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Nonprofit

Donation Receipting & Donor Log

Small charities lose repeat giving in the gap between the donation and the thank-you. This workflow issues the receipt immediately with the details a donor needs for tax relief, records the gift against the donor history, and flags major and first-time gifts for a personal note — because the difference between a one-off donor and a regular one is almost always what happened in the first week.

6 stepsRequires Zapier Starter or higher20 minEasy
StripeGoogle SheetsGmailSlackTodoistFilter by Zapier

What you get

Every donor has a receipt within the hour, with the reference their tax office will ask for.
Gifts are logged against donor history rather than sitting in a payment processor.
Major and first-time gifts get a human note within a day.

Workflow blueprint

ST
When this happens
StripeNew Charge
1GS
Google SheetsCreate Spreadsheet Row
2GM
GmailSend Email
3FI
Filter by ZapierOnly continue if
4SL
SlackSend Channel Message
5TO
TodoistCreate Task

The full blueprint — every field mapping, example value and the written copy for each message — is included with purchase.

Getting it into Zapier

Build this one from the recipe. The blueprint gives you the exact trigger, action events and field mapping for all 6 steps, so it is a copy-and-paste job rather than a design job.

You need your own Zapier account. Zapier’s Free plan runs single-step Zaps only; multi-step Zaps need a paid plan, and Paths and Webhooks need Professional. How this works →

Not on Zapier?

n8n — import and go

An n8n workflow JSON ships with this template. Import it and all 6 steps arrive on the canvas wired in order, and 5 of the 6 nodes arrive with their fields already filled in — the subject lines, the message copy, the delays, the column names. Every step maps to a native n8n node.

What an import cannot carry is your credentials, and the IDs that only exist inside your own account — which spreadsheet, which channel, which board. Those stay in a sticky note under the node, listing what is already done so you do not retype it, and what is left so you can see it.

Make — build guide

A Make-specific guide ships with this template: every module in order, every field value, and the concept translations that catch people out — filters live on the links between modules, and the schedule lives on the scenario rather than in a trigger module.

Self-hosted n8n has no per-task fee, which is worth knowing if this workflow runs at volume. Platform coverage →

Setup steps

1
Detect the donation

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

2
Log it to the donor register

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

3
Send the receipt

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

4
Continue only for major or first gifts

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

5
Alert the team

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

6
Create the personal thank-you task

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

Implementation notes

  • The receipt is a legal document in most jurisdictions, so put the registration number and reference in the body rather than an attachment. Attachments get lost; email bodies get searched.
  • Do not send an appeal within six weeks of a major gift. The task says so because it is the most common way a five-hundred-euro donor becomes a nought-euro donor.
  • Set the major-gift threshold at roughly three times your median donation, not at a round number. Round numbers either flood the channel or never fire.
  • Gift Aid, tax-relief and cross-border rules differ by country. Have whoever files your accounts approve the receipt wording once, then leave it alone.