Gather your year-end charity receipts and giving records with AI

Turn a year of bank statements and donation emails into one giving list with the receipts you need before tax time.

The problem

Many people give to church, school fundraisers and charities all year but can't find the receipts in April. Gifts of $250 or more need a written acknowledgment from the charity, and noncash gifts like clothing donations need their own records.

Step by step

1. 1Search your email for words like "donation", "receipt", "thank you for your gift" and "tax-deductible", and download your bank and card statements for the year.
2. 2Copy the charity name, date and amount of each gift into a Google Sheet. Leave out account numbers.
3. 3Paste the list into the prompt below to sort it by charity, total it, and flag gifts that need a written acknowledgment or are missing a receipt.
4. 4Ask any charity you're missing a receipt from for a year-end giving statement; most churches and nonprofits send one on request.
5. 5Give the sheet and receipts to your tax preparer, or use them in your tax software, and ask whether itemizing or the standard deduction is better for you this year.

Copy-paste prompt

Help me organize my charitable donations for this year. Here is my list (charity, date, amount, cash or item donation, receipt yes/no): [paste list, no account numbers]. Build: (1) a table grouped by charity with totals; (2) a list of single gifts of $250 or more and whether I have a written acknowledgment for each; (3) a list of noncash donations with what records I should keep; (4) a short polite email asking a charity for a year-end giving statement; (5) questions to ask my tax preparer. This isn't tax advice, so don't tell me what I can deduct; just organize the records.

Tips and watch-outs

• Leave account numbers and your SSN out of the AI chat; charity names, dates and amounts are all it needs.
• Your tax preparer or IRS.gov has the final word on what you can deduct; AI only organizes the records.
• Ask your church or charity for a year-end giving statement early in January, before tax season gets busy.

Review AI output before using it. Don’t paste confidential, customer or patient data into tools your company hasn’t approved.