Skip to main content

Gift Receipts

Written by Jonathan Marbutt

A gift receipt acknowledges a single contribution, as opposed to a giving statement, which summarizes many gifts over a period. CoolFocus can send receipts automatically, in a batch, or one at a time, and it tracks whether each one went out.

Automatic receipts for online gifts

When a donor gives online through CoolPay, CoolFocus automatically emails them a receipt for that gift. Each contribution tracks whether its receipt has been sent, so donors aren't receipted twice for the same gift.

Check whether a receipt went out

Every contribution has a Receipt Sent status. Open the contribution to see whether its receipt has already gone out, before resending one or answering a donor who says they never got a receipt.

For more detail, like exactly when an email went out, open the contribution's activity log. It lists every email sent from that record, including receipts.

Customize the automatic CoolPay receipt email

By default, the automatic CoolPay receipt uses a standard built-in layout. If you'd like to change its look or wording, you can switch it to a fully customizable email template:

  1. Go to Settings > Giving Info.

  2. Find the CoolPay Email Receipt section.

  3. Select Customize CoolPay receipt email. This creates an organization-owned email template, seeded from the standard layout, and opens it in the template editor.

  4. Edit the design and merge fields, organization, donor, contribution, and document fields such as amount, fund, receipt number, and processing fee covered, then save.

Once you've customized it, the button changes to Edit CoolPay receipt template so you can reopen it later. If you never customize it, CoolPay keeps using the default layout.

A few things to know:

  • This setting is organization-wide, not per donation form or donor portal, every CoolPay donation form shares the same automatic receipt email.

  • It's separate from a donation form's own thank-you message, which each form still controls individually.

  • Customizing this template requires the manage-templates permission, so it's typically an administrator task. See Email & Document Templates for how templates and merge fields work in general.

Send receipts to a batch of donors

Catching up on receipts for gifts entered manually, such as a stack of checks, or resending a batch after a mistake? You don't have to open each contribution one at a time.

  1. Build a Contributions segment filtered by Date Received (and Refunded → No) for the gifts that need a receipt. See Giving Data for a date range (quarter, year, or custom) for the filter steps.

  2. Open the segment's Email action.

  3. Choose the Gift Receipt email template.

  4. Preview, then send.

Each contribution in the segment gets its own personalized receipt email, and each is marked Receipt Sent and logged on the donor's history. Gifts given online through CoolPay are already receipted automatically, so this batch send is mainly for gifts entered by staff, or for resending a group of receipts on request.

Resend a receipt

Need to send a receipt again, a donor lost the email, or you entered a gift manually? Open the contribution and resend the receipt to the donor. It uses your receipt template and is logged on the record.

Print one PDF of receipts for a date range

Need a combined PDF of every receipt from a quarter, a month, a year, or another custom period, for a batch of mailed receipts or a records request? Build a Contributions segment filtered by Date Received and Refunded → No, then use that segment's Print → Documents action with the Gift Receipt template. CoolFocus generates one PDF with a receipt for every contribution in the segment.

There's no separate "Receipts by Date" report or PDF export. A filtered Contributions segment, printed or emailed with the Gift Receipt template, is how CoolFocus covers that request.

See Giving Data for a date range (quarter, year, or custom) for the full steps, including a worked example, and Printing, Labels & Envelopes for how the Print dropdown works.

Pledges are receipted the same way, from the Pledges list instead of Contributions. Build a Pledges segment filtered for the pledges you want to receipt, then use that segment's Print → Documents action with the matching pledge receipt template. CoolFocus generates one combined PDF with a receipt for every pledge in the segment. See Grants, Pledges, and In-Kind Gifts for more on how pledges are tracked.

In-kind and other receipt types

There are receipt templates for different situations, including in-kind (non-cash) gifts. Pick the template that matches what the donor gave.

Receipt vs. statement, which to send

  • Receipt, one gift, right after it's given ("thank you for your $100 gift on June 3").

  • Statement, all gifts over a period, usually at year-end ("here's everything you gave in 2026"). See Giving Statements.

Related

Did this answer your question?