In-Kind Contributions

Donating or Accepting Non-Monetary Donations

Open Collective Foundation is closing down in 2024. The last day collectives can receive donations is March 15, 2024. Read more here.

To make an in-kind (a.k.a. non-cash) contribution, please contact the Collective about your intentions. You and the Collective should work together to facilitate the contribution.

Once the contribution has been made, and the contributed items are in the Collective’s possession, the Collective Admin should notify Open Collective Foundation staff.

So that we can report accurately on the contribution, Collective Admins should please send the following information to [e-mail]:

• Name of Collective

• Name of Contributor (whether an individual or organization)

• Contributor’s contact information (Email preferred)

• Date received

• Detailed description of goods received

• Fair Market Value of donated item on the date of the donation

  • It is the donor's responsibility to determine fair market value

If your Collective will be regularly accepting non-monetary donations, you can also batch them all together and send OCF a spreadsheet at the end of each month. This will ensure we can keep all of this required information for us for our records. Feel free to use this template if it helps!

We cannot receive automobiles or real estate. If you want to give an automobile or property to a Collective admin, you may, but it will belong to them, not OCF, and we will not be able to provide a receipt.

Tax-deductibility of in-kind contributions

Please be aware that the value of a contributor’s time or services is unfortunately not tax-deductible in the eyes of the IRS. However valuable, pro-bono or volunteer services, professional or not, and discounted services, are typically not tax-deductible charitable contributions.

For a contribution to be tax-deductible, there needs to be a transfer of ownership. Open Collective Foundation can only provide tax receipts for tax-deductible contributions.‌

A couple of examples:

• Allowing someone to rent an item or space for free or at a discount would not qualify as a tax-deductible contribution, since it is a service given free of charge, but itself not a financial contribution

• Giving an organization a gift card for services can count as a charitable contribution, since the actual gift card, itself, is then held by the organization

Tax receipts/acknowledgment letters for in-kind contributions

‌If the contributed items are tax-deductible in the eyes of the IRS, we would be happy to provide the contributor with a tax receipt.

In order to receive a written letter of acknowledgment, Collective Admins please email OCF with the following information:

• Date the donation was received

• First, Last Name of contributor (whether an individual or organization)

• Contributor’s contact information (Email preferred)

• Name of Collective

• Detailed description of goods donated

  • Fair market valuation of donated goods

If your contribution has not yet been reported by the Collective, please see the procedure for reporting an in-kind contribution above.

What of the value of the donation changes after the acknowledgement letter is sent? Donors are responsible for determining tax deductibility and/or obtaining a valuation. The dollar figure provided in the letter is for donor recognition purposes only.