Nonprofit Gift Acceptance Policy

What a gift acceptance policy is

A gift acceptance policy is a short written document, approved by your board, that sets the ground rules for receiving donations. It answers three practical questions before a gift is ever on the table: what types of property will we accept outright, what will we review case-by-case, and what will we decline. It also names who has authority to accept the unusual ones.

Most gifts never need the policy — a $50 online donation or a check in the mail just gets receipted and deposited. The policy earns its keep on the harder gifts: a donor offering a rental property, a block of restricted stock, a pallet of unsellable inventory, or a gift that comes with conditions about how you must use it. Without a policy, those decisions fall on whoever happens to pick up the phone, often under social pressure to say yes.

Think of it as a companion to your other governance documents. It sits alongside your conflict-of-interest policy and document-retention policy as part of the basic governance toolkit that a credible nonprofit keeps current.

Why you need one

A gift acceptance policy does four jobs at once.

• It protects the mission. Some gifts come with conditions that pull you off course — money earmarked for a program you don't run, or a gift that requires naming, recognition, or control you can't grant. The policy lets you decline gracefully, in writing, by pointing to a rule rather than a personal judgment.
• It protects against cost and liability. A donated building can carry a mortgage, deferred maintenance, environmental contamination, or carrying costs you can't afford. Illiquid assets like closely-held stock or a timeshare can sit on your books for years. The policy forces a due-diligence step before you take title to anything risky.
• It protects staff and volunteers. When a major donor offers something awkward, an employee shouldn't have to say no on their own authority. "Our board policy requires this to go through a review committee" is a kinder, safer answer than a personal refusal.
• It supports compliance. Non-cash gifts trigger specific IRS reporting and substantiation rules (covered below). A policy that routes non-cash gifts through a consistent process makes that paperwork far less likely to be missed.

The National Council of Nonprofits treats a gift acceptance policy as a standard governance practice — and notes that adopting one is a recognized marker of a well-run organization. The IRS reinforces this on Form 990, Part VI, which asks whether the organization has a written policy governing non-cash contributions (verify current line references against the latest form, as of 2026).

Cash vs. non-cash gifts

The dividing line that matters is cash vs. non-cash. Cash gifts — checks, card, ACH, payroll deduction — are simple to value, simple to receipt, and rarely need a policy decision. Non-cash gifts are where judgment, valuation, and IRS paperwork all come into play.

A useful policy sorts non-cash gifts into three tiers:

For where non-cash and planned gifts fit in a healthy revenue picture, see the funding mix and major gifts.

The IRS rules: Schedule M & Form 8283

Non-cash gifts come with reporting rules on both sides of the transaction. A gift acceptance policy doesn't replace these rules, but a consistent process makes them far easier to meet. Treat every figure below as current as of 2026 — verify against the live IRS forms and instructions, which change.

Your side — Form 990 Schedule M. If your organization reports more than $25,000 in aggregate non-cash contributions for the year (Form 990, Part VIII, line 1g), you must file Schedule M, which itemizes non-cash gifts by type and reports how many you received and how you valued them. Note an important wrinkle: you must also file Schedule M if you received any art, historical treasures, or qualified conservation contributions, even if total non-cash gifts are under $25,000 (as of 2026 — verify). See our Form 990 explainer for how the schedules fit together.

The donor's side — Form 8283. Donors handle valuation and substantiation, but your staff need to recognize the triggers because donors will ask for your help:

• A donor claiming more than $500 in total non-cash deductions files Form 8283 (Section A) with their return.
• For an item or group of similar items deducted at more than $5,000, the donor generally must obtain a qualified appraisal and complete Section B — and your organization, as donee, signs Part V of Section B to acknowledge receipt. Publicly traded securities are exempt from the appraisal requirement (and from the donee-signature requirement) (as of 2026 — verify).
• Acknowledging receipt is not the same as verifying value. Your signature confirms you received the property described; it does not endorse the donor's claimed deduction. Never put a dollar value on a non-cash gift in your acknowledgment letter — describe the item instead.

For non-cash valuation generally, the IRS points donors to Publication 561, and Publication 526 covers what is and isn't deductible. Your policy should make clear that valuation is the donor's responsibility, not yours.

Sample policy structure

A good gift acceptance policy is short — two to four pages. Here's a structure that covers the essentials. BoardSource and the National Council of Nonprofits both publish sample language you can adapt.

1. Purpose & scope. State that the policy guides the acceptance of gifts and protects both the donor and the organization. Note that it does not provide tax or legal advice to donors.
2. Gifts accepted without review. List the easy categories — cash, publicly traded securities, and common in-kind items — with any standing rules (e.g., "marketable securities are sold promptly upon receipt").
3. Gifts requiring review. List the case-by-case categories (real estate, closely-held stock, crypto, tangible personal property, restricted gifts) and the due-diligence steps for each.
4. Gift acceptance committee & authority. Name who can accept routine gifts and who must approve reviewable ones. Small nonprofits can assign this to the treasurer plus one board member.
5. Restrictions & conditions. Require any donor restriction to be documented and approved in writing before acceptance.
6. Use of legal counsel. Specify when outside counsel is required — typically for real estate, bequests of complex assets, and gifts involving contracts or partnership interests.
7. Valuation & substantiation. State that the donor is responsible for valuation and any appraisal, and that the organization will provide a timely acknowledgment describing (not valuing) non-cash gifts, and will sign Form 8283 Section B where required.
8. Reporting compliance. Reference Schedule M and the Form 8282 disposition rule so the finance function tracks them.
9. Review schedule. Commit to reviewing the policy at least every two to three years.

Worked example: a real-estate offer

A longtime donor calls your 12-person environmental nonprofit and offers to donate a rental duplex she owns, "worth about $280,000." It sounds like a transformational gift. Here is how a gift acceptance policy turns a flattering phone call into a sound decision.

Step 1 — Tier the gift. Real estate is in the "review case-by-case" tier, so the staff member thanks her and explains that board policy routes property gifts to the gift acceptance committee. No commitment is made on the call.

Step 2 — Run due diligence. The committee works through a checklist and turns up the facts below.

Step 3 — Weigh it against the policy. The "net to mission" looks very different from $280,000. After the mortgage and near-term repairs, the equity is closer to $145,000 — and the donor's restriction (keep it, don't sell) would saddle a small org with $11,000/year in costs and management it isn't equipped for. The environmental flag is a potential liability the policy says to take seriously.

Step 4 — Decide and document. The committee proposes accepting the gift only if the donor will lift the no-sale restriction so the org can sell and put proceeds toward its mission, and only after a clean environmental assessment. They put it in writing. The donor, once she understands the carrying costs, agrees to an unrestricted gift; the org accepts, sells within nine months, and nets ~$140,000 of usable funds.

Without a policy, an enthusiastic "yes" on the phone could have left a tiny nonprofit owning a leaky, mortgaged duplex it was contractually barred from selling. The policy didn't kill the gift — it made it work.

How to adopt and use it

Adopting a gift acceptance policy is a one-meeting task. Start from a sample, tailor the tiers and approval authority to your size, and have the board approve it by resolution recorded in the minutes. You'll find a ready-to-edit starting point in our template library alongside other governance documents.

To keep it useful:

• Make it part of intake. Train staff and volunteers to recognize a non-cash or restricted gift and route it correctly. The most common failure isn't a bad decision — it's a well-meaning "yes" before anyone looked.
• Pair it with clean acknowledgments. Every gift gets a timely thank-you that meets IRS substantiation rules and, for non-cash gifts, describes rather than values the item. See individual giving basics and your donor development workflow.
• Loop in your finance function. Whoever prepares the Form 990 should know to watch the $25,000 Schedule M trigger and the Form 8282 disposition rule. Tie the policy to your annual compliance routine.
• Know when to call a pro. For real estate, closely-held or restricted stock, charitable trusts, or bequests of complex assets, planned-giving counsel is usually worth the fee — the cost of getting one of these wrong dwarfs the cost of advice.

A gift acceptance policy is one of those small governance moves that pays off quietly: fewer awkward conversations, fewer surprise liabilities, cleaner filings, and a board that can say yes to the right gifts with confidence.

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