In-Kind & Food Donation Acceptance Policy
A board-adoptable policy governing acceptance, refusal, valuation, food-safety handling, and acknowledgment of in-kind and food donations — the revenue stream most likely to create IRS-substantiation and liability exposure.
Draft: pending review
This starter document is signed off by Nonprofit counsel + food-safety/regulatory advisor + CFRE before it ships. The guardrails below define that review.
What’s inside
- Acceptable vs. non-acceptable in-kind list (perishables, expired, opened, non-mission goods)
- Food-safety intake protocol: temperature control, recall handling, date-label rules
- Acknowledgment templates that describe donated items WITHOUT stating a dollar value
- IRS Form 8283 handling for donor claims over $5,000 and refusal script for unusable donations
Legal & ethical guardrails
The sector-specific compliance points this document must honor.
- The donor — not the charity — determines and substantiates FMV; the receipt describes the property but must NOT assign a dollar amount
- Food-inventory and over-$5,000 gifts have specific IRS rules (enhanced deduction; Form 8283 donee signature) — verify receipt before signing
- The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (as amended by the Food Donation Improvement Act of 2023) shields good-faith donations — including, post-2023, DIRECT donations to needy individuals and up-to-cost sales — but not gross negligence/intentional misconduct, and it does NOT preempt state/local health-department food-safety codes; quarantine recalled/unsafe food
- A usable refusal pathway is needed to decline mission-inappropriate gifts without donor harm
Held for professional review.
The native DOCX and full working text ship only after sign-off by Nonprofit counsel + food-safety/regulatory advisor + 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.