Depending on the type of campaign you're operating and whether goods or services are exchanged, you can also use the following templates for your thank-you message.
Please note that the following are templates to be completed yourself. Thank you messages do not support auto-populating merge fields.
If the donor is NOT receiving goods or services in return for their donation:
"Thank you for your generous contribution! Your donation is supporting [cause]. No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution. [Beneficiary name] is an exempt organization as described in Section [501(c)3 or other relevant section] of the Internal Revenue Code; [EIN #]."
If the donor IS receiving goods or services in return for their donation:
"Thank you for your generous contribution! Your donation is supporting [cause]. Only the portion of your donation that exceeds the fair market value of any items/services you've purchased is considered tax-deductible. [Beneficiary name] is an exempt organization as described in Section [501(c)3 or other relevant section] of the Internal Revenue Code; [EIN #]."
FAQ 🤔
Can I customize a receipt using a donor's name or the amount that they donated?
No, merge fields (or dynamic variables) are not supported in thank-you messages. Merge fields are currently only available for outbound Engage messages. Keep in mind that a donor's name, amount donated, and other information is already automatically included in the receipt they will receive. Please see the feature request for this option!
What email address do receipts come from?
All receipts are sent from [email protected].
Do receipts from beneficiary campaigns include both organization names?
Yes, beneficiary campaign receipts include both the creator organization and the beneficiary organization. The wording on the receipts is: "Created by [Organization], Benefitting [Benecifiary Organization]"
How can I send a new receipt with an updated thank you message?
If you resend a receipt after editing the thank you message, the new message will be included in the new receipt.
I need to add an offline donation, but I don't want to send the donor a receipt!
No problem! In this case, you can either import your transactions or add them as offline transactions. Imported transactions will not trigger a receipt to the donor. Offline transactions give you the option of sending a receipt – just uncheck the box and no email will be sent.
I sent myself a test receipt, but my thank-you message is not appearing.
If your account-level message is missing from the receipt you sent as a test, it may be because the campaign-level message was added and then deleted. You'll need to add a campaign-level message, even if it is the same as the account-level message.
Sample receipt 🧾
Here's an example of a full receipt a donor would receive.
