Statements and receipts
Donors expect two things at the end of the year: an itemized list of every gift they made, and a tax-ready document they can hand to an accountant. GCM produces both — per-donation receipts in real time, and bulk year-end statements at season's end.
Per-donation receipt
Every donation generates a receipt. For online gifts the receipt goes to the donor's email automatically the moment the payment clears. For manual entries (cash, check, transfer) you can send the receipt from the donation row by clicking the email-receipt action.
A receipt includes:
- Church name and address.
- Donor name (or anonymous if the gift was anonymous).
- Date and amount of the gift.
- The fund.
- A church tax-ID line (configurable in Settings → Giving).
- A unique receipt number for the donor's records.
TIP
Donors often lose the per-gift emails. That's fine — the year-end statement is what they actually need for taxes.
Year-end statements
A statement is a single document listing every donation a donor made during a calendar year, grouped by fund, with a total at the bottom. This is what tax authorities ask for.
Generating
- Go to Giving → Statements.
- Pick the year.
- Click Generate statements.
The job runs server-side. For each donor with at least one donation in the chosen year, it:
- Sums all donations.
- Sums per-fund.
- Renders the statement PDF.
- Stores the PDF in your storage bucket.
- Sends an email to the donor with the PDF attached (if they have an email address on file).
For donors without an email, the PDF is still stored — you can download it from the statements tab and print or hand-deliver.
Re-generating
If you spot a mistake (a donation was missing or had the wrong fund), fix the donation and re-generate. The new PDF replaces the old one and the donor gets an updated email with a "this replaces our earlier statement" note.
WARNING
Don't edit historical donations after issuing statements without re-generating. Donors who file taxes with the original number, then receive a corrected statement, are confused. If you must edit, send a brief explanatory email along with the corrected statement.
Statement layout
The PDF includes:
- Your church logo (from Settings → Branding).
- Church name, address, and tax-ID.
- Donor name and address (from their member profile).
- Statement period (e.g. "January 1, 2026 — December 31, 2026").
- A table of donations: date, fund, payment method, amount.
- Per-fund subtotals.
- Total at the bottom.
- A standard tax-deductibility footnote (configurable per organization).
Quarterly statements
For donors who want intermediate statements (e.g. a missionary on a quarterly support cycle), you can generate ad-hoc statements for a custom date range. Use the Custom range button instead of selecting a year.
Privacy and anonymous gifts
A donation marked anonymous (set on the donation row) appears on the donor's own statement (because they need it for taxes) but doesn't appear in any internal reports with their name attached.
If a donor explicitly requested anonymity to your church, mark all their gifts anonymous. The aggregate numbers will still be right; their identity stays private internally.
Permissions
| Action | Admin | Treasurer | Shepherd | Member |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issue per-gift receipt | yes | yes | no | no |
| Generate yearly statements | yes | yes | no | no |
| View own statement | n/a | n/a | n/a | yes |
| Download any statement | yes | yes | no | own only |
Members can download their own statement from their profile at any time — useful for donors who lose the email.
Common questions
Are statements legally binding for tax purposes? That depends on your jurisdiction. GCM produces accurate records of every gift; what you put in the tax-deductibility footnote and whether your country accepts it is your church's call (or your accountant's).
Can I issue a paper statement instead of PDF? Yes — every statement PDF can be downloaded and printed. There's no separate paper-only flow; the PDF is the source of truth.
What if a member changed addresses mid-year? The current address on their profile is what the statement uses. Update the profile before generating if needed.
Can I customize the layout? Logo, address, tax-ID line, and footnote are configurable in Settings → Giving → Statements. Deeper layout customization is not exposed in v1.
Next steps
- Record a donation — the source of statement data.
- Recurring donations — recurring gifts appear on statements automatically.
- Manage funds — funds become the columns on the statement.