Membership Program Tiers & Benefits Guide (with Tax-Deductible Split Worksheet)
A build-and-govern guide for structuring membership tiers as the retention spine, mapping each tier's benefits against fair-market-value so the deductible portion is calculated and disclosed correctly.
Draft: pending review
This starter document is signed off by Arts nonprofit tax counsel (exempt-org/quid-pro-quo) + CFRE before it ships. The guardrails below define that review.
What’s inside
- Tier ladder (Friend through Director's Circle) with price points and renewal-rate benchmarks
- Benefit-to-FMV mapping table with 'insubstantial benefit' safe-harbor flags
- Auto-generated receipt language showing 'amount deductible after benefits received'
- Free-admission benefit treatment (right-of-admission exception) with decision tree
Legal & ethical guardrails
The sector-specific compliance points this document must honor.
- IRS quid-pro-quo (§6115): membership payments over $75 require written disclosure of the deductible amount net of benefits' FMV
- The §1.170A-13(f)(8) membership-benefits disregard applies ONLY to memberships costing $75/year or less — it cannot save the upper tiers, which need full §6115 FMV quid-pro-quo math. Apply the annual insubstantial-benefit safe harbors without hardcoding the indexed figures, and treat the deductible split as a good-faith estimate, not tax advice to the member
- The annual-recurring-rights exception can let certain benefits be disregarded — confirm the benefit qualifies first
- State charitable-solicitation registration may require specific tax-deductibility disclaimers on join/renewal materials
Held for professional review.
The native DOCX and full working text ship only after sign-off by Arts nonprofit tax counsel (exempt-org/quid-pro-quo) + CFRE on this exact version. The summary and review requirements remain visible in the meantime.
Not legal advice. Not legal, tax, or accounting advice. The Fundraising Co. provides educational fundraising materials and is not a law firm; nothing here creates an attorney–client relationship or substitutes for advice from professionals licensed in your jurisdiction. Laws and IRS rules vary by state and change over time. Review every document with qualified counsel before use.