Donation Disclaimer Requirements: IRS, State, and Crowdfunding Rules

Donation disclaimer requirements depend on who is doing the soliciting and what the donor gets in return. A 501(c)(3) public charity must give a written acknowledgment for any single gift of $250 or more and a separate disclosure when a donor pays more than $75 and receives goods or services in return. Tax-exempt groups that are not 501(c)(3) charities must tell donors gifts are not deductible. Most states require specific registration language on solicitations. Political committees follow Federal Election Commission “paid for by” rules, and crowdfunding and creator platforms carry their own non-deductible and non-refundable notices. The details below walk through each set of rules.

IRS Written Acknowledgment for Gifts of $250 or More

Federal tax law requires a donor to obtain a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity for any single contribution of $250 or more before claiming a deduction. The obligation to ask falls on the donor; the obligation to furnish the document falls on the organization. There is no IRS form — a letter, email, or computer-generated statement is acceptable so long as it contains the required information.¹

The acknowledgment must include:

The name of the organization.
The amount of any cash contribution.
A description (but not a dollar valuation) of any donated property.
One of three statements about goods or services: that the organization provided nothing in return; a description and good-faith estimate of the value of what was provided; or, where applicable, a statement that the benefit was exclusively an intangible religious benefit.²

The organization’s EIN is not required.¹ To count as contemporaneous, the donor must receive the acknowledgment by the earlier of the date they file their return for the year of the gift, or the due date (including extensions) for that return.³

Separate contributions under $250 are not aggregated. A donor who gives $100 a month does not trigger the rule even though the annual total exceeds $250. Each payroll deduction of $250 or more, however, is treated as its own contribution.¹

The IRS imposes no penalty on an organization that fails to send an acknowledgment, but the donor cannot deduct the gift without one.¹ The National Council of Nonprofits recommends going beyond the minimum by including a statement that the organization is a public charity recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) and the date the donation was received.⁴

Quid Pro Quo Disclosures When Donors Get Something Back

A stricter rule applies when a donor makes a payment that is part contribution and part purchase. Think of a $200 gala ticket where the dinner is worth $75. When the total payment exceeds $75, the organization must provide a written disclosure — either at the time of solicitation or when it receives the payment.⁵

The disclosure must tell the donor that the deductible amount is limited to the excess of the payment over the fair market value of what was received, and it must provide a good-faith estimate of that fair market value. Any reasonable valuation method applied in good faith is acceptable.⁶

Not every benefit triggers the requirement. Items of insubstantial value are exempt. For calendar year 2026, goods or services are insubstantial if their fair market value does not exceed the lesser of 2% of the donor’s payment or $139. When the payment is at least $69.50, token items bearing the organization’s name or logo qualify as low-cost articles so long as their aggregate cost does not exceed $13.90.⁷ Annual membership benefits such as free admission or parking are also exempt when the annual payment is $75 or less, and intangible religious benefits that are not sold commercially need not be valued.¹

Missing the disclosure carries a penalty of $10 per contribution, capped at $5,000 per fundraising event or mailing. The penalty may be waived for reasonable cause.⁸

Non-Cash Gifts and Cryptocurrency

When a donor contributes property instead of cash, the acknowledgment should describe the item without assigning a dollar value. Valuation is the donor’s responsibility, and for items valued above $5,000 a qualified appraiser must sign off.⁴

Cryptocurrency donations follow the same rule. The IRS treats digital assets as property, not cash or publicly traded securities, so a donor claiming more than $5,000 for a crypto gift must obtain a qualified appraisal. The price on an exchange does not substitute.⁹

Organizations That Are Not 501(c)(3) Charities

Tax-exempt organizations that are not 501(c)(3) public charities — 501(c)(4) social welfare groups, for example — must include an express statement that contributions are not tax-deductible on their solicitation and donation pages. Acceptable language reads along the lines of: “Contributions, donations, gifts, and dues to [Organization Name] are not tax deductible.” The statement must be unambiguous and set in a font size consistent with the rest of the page.¹⁰

Public charities are not legally required to state that contributions are deductible, but many include a line such as “Your donation is deductible to the fullest extent of the law” as a matter of practice.¹⁰

State Solicitation Disclaimers

Forty states require charitable nonprofits to register before soliciting donations from their residents, and “solicitation” is defined broadly enough to include website donation pages, emails, text messages, and social media posts.¹¹ More than 25 states require specific disclosure language on written solicitations and gift acknowledgments.¹²

The wording varies, but several themes recur: a notice that the organization’s registration and financial information are available from a named state agency, a phone number or website for that agency, and a statement that registration does not imply endorsement by the state. A few examples show the range:

Florida solicitations must include a statement in capital letters directing donors to the Division of Consumer Services at 1-800-HELPFLA or www.FloridaConsumerHelp.com, and noting that “registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by the state.”¹³
New Jersey solicitations must inform donors that information about the charity’s finances and the percentage of contributions dedicated to charitable purposes is available from the Attorney General at (973) 504-6215, and that “registration with the Attorney General does not imply endorsement.”¹³
New York solicitations must state that a copy of the organization’s latest annual financial report is available from the organization or the Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, and must provide the bureau’s phone number and website. The text must appear in at least 10-point bold-face type.¹⁴

Organizations that solicit across state lines commonly include a block of multi-state disclosures at the bottom of their fundraising materials, each tailored to what a particular state demands.

Political Fundraising Disclaimers

Political committees follow Federal Election Commission rules rather than the IRS charitable rules. Any public communication made by a political committee must carry a “paid for by” disclaimer that is clear and conspicuous, identifying who paid for the communication and whether it was authorized by a candidate.¹⁵

When a candidate’s authorized committee pays for the communication, the disclaimer simply identifies that committee (“Paid for by the Sam Jones for Congress Committee”). If a third party pays and the candidate authorized the content, both names must appear.¹⁵

Communications not authorized by any candidate — super PAC ads and independent expenditures — must include the payor’s full name, a permanent street address, telephone number, or website, and an explicit statement that the communication “was not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.” For radio and television, a representative of the paying organization must state on the air that the organization is responsible for the content.¹⁶

Since March 2023, the FEC disclaimer rules apply to communications placed for a fee on websites, apps, social media networks, and streaming platforms. Text disclaimers on digital ads must be clearly readable, with sufficient size and color contrast. Video disclaimers must remain visible for at least four seconds. When space or character limits make a full disclaimer impractical, or when it would occupy more than 25% of the communication, an adapted disclaimer is permitted. The adapted version must identify the payor and include an indicator such as an icon or link that lets the viewer reach the full disclaimer in no more than one action.¹⁵

Crowdfunding and Personal Campaigns

Donations to personal fundraisers on platforms like GoFundMe are treated as personal gifts rather than charitable contributions and are generally not tax-deductible. GoFundMe does not issue tax receipts for these campaigns. Only donations routed to a certified nonprofit fundraiser through partners such as the PayPal Giving Fund qualify for a deduction.¹⁷

Organizers should state the tax status of contributions upfront. Donors can confirm 501(c)(3) status through the IRS Exempt Organizations Select Check tool. For personal campaigns, the safest disclaimer says plainly that contributions are gifts and are not guaranteed to be tax-deductible.¹⁷

Tips and Donations to Content Creators

Payments labeled “donations” or “tips” on creator platforms such as Twitch, Ko-fi, and Patreon are not charitable contributions and carry no deduction. Each platform sets its own refund and disclaimer terms.

Ko-fi defines tips as payments “freely given with no expectation of anything in return” and positions itself only as a hosting provider. All transactions flow directly between supporter and creator through third-party processors such as PayPal or Stripe, and Ko-fi disclaims responsibility for refunds, chargebacks, or disputes.¹⁸ Patreon structures payments as memberships and states that its general policy is not to provide refunds, though exceptions may be granted at its discretion.¹⁹

Streamers using Streamlabs and similar tools often display a “non-refundable” disclaimer on their channel pages. Keeping proof that the disclaimer was posted can help in chargeback disputes, though the final decision rests with the payment processor and the donor’s bank.²⁰

Donation Refund Policies

No federal law requires a nonprofit to return a donation once accepted, and state laws generally follow the common-law rule that a completed gift belongs to the recipient. Refunds may be legally required in narrow situations: substantial violation of a written gift agreement, illegal use of donated funds, or cancellation of a paid event.²¹

A written refund policy is the standard approach. It should state that donations are irrevocable and non-refundable, define exceptions, and set a window for refund requests. For large gifts, a signed agreement that incorporates the refund policy adds protection. Some organizations include a gift-over clause allowing the donor to redirect funds to another charity if the donor believes they were misused.²¹

Privacy Notices on Donation Pages

Collecting donor information online triggers data-privacy obligations that vary by jurisdiction. In the United States, the CAN-SPAM Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act govern email and phone outreach, requiring opt-out options, accurate sender identification, and prior consent for automated calls or texts. State laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act add further requirements for organizations that collect personal information from residents of those states.²²

Organizations accepting donations from residents of the European Union must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation. GDPR requires explicit, informed consent before processing personal data; pre-ticked consent boxes on donation forms are prohibited. Privacy policies must be concise, written in plain language, and easily accessible, and donors must be able to request deletion of their data.²³ Noncompliance can result in fines of up to €20 million or 4% of annual revenue.²²

Paid Influencer Promotion of Fundraising

When an influencer is paid to promote a fundraiser, FTC endorsement guidelines apply alongside charitable-solicitation rules. The FTC requires influencers to disclose any material connection to the entity they are promoting, including financial compensation, free products, or other perks. The disclosure must be hard to miss, placed with the endorsement itself rather than buried in a profile or behind a “more” link, and written in clear language such as “ad” or “sponsored.” Shorthand like “collab” or “sp” does not satisfy the requirement.²⁴

In video and live-stream formats, disclosures must appear within the video and be repeated periodically during live broadcasts. The rules apply to posts made from outside the United States when the content foreseeably reaches U.S. consumers. Nonprofits that hire influencers should address FTC compliance in their written agreements, and should be aware that the arrangement may also trigger state-level charitable solicitation registration in the states where the influencer’s audience is located.²⁴

1
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 1771, Charitable Contributions — Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements
2
Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Contributions — Written Acknowledgments
3
Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Organizations — Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements
4
National Council of Nonprofits. Gift Acknowledgments — Saying Thank You to Donors
5
Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Contributions — Quid Pro Quo Contributions
6
Internal Revenue Service. Life Cycle of a Private Foundation — Quid Pro Quo Contributions
7
Center for Non-Profits. Gift Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements
8
Internal Revenue Service. Substantiating Charitable Contributions
9
Journal of Accountancy. Qualified Appraisal Required for Charitable Contributions of Cryptoassets
10
Alliance for Justice. Does Your Nonprofit Have a Donation Page? Here’s What You Need to Know
11
National Council of Nonprofits. Charitable Solicitation Registration
12
Morweb. Online Fundraising Compliance
13
Brennan Center for Justice. Charitable Solicitation Disclosures
14
New York Attorney General. Disclosure Notice Pursuant to Executive Law § 174-b
15
Federal Election Commission. Advertising and Disclaimers
16
Federal Election Commission. Making Independent Expenditures
17
GoFundMe. Tax Information for Donors
18
Ko-fi. Terms of Use
19
Patreon. Terms of Use
20
Streamlabs. I Received a Chargeback — What Now?
21
GRF CPAs & Advisors. When Nonprofit Organizations Should Return Donations
22
501c3.org. Donor Data Compliance
23
Proskauer Rose LLP — Privacy Law Blog. General Data Protection Regulation and Charitable Organizations FAQs
24
Federal Trade Commission. Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers