It's important that you ensure your contribution statements reflect tax-deductible donations accurately, completely, and in alignment with IRS regulations. Additionally, the presentation of a donor’s annual statement is also important. The goal is to provide the information the donor needs without creating unnecessary questions for the office.

Qualifying Donations

In order for a Donation to appear on a MinistryPlatform Donor statement, it must meet the following criteria:

1. Must be distributed to a tax-deductible Program. Learn how to configure Programs for Stewardship.
2. Must have a donation date within the statement year and before the statement date.
3. Must not be a non-cash donation (property, stock, etc.) unless your Accounting Company record is set to List Non-cash Gifts = True.
4. Must have been given by the donor on whose statement it is listed.

Statement Type (Donor record)

The Statement Type setting on the Donor record impacts which Donations appear on a donor statement:

1. Individual: Donors with this Statement Type get a statement exclusively containing qualifying Donations that were credited to their Donor record.
2. Family: Donors with this Statement Type get a single statement including qualifying Donations from any Household members with a family statement.

Pro Tip: To temporarily produce an individual statement for someone with a current Statement Type of "Family" for past donations given explicitly by him/her, change the Statement Type to Individual and run the report. Once the statement has been generated, change the Statement Type back to Family.

Statement Method (Donor record)

Some Donors may prefer an emailed statement, an online statement, or a postal statement. Some donors may not want a statement at all. The statement method is used to facilitate mailing and emailing statements based on the donor’s preferred method.

Statement Frequency (Donor Record)

While you may send statements quarterly, some donors may specify that they only wish to receive an annual statement. These donors may be comfortable not knowing or they may access the church website to review their giving history. Statement Frequency allows the church to manage this donor preference. Go ahead and add additional Statement Frequencies to the existing list if needed. But don't rename or delete any of the default Statement Frequencies. The values for Statement Frequency can be found in the System Lookups section on the Statement Frequency page.

Printing statements? Consider printing all of your one-page donor statements at one time and then print the multi-page statements (using the criteria on the Donor Report). This will let you move quickly through the folding and stuffing process, knowing that they are all one-page statements. Then you can move more carefully through the multi-page statements, ensuring they're all being sent to the appropriate donor.

Note: If the Statement Frequency is set to "Never" on a Donor record, no donations will display on donor statement reports.

Video Topics: Working with Donor Statements