“True charity is the desire to be useful to others without the thought of recompense” – Emanuel Swedenborg.
Charity Letter is a letter given to an individual or an organization for any donations received or given in the form of money or clothes or any form of sponsorships. Say for example if no tangible items are given to an organization but all expenses incurred on a child (her/his education, clothes, food, etc) are all taken care of by a sponsor is also a form of charity.
A Charity Letter is not only an acknowledgement of having received or given something, but it also helps in tax savings as most donations are exempted from tax.
So next time you give any money towards charity, take the receipt, present it while filing your income tax returns and you will see that not only have you done good for someone but you have got its benefits too.
Some points that need to be considered while writing a Charity Letter are:
- The letter should specify the form in which the charity has been given
- It should be addressed to the individual or organization from whom the charity has been received
- If the individual or organization has specified the use that this charity should be put to, then that too should reflect in the letter. For example, the desire of the individual or organization is to get a lunch hall in a school for the orphans made from the amount given then the Charity Letter should say that
- If the Charity Letter is being issued by an organization then it should be on the company’s letter head
- The Income Tax Act against which the charity is exempted should also from a part of the letter (if it already is not a part of the printed part of the letter head)
- A Charity Letter should also indicate that the contribution is purely voluntary and has not been given under any pressure
- Specifying that no purchase has been made against the charity is also an integral part of the letter in the absence of which it can be considered as a sale by the charitable institution or an investment by the individual or organization making the contribution
SAMPLE CHARITY/DONATION LETTER
Ms./Mr. ______________ or M/S _____________
Complete address of the individual or organization
Date:
Subject: Acknowledgement of receipt of voluntary contribution
Dear ______________
We are a non-profit making organization working towards the empowerment of orphan children. In your endeavor to support the organization successfully achieving its goals, we thank you and acknowledge receipt of Rs.__________ vide Cheque/Draft no. _____________ dated __________ drawn on _______ in favor of ____________________.
We assure you that as per your desires, the contribution made by you will be used for the construction of a lunch hall at our orphanage so that our children can eat in a covered area, which we are very sure they will love.
We confirm that all contributions made to our organization are exempt of Income Tax under section _____________.
We once again thank you for your valued contribution and we will keep you posted with the lunch hall construction developments as well.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
(Name and designation of the signing authority).
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