Customizing Your Tax Receipt Template

WeGive generates annual charitable giving statements (tax receipts) as PDF documents that your donors can download from their portal. You can use the standard template as-is or build a fully custom branded receipt using the tax document editor.

This article walks through what the default template includes, what you can customize, and how to get started.

Standard Template

The default template is a clean, structured PDF that's IRS-compliant out of the box. No setup is required — it automatically pulls in your organization's details and each donor's giving history.

Here's what the standard template includes:

Header — Organization & Donor Details

Your organization info and the donor's info are displayed side-by-side at the top of the document.

Giving Summary

Below the header, the template displays the tax year, the total amount given, and the IRS-required disclosure statement confirming that no goods or services were provided in exchange for the donor's contributions.

Transaction Table

Every tax-deductible transaction for the year is listed in a table with the date, amount, tax-deductible portion, and fund/designation.

Custom Template

If you'd like your tax receipt to feel more like a branded letter from your organization — with your logo, a personal message, a leadership signature, and full control over layout — you can build a custom template using WeGive's drag-and-drop editor.

For example, you could create a letter-style receipt with a thank-you message from your CEO, a handwritten signature image, your logo at the top, and a giving summary at the bottom instead of a line-item table.

Note: Custom templates are available for U.S. tax receipts only. Canadian receipts must use the standard CRA-compliant format (see the section below).

Available Data Fields

Both the standard and custom templates have access to the same set of donor and giving data. Here's the full list of merge fields you can use:

Donor Fields: First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Full Name, Personal Email, Work Email, Alternate Email, Personal Phone, Work Phone, Mobile Phone, Fax, Mailing Address (street, city, state, zip, country), Billing Address (street, city, state, zip, country).

Giving Fields: Tax Year, Total Donated in Year, Number of Donations, Donation Table for Year (the full line-item transaction table), Service Revenue totals and table, Fair Market Value totals, Household giving totals.

Organization Fields: Organization Name (legal name and/or DBA), Organization Address, EIN.

What You Can Customize

With the custom template editor, you have control over the following:

Branding & Visual Identity — Upload and position your logo, choose your brand colors and fonts, and add a digital signature image.

Content & Messaging — Write a personalized thank-you letter as the body of the receipt. Use merge tags to address donors by first name. Include a message from leadership with their name and title. Add mission-related language, impact statistics, or campaign-specific messaging. Add footer content like website links, social media icons, and your privacy policy.

Layout & Structure — Choose between a letter-style layout (narrative with a summary at the bottom) or a structured data layout (organization and donor details at the top, transaction table below). Decide whether to show the full line-item donation table or just a total summary. Control which sections appear and in what order.

Data Display — Show or hide the detailed transaction table. Show or hide individual fund/designation names per gift. Show or hide the tax-deductible vs. non-deductible breakdown. Include or exclude service revenue. Include or exclude fair market value information. Display household-level giving totals or individual only.

IRS Compliance — The "no goods or services" disclosure and your EIN are required on every receipt. WeGive includes these automatically, but you can customize the exact wording and placement.

Standard vs. Custom: Side-by-Side

Canadian Receipts

Canadian tax receipts must use WeGive's standard CRA-compliant format — custom templates are not available for Canadian organizations. This ensures compliance with Canada Revenue Agency requirements, which mandate specific fields including a unique receipt ID, the receipt issuer's name and role, and a digital signature.

You can configure the required Canadian fields (issuer name, role, and signature) in the tax document settings.

How to Set Up Your Template

1. Navigate to Portal → Customization → Profiles → Tax Documents.

2. Choose between the Standard or Custom template for U.S. receipts.

3. If using the custom template, click into the editor to build your layout, add your branding, write your message, and configure which data fields to display.

4. Use the Preview feature to see how the receipt will look for a specific donor before making it live.

5. For Canadian receipts, configure the issuer name, role, and signature in the same settings area.

If you have questions or need help setting up your template, reach out to our support team — we're happy to walk you through it.