Logging a cash gift
Write every gift down the day you make it, while the confirmation email or the receipt is still in front of you. Cash in this tracker means money in any form: bills in a collection box, a card payment on a website, a bank transfer, a recurring monthly gift or a payroll deduction. Type the date, the full name of the organization as it appears on its own paperwork, the word Cash in the Cash or item column, and the amount under Value. Use the Description column for what the gift was for and for anything you received in return, like a meal or a ticket.
A recurring gift is easiest to log once a month from your bank or card statement, one row per payment rather than one row for the year; the quarter summary then shows the gifts in the quarter they went out.
Logging donated items
For goods, type Item in the Cash or item column and describe what you gave in enough detail to picture it later: "two bags of adult clothing, about 25 pieces, good condition", "oak dining table and four chairs", "20 cans of soup to the food bank". Under Value, write what the items were worth when you gave them, not what you paid for them new. Many organizations publish price lists for typical secondhand goods; where they do not, the price of the same item in a thrift store is a fair guide. Note how you arrived at the number in the description, and take a photo of the items before you hand them over.
If you drive to drop off goods or to volunteer, keep a separate note of the trips. The mileage reimbursement calculator turns miles into an amount at a rate you type in, and the mileage log prints a sheet for date, purpose and distance.
Why the receipt column matters
The Receipt column is the reason this tracker exists. A gift without a receipt is a gift you may not be able to prove, and receipts are hardest to get long after the fact. On the PDF, tick the box once the receipt is in your folder; in the spreadsheet, type Yes, and the summary counts how many of your rows are covered. Any row that stays empty is a reminder to ask the organization for a written acknowledgment while they still remember you.
Keep the receipts together with the tracker, in one physical folder or one folder of scans, in date order. Name scans with the date and the organization so they sort the same way as the rows. For online gifts, the confirmation email usually serves as the receipt; print it or save it as a PDF, since inboxes get cleaned out.
Reading the spreadsheet summary
The block above the table adds up the year for you. Cash donations and Items donated add the Value column by the word in the Cash or item column, so spell those two words the same way in every row. Total adds every value regardless of kind. Receipts on file reads like "9 of 12": nine rows say Yes out of twelve rows with an organization. The By quarter block splits the total by the date, which is why the Date column should hold real dates rather than text.
If you run out of rows, insert new rows inside the table, above the Total row, and the formulas pick them up. Sorting the table by date at the end of the year is fine too; the formulas look at whole columns, not at single rows.
The year-end check
In the last weeks of the year, go through the tracker against three sources: your bank and card statements, your email for online confirmations, and the receipt folder. Add any gift that is on a statement but not in the tracker, and chase a receipt for any row without one. Then fill in the four boxes at the top of the printed page, or read them off the spreadsheet summary, and file the tracker with the receipts.
Which gifts can be claimed on a tax return, how items must be valued and which proof is needed depends on where you live and changes over time, so check the rules where you live or ask a tax professional before you rely on the numbers. The income tax calculator gives you a rough picture of your tax for the year, and the percentage calculator helps when you want to see what share of your income you gave away.
Related templates
The expense tracker uses the same date, description and amount pattern for everyday spending, and the budget spreadsheet has a Gifts and donations line where the yearly total from this tracker belongs.
Frequently asked questions
Is the donation tracker free?
Yes. Download the spreadsheet or the PDF as often as you like, for yourself, your household or a club you keep the books for. No account, no email address, no watermark. One small line with our web address sits at the bottom of each sheet and page.
What do I type under Cash or item?
Cash for money you gave in any form, including a card payment or a bank transfer, and Item for goods such as clothes, furniture or food. The spreadsheet adds up the two kinds separately in the summary, so keep to those two words. The description column is the place for the details.
How does the quarter summary work?
Each quarter line adds up the Value column for the rows whose date falls in that quarter of the chosen year. It needs a real date in the Date column, typed the way your spreadsheet program expects, not text like "spring". A row without a date still counts in the year total, only not in a quarter.
Can I use it for my tax return?
The tracker keeps your own record of what you gave and whether you have a receipt; that is the part most people are missing at the end of the year. Which gifts you can claim, how items are valued and what proof is required differs from place to place, so check the rules where you live or ask a tax professional.
Why are some characters missing from my text in the PDF?
The PDF has nothing of yours typed into it except the year, so this only concerns the currency name under the title. The PDF font covers English and most Western European letters; a currency written in another script shows its code instead. The spreadsheet keeps everything exactly as typed.
Which currencies can I use?
Any of the 20 currencies in the list. The spreadsheet formats every amount in the one you pick, and the PDF names it under the title. To switch later, download the file again, or change the number format of the Value column in your spreadsheet program.