A Covenant House tax receipt is the written acknowledgment the organization sends after you donate, and it is what the IRS will ask for if you claim the gift as a charitable deduction. Covenant House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so cash donations qualify as tax-deductible, and the organization issues receipts year-round.1Covenant House. Financials The EIN is 13-2725416, which you may need when filing.
How Your Receipt Reaches You
The delivery method depends on how you gave. Online contributions trigger an email confirmation sent to the address you used at checkout. Mailed checks generate a formal acknowledgment letter by postal mail once the payment is processed.
Recurring monthly donors get one consolidated annual statement covering every gift from the prior calendar year rather than twelve separate letters. That statement typically arrives in January.
Lost the receipt, or never got one? Covenant House offers a self-service Donor Portal where you can view past donations and print receipts directly.2Covenant House International. Contact Us The donor care team can also help you locate a specific transaction through the contact page on the Covenant House website.
An electronic receipt carries the same weight as a paper one. The IRS allows taxpayers to keep records digitally, and a PDF confirmation email is fully valid provided it contains the required details.3Internal Revenue Service. What Kind of Records Should I Keep
What Makes a Receipt Valid
A usable receipt shows Covenant House’s full legal name, the date of the contribution, and the exact dollar amount of a cash gift. For non-cash donations, the receipt describes the item but does not assign a dollar value. That valuation is your responsibility.
Every receipt must also state whether Covenant House provided anything in return. If you gave and received nothing back, the receipt will say something like “no goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution.” That language isn’t decorative. Without it, the IRS can reject the deduction during an audit even if the donation was entirely genuine.
The $250 Rule and Why Timing Matters
Any single contribution of $250 or more triggers a stricter documentation standard. Federal law requires a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity, and a cancelled check or bank statement alone will not satisfy it.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts You need the actual receipt from Covenant House.
That acknowledgment has to include the amount of cash you gave (or a description of donated property), a statement about whether goods or services were provided in return, and if something was provided, a good-faith estimate of its value.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
“Contemporaneous” is where donors get tripped up. You must have the acknowledgment in hand before the earlier of two dates: the day you file your return for that tax year, or the filing deadline including extensions. File in February and receive the receipt in March, and the deduction can be disallowed entirely. The IRS has upheld denials in Tax Court over exactly this issue.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts If a large gift is coming and the year-end statement hasn’t arrived, request the receipt directly before you file.
When You Got Something in Return
Not every donation is a pure gift. If you buy a ticket to a fundraising gala or receive a tote bag in exchange, the IRS treats that as a quid pro quo payment. Only the portion of your payment that exceeds the fair market value of what you received is deductible.
When a quid pro quo payment exceeds $75, federal law requires the charity to provide a written disclosure. The disclosure has to tell you that your deductible amount is limited to the excess over what you received, along with a good-faith estimate of the value of the goods or services provided.5Internal Revenue Service. Life Cycle of a Private Foundation – Quid Pro Quo Contributions Pay $200 for a dinner event where the meal is worth $60, and your receipt should reflect a deductible amount of $140.
Small token items such as keychains or bumper stickers generally fall below the insubstantial-value threshold and don’t reduce your deduction.
Non-Cash Donations
When you give items instead of money, the Covenant House receipt will describe what you donated but won’t put a dollar amount on it. Determining fair market value is on you. For everyday clothing or household goods, that’s typically what a thrift store would charge for the item in its current condition.
If the total value of your non-cash donations for the year exceeds $500, you must file IRS Form 8283 with your tax return.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions Items valued between $500 and $5,000 go in Section A. Anything above $5,000 requires a qualified independent appraisal and Section B.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8283 (12/2025)
Keep photographs of donated items, save any original purchase receipts you still have, and note the condition at the time of donation. That supporting evidence won’t be on the Covenant House receipt, but it protects you if the IRS asks questions later.
Donor-Advised Funds and IRA Gifts
If you recommend a grant to Covenant House through a donor-advised fund, the organization should not provide you with a tax-deductible receipt. You already claimed the deduction when you contributed to the sponsoring DAF, not when the money reaches Covenant House. Any acknowledgment for a DAF grant should explicitly state that it isn’t a tax receipt.8Fidelity Charitable. How to Thank Donors Who Use Donor-Advised Funds
Donors age 70½ or older can make a qualified charitable distribution directly from a traditional IRA to Covenant House, up to $111,000 in 2026.9Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs A QCD counts toward your required minimum distribution but isn’t included in taxable income, which makes it valuable even if you don’t itemize. The receipt for a QCD reads differently: it must confirm the gift came directly from the IRA administrator and was not directed to a donor-advised fund or supporting organization. You can exclude the QCD from gross income or claim it as a charitable deduction, but not both.
Claiming the Deduction and Keeping Records
Charitable contributions only reduce your tax bill if you itemize on Schedule A of Form 1040. For tax year 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household.10Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 Itemizing only pays off when your total deductible expenses beat that number.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 506, Charitable Contributions
There’s also a ceiling. Cash donations to public charities like Covenant House are capped at 50 percent of your adjusted gross income. Donated appreciated property, such as stock, faces a 30 percent cap.12Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Contribution Deductions Anything above those limits can be carried forward for up to five additional tax years.
Hold onto your Covenant House receipts, the bank statements showing the transactions, and any Form 8283 for at least three years from the date you filed the return.13Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records If you carried an unused deduction into a later year, keep the underlying documentation until three years after that final return.