If you are a Canada-based church, you can use ChMeetings to create donation receipts that include an auto-generated Unique Serial Number, compliant to the Canadian Tax Authorities requirements.
To create a Canadian Donation Receipt, all you need to do is print or email the statement, for which there is already a template available. Please see Managing Contribution Statements and Templates for more information on creating statements and customizing statement templates.
The Canadian Donation Receipt Template is available as a pre-built Contribution Statement Template, under Contributions > Statements. To ensure you have access to it, please go to Settings > Account Settings and make sure that your account country is set to Canada.
If you were using ChMeetings before November 10, 2022, then you keep your existing default template, which you may have customized, but you can also select the Canadian Donation Receipt Template.
The content of the template is the following:
______________________________________________________________________
[CHURCH_NAME] | Giving Statement
[NAME]
[ADDRESS]
Official Receipt Number: [UNIQUE_SERIAL_NUMBER]
Date Issued: [DATE]
Location Issued:
This is your official receipt for income tax purposes.
Registration Number:
Canada Revenue Agency – www.cra.gc.ca/charities
Total Giving Amount Between [START_DATE] and [END_DATE]: [TOTAL]
[CONTRIBUTION_LIST]
Authorized Signature:
Regards,
[CHURCH_NAME]
______________________________________________________________________
If you have signed up to ChMeetings after November 10, 2022, then your default statement template will be the Canadian Donation Receipt, shown above. You can customize it if needed.
The important elements of a compliant Canadian Donation Receipt are the following:
- The document needs to state it is an official receipt for income tax purposes,
- The name and address of the charity as it is registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA),
- The Unique Serial Number - This is available as a variable / merge field within the template editor. Read more from the Government of Canada,
- Your Charity Registration Number, assigned by the CRA also needs to be on the document and you can add it directly into your template. Read more from the Government of Canada,
- The location where the receipt has been issued (city, town, municipality),
- The donation date or year,
- The receipt issue date,
- The donor’s full name: First, middle initial and Last,
- The donor’s full address,
- The donated amount,
- Information about any advantage received by the donor,
- Eligible donation amounts,
- The name and signature of a servant authorized to accept donations on behalf of your church - You can upload an image of your signature within the template,
- The name and website address of the Canada Revenue Agency.