This may also be called a charitable donation tracker however it is the same thing.
When we create our yearly budget with projected expenses we include donations for the year.
Using a donation tracker will remove uncertainty and contain receipts so you can complete your income tax return.
Stay Organized With A Donation Tracker
Ideally, you’ll have a standard 3-ring binder for your budget binder which is inexpensive to buy.
Check the Dollar store or second-hand shops for the best deals. I’m also certain someone will have one for free if you post it on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji.
Inside the binder keep an envelope or a 3-ring plastic pocket holder to store donation receipts.
It’s also a great way to have your charitable donations documented just in case you get audited.
You never know.
I’m just saying.
A paper trail or spreadsheet with receipts is important.
I’ve also created a free budget binder printable for tracking medical receipts.
Tax Receipts For Charity Donations
Although we don’t talk about it we donate to various charities that are important to us.
Such charities include the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Alzheimer’s association.
Whether we donate online or in-person to the Heart and Stroke Foundation we are issued a tax receipt for anything over $10.
In fact, the Canada Revenue Agency advises registered charities to offer tax receipts for donations over $10.
We issue tax receipts for all donations of $10 or more. When you make an online donation, an electronic tax receipt will be delivered instantly to your e-mail inbox in PDF format.
Heart and Stroke Canada
Official income tax receipts are automatically issued for all donations of $15 or more when we donate to the Canadian Alzheimer’s society.
However, we must ask for the donation receipt.
Your donation today will help bring programs and services, education, support, and resources to people living with dementia, their families, and care partners across the province, as well as fund groundbreaking dementia research to find new treatments, improve care and support, and eventually find a cure for Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
Alzheimers.ca Stay Organized With A Donation Tracker
What is a donation tracker?
If you’re like us and donate to registered charities in our community we like to stay organized.
I absolutely despise having to go through bags of receipts that we save for our budget if I don’t have to.
You may already know but we get receipts for every money transaction we make.
This is how we budget and when we are done with them we keep them for a year.
We quickly learned to keep medical receipts, prescription receipts and donation receipts separated.
By doing so you aren’t scrambling come time to file your income tax return and it’s an easy visual access form.
It’s also a great way to create your donation tracker for the following year.
What To Include On A Donation Tracker Screenshot Canadian Budget Binder Free Printable Donation Tracker CBB Free Resources Library
There are a few things you’ll want to include on a donation tracker.
Ultimately you can create your own donation tracker or use the one I’ve created.
The free printable for blog subscribers to add to their budget binder will include the following;
Date and Name Amount of donation you have budgeted for the year Name the charity you’re donating to. Monthly donation or yearly donation Yes or No Is the charity registered, yes or no? How much did you donate to the charity? Were you issued a charitable receipt? Was there a donation advantage yes or no? Name the donation advantage Donation Advantage
What is a donation advantage?
If for example you donate $2000 to a local registered charity and in return they give you a gift of tickets to a local event totally $500 that is considered an advantage.
The registered charity now must subtract that advantage from your donation receipt.
$2000- $500 (donation advantage) = $1500 donation receipt.
Donation Name On Charity Receipt
Whenever you donate to a registered charity the person who is donating should have their name put on the receipt.
If the donation is from a company where employees donated money and it has documentation of each person then individual donation receipts can be issued.
Registered Charities In Canada Every Little Bit Helps Canadian Charities When You Give
Not everyone has a charity in mind but wants to donate to help out where the need is the greatest.
If you want to find out if a charity is registered all you have to do is ask for their registration number.
You can ask the charity for its registration number and confirm its status in the List of charities. Call the Charities Directorate at 1-800-267-2384.
Canada.ca Picking Charities Close To Your Heart
To be fair there are so many Canadian charities it can be tough to pick just one or two.
Some people may rotate charitable donations each year.
For example, if you have $1000 set aside for registered charities you can divide the money or give two $500 one year and the other two $500 the next.
By doing so you are still giving to the charities that you’ve chosen but in rotation.
If you’re not sure what charities to donate to you can find a list at Charitable Impact.
Charitable Impact is a free service that you can use to donate money online.
You can find charities, add money and give all in one spot.
Discover Canadian charities that you might be interested in and learn more about what they do, or easily search for familiar favourites. We have over 85,000 Canadian charities for you to explore.
Charitable Impact Fraudulent Donation Seekers
We never donate money to someone who comes door to door because of charity fraud.
There’s no shortage of people ringing our doorbell during the spring, summer and fall looking for donations.
Here’s where it gets tricky.
Even if they provide documentation to me that they are working for a registered charity I still won’t believe it.
There have been too many door to door fraud cases that it has ruined it for everyone.
Now we choose to donate direct to our charities which makes the process easier.
We tell anyone who comes to the door that we have donations set in place for charities already.
As well, if you have parents who are elderly or may fall for fraudster tricks alert them to the possibility.
Perhaps communicate to them that donating in person may be a better option or that you’ll help them with any donations.
If you’ve donated to a fraudlent charity or believe you’ve encountered one make a call.
Call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501
Free Donation Tracker Budget Binder Printable
As a subscriber to Canadian Budget Binder I offer you all of my Budget Binder Printable form for free.
You also get the same excel budget that we’ve been using for almost 10 years and helped us become debt-free.
You can find the Free Donation Tracker printable inside my Free Budget Binder Resources Page.
Moreover, a donation tracker is not a must-have but it’s nice not to tear your hair out come tax time.
Discussion: How do you decide what charities to donate to and do you track any financial donations?
Comment below.
Mr.CBB
The post How To Create A Donation Tracker (Budget Binder Printable) appeared first on Canadian Budget Binder.
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