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Understanding Receipts

Alwin Thomas
Updated
Raisely can automatically send email messages and PDF receipts for donations and ticket orders. You can customise their appearance, wording and organisation details, resend previously issued receipts, and configure partial tax receipts for eligible ticketed events.
 
This guide covers general receipt setup. For instructions on separating the deductible portion of a ticket from the value of a benefit provided, see Partial Tax Receipts for Ticketed Events.
 

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Receipts: Overview

Customising Email (Message) Receipts

Customising PDF Receipts

Partial tax receipts for ticketed events

PDF receipts for individual payment gateway accounts

Creative ideas for your receipts

FAQs

Receipts: Overview

Every Raisely campaign includes customisable automatic messages for communicating with donors and ticket buyers after a transaction.
 
For donations, the default receipt messages are:
  • Donation Receipt: sent after a successful one-off donation.
  • Regular Donation Receipt: sent when a recurring donation payment is successfully processed.
For ticket orders, Raisely uses the Order Confirmation message. The configured PDF receipt can be attached to this message and can include both ticket and additional-donation details.
 
Email messages and PDF receipts are configured separately. Email content is managed through Messages, while the PDF receipt’s appearance, organisation details and field labels are managed through the campaign’s receipt configuration.

To access your message receipts, within your campaign, simply:

  1. From the sidebar select Messages > Automatic Messages

For donations, Raisely includes two default receipt messages:

  • Donation Receipts: send to donors who make a one-off donation
  • Regular Donation Receipts: sent to donors who periodically give at the time of their donation processing

Campaigns selling tickets also have an Order Confirmation message for ticket buyers. If an additional donation is made during ticket checkout, the buyer receives the order confirmation and its attached PDF receipt rather than a separate donation-receipt email.

 

Customising Email (Message) Receipts

Through Messages, you can customise your email receipts to offer receipt information and so much more. To edit your email receipt messages, within your campaign:

  1. From the sidebar select Messages > select Receipt Message.
  2. Leave defaults in Steps 1 & 2. Focusing on Step 3, configure your Sender & Subject line and select Save.
  3. Within Step 4, configure your receipt message content using the email builder. The email builder provides you with simplicity, helping you focus more on your content. 
  4. Merge fields (#), including conditions {{ }},  can take your messages to the next level, allowing for creative personalisation options within your message. To find out more, explore the guide – Advanced Merge Fields.
  5. Once complete, send a test email to see your edits live. Be sure to view it on mobile as well as desktop. 
  6. Once you are ready, simply Save then enable the message in Step 5.

Here are some recommendations in customising your receipts:

  • Change the Header Image to reflect your brand.
  • Be sure to have the word ‘Receipt’ in your subject line, so it helps your donors search for it down the track.
  • Don’t be afraid to use this message for more than a receipt. Yes, you run the risk of people not reading them due to the subject line, but place the ‘receipt details’ at the bottom and use the beginning of your message to connect with them and the cause.
  • Keep emails short. Over 84% of users read emails first on their mobile phones, so get to the point.
  • Personalise. Use Merge Tags such as:
    • # Donation First Name
    • # Campaign Total
    • {{#gt donation.amount 499}} Thank you for your generous donation{{/gt}} 

 

Customising PDF Receipts

Raisely gives you the option of adding PDF receipts to your email message receipts. This is recommended as it enables you to record and resend receipts to donors. To customise and activate PDF receipts simply:

  1. Select Settings > Payments & Receipts from your campaign sidebar .
  2. Under General Settings select Configure Receipt.
  3. Use the live preview to edit the receipt’s appearance and organisation details. Under the Advanced tab, you can also rename the receipt’s field labels. If you issue partial tax receipts, confirm the appropriate terminology with your organisation’s qualified advisor before changing these labels.
  4. Once you have customised your PDF receipt, head back to Messages from the sidebar, select your donation message, and make sure you have Attach PDF Receipt to this message enabled in Step 4 ‘Add Your Content’.

Ticket receipts: To attach the PDF receipt to a ticket buyer’s email, configure the campaign’s Order Confirmation message. The Donation Receipt and Regular Donation Receipt messages apply to donation transactions.

 

Partial tax receipts for ticketed events

If a ticket includes a benefit—such as a meal or entertainment—your organisation may need to show the value of that benefit separately from the deductible portion of the payment.
 
Raisely’s partial tax receipting feature lets you configure a benefit value and description for each applicable ticket type. The PDF receipt can then show:
  • The value of benefit provided, including currency
  • The description of benefit provided
  • The calculated tax-deductible amount
The tax-deductible amount is calculated as:
Total amount (ticket price + additional donation + fees, excluding taxes) minus the value of benefit provided
Partial tax receipting applies to tickets only. Additional donations made during ticket checkout are not assigned a benefit value and remain fully tax deductible when the campaign is configured accordingly.
 
The campaign-level tax setting and partial tax receipting are off by default. Benefit values should be configured before affected tickets are sold, because the feature applies to going-forward purchases.
 

Important: Raisely provides configurable fields and calculations, but your organisation remains responsible for determining whether a payment is eligible for a tax receipt, setting the correct benefit value and meeting its local requirements.

For setup instructions, refund behaviour, corrections, ticket bundles and country-specific guidance, see Partial Tax Receipts for Ticketed Events.

 

PDF receipts for individual payment gateway accounts

If your campaign uses multiple payment accounts, you can configure a custom PDF receipt for each non-default account. This can be useful when different accounts require different organisation details, branding, custom fields or receipt labels.
 
A campaign’s tax-deductible status is controlled by the single campaign-level Is this campaign tax deductible? setting. Payment routing or a gateway-specific receipt template does not create a different tax-deductible status for transactions in the same campaign.

To do this:

  1. Select Settings > Payments & Receipts from the sidebar.
  2. The default payment account uses the campaign’s default PDF receipt. Select Edit on another payment account, enable Use Custom Donation Receipt, and select Create.
  3. With a live preview, you can edit the look and feel of your receipt, as well as change the label names under the Advanced tab.
  4. Save your PDF changes, and then Save again your Payment Account settings.

PDF Receipts can only be saved if the following three required fields are filled in: Organisation Name, Organisation Address, and Contact Email.

If you previously used different tax-deductibility settings across gateway receipt templates: review the campaign-level tax setting and each custom receipt after the feature release. Custom gateway receipts can still use different wording and labels, but they should not be treated as controlling the campaign’s tax-deductible status.

 

Creative Ideas for your Receipts

Receipts typically are known to be mundane. So why not stand apart and develop a unique experience for your donors? Here are some tips to creating great receipts:

  • Subject Line: Probably the most significant change you can make for your receipts is simply in your subject line. Be creative here, expressing thankfulness and inviting them into the message that has more. You can even use conditional formatting to create different subject lines for different donors. For more information check out Advanced Merge Fields.
  • Use Custom Fields in your Default PDF Receipts: This allows you to bring additional information into your receipt, which you can base on conditional logic so that it applies to pre-determined criteria. 
  • Use animated GIF’s for your image header: Emails have constraints when it comes to design, so looking at ways to bring some design edge can be great. Since animated GIF’s are a format acceptable within emails, use these for your header to stand out. 

 

FAQ’s

How do tickets and registration fees appear on the PDF receipt?
Tickets and registration fees appear as separate line items from additional donations. If a ticket is configured for partial tax receipting, the PDF receipt can also show the value and description of the benefit provided and the calculated tax-deductible amount.
 
Additional donations made during ticket checkout are not assigned a benefit value and remain fully tax deductible when the campaign is configured accordingly. See Partial Tax Receipts for Ticketed Events for details.
What happens to a receipt after a refund?
When a full or partial refund affects a partially deductible ticket order, Raisely recalculates the tax-deductible amount, voids the existing receipt and issues a replacement. The replacement references the original receipt.
 
If a refund is initiated directly through a payment gateway such as Stripe, Raisely receives the refund amount but not the specific items being refunded. Raisely applies the refund against deductible portions first, starting with the largest deductible portion. Use the Raisely admin when you need item-level control. See Partial Tax Receipts for Ticketed Events for details.
How do I correct an incorrect benefit value on an issued receipt?

Update the benefit value or description on the relevant ticket type, then void and reissue the receipt from the order. Updating the ticket type alone does not rewrite a receipt that has already been issued. See Partial Tax Receipts for Ticketed Events for details.

Does Raisely make my receipts compliant?
Raisely provides configurable receipt fields and calculates the tax-deductible amount using the benefit value entered by your team. Raisely does not determine your organisation’s eligibility, set the correct benefit value or confirm that a receipt meets local requirements.
 
Check the requirements with your organisation’s finance or legal team, qualified advisor or relevant tax authority. Raisely Support can assist with configuring and troubleshooting the feature but cannot provide tax or legal advice. See Partial Tax Receipts for Ticketed Events for details.

 

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