guest post // How to Secure In-Kind Donations: 4 Tips for Nonprofits
By Jeff Cova, Winspire
In-kind donations are powerful resources for nonprofits—not just for fundraising, but also for saving money, improving program delivery, and building community partnerships.
Whether they take the form of auction items, pro bono services, or essential supplies, these non-cash contributions provide support that might otherwise strain resources. Many businesses and individuals are eager to donate but often don’t know what goods and services you may need. You just need to know how to ask!
By clearly defining your needs and making contributing easy, you can turn one-time non-cash gifts into long-term support, unlocking new opportunities for your mission. Let’s explore how to encourage and secure helpful in-kind gifts.
Create an In-Kind Gift Acceptance Policy
Before soliciting in-kind gifts, create guidelines for what your nonprofit will—and will not—accept. This tells donors and businesses what items will support your mission or improve an event. Otherwise, you risk receiving items that are useless or even harmful, such as expired food or products with broken safety seals.
Your nonprofit’s controller should take the lead in creating your gift acceptance policy, which should outline the following:
Acceptable Items: Define the types of in-kind donations you’ll accept. That might include goods (e.g., gift baskets and event decor), services (e.g., marketing support and event catering), or assets (e.g., stocks and real estate).
Condition Requirements: Specify quality standards, such as new or gently used items. Consider restrictions on expired, perishable, or high-maintenance donations unless intended for immediate use.
Guidelines for Submission: Provide details on when and where to drop off or ship physical items. For event-related donations, include submission deadlines and the process for donating large or unique items, like signed memorabilia for auctions. For pro bono services, outline the process for formalizing an agreement.
Publish your finished policy to your site for public access. When soliciting gifts, include a link to your policy to ensure donors understand your guidelines.
Create a Wishlist
Publishing a wishlist alongside your gift acceptance policy suggests specific donation opportunities, ensuring contributions align with your nonprofit’s needs while reinforcing your policy’s guidelines. By highlighting how these donations support your mission, you’ll help donors envision their impact, leading to increased public support.
Let’s say you’re hosting an auction. You might request:
Venue Support: Donated event space, floral arrangements, themed props, and AV equipment
Event Services: Catering, musicians, keynote speakers, marketing material creation, and photography
Auction Items: Travel-related prizes, gift baskets, event tickets, signed celebrity memorabilia, artwork, certificates for services, family-friendly activities, fine food or beverages, popular technology, and high-end goods
When possible, include preferred brands, values, or types of experiences. You can also provide examples of previous successful auction items to inspire donors.
In this example, a wishlist will help curate effective charity auction items, ensuring a well-rounded selection that appeals to bidders with varying budgets. It will also help reduce overhead expenses for venue space, catering, equipment, and event decorations.
Share your wishlist widely. For event-specific wishlists, include them on your event page and fundraising appeals. For general wishlists, feature them in your website’s navigation menu and link to it on your “Ways to Give” page.
Reach Out to Potential Donors
With a finalized gift acceptance policy and wishlist, you’re now prepared to locate and contact prospective donors. Let’s walk through how to encourage likely supporters to give.
Identify Potential Donors
Start by considering who has relevant resources to give. Nonprofits typically seek in-kind gifts from these key donor groups:
Local Businesses: Restaurants, retailers, and service providers may donate food, supplies, or professional expertise, especially when there’s a clear mission connection.
Corporate Sponsors: Larger companies often have corporate social responsibility programs that include in-kind giving, such as office equipment, software, or event sponsorships.
Consignment Companies: These companies sell products on behalf of other businesses, such as overstocked goods and high-value items like travel packages or experiences for charity auctions.
Individual Donors: Community members can contribute expertise, services, or essential goods like food, clothing, and hygiene products.
The best donor prospects will depend on the context of your campaign. While a food bank might partner with local grocery stores to stock shelves, a nonprofit hosting a gala may ask a restaurant to donate catering or a tech company to sponsor event logistics. Aligning your requests with donor interests and capacity makes in-kind giving mutually beneficial.
Craft a Compelling In-Kind Donation Request
After deciding who you’ll contact, craft personalized appeals. You’ll want to speak to each donor’s motivations and highlight potential impact. You should also tailor appeals to people’s preferred contact methods, such as personalized emails, letters, phone calls, or in-person visits. For general appeals, you might launch a social media campaign.
Sticking to our auction example, Winspire’s guide to silent auction donation requests recommends including the following in appeals:
Your Nonprofit’s Branding: When formatting requests, include your nonprofit logo, color scheme, typography, and tone to foster trust and recognition.
Storytelling: A compelling story about how your nonprofit helped a beneficiary will demonstrate potential impact and trigger empathy.
Mission Information: Briefly describe your nonprofit’s purpose, so you can connect based on shared values.
A Specific Ask: Either request a specific gift with a personalized ask, or link to your wishlist to let donors choose items for general requests. Connect the gift to your mission when possible (e.g., “Your donated concert tickets could help us raise $1,500 to award scholarships to underprivileged students.”).
Benefits: Especially for corporate sponsors, spell out the perks of giving, whether that’s shoutouts in marketing materials, speaking opportunities, or features on bid sheets.
Return Date: Instill urgency by giving a deadline. For instance, you might request auction items to be given two months before your event, giving you enough time to determine pricing and add items to your catalog.
Signature: For letters, a signature adds credibility, especially if it’s from a leader like your executive director, fundraising director, or board chair.
For successful outreach, assign board members to manage specific relationships. Pay special attention to personal and professional connections, encouraging them to leverage relationships when possible.
Follow Up Persistently but Professionally
Track responses to your appeals. If you don’t hear back, revisit promising donors. A well-timed follow-up—whether via email or phone—can be a gentle reminder without feeling pushy.
For those who can’t or don’t want to donate an item, offer alternative ways to contribute, such as financial sponsorship or volunteering. Express appreciation for their time and interest even if they decline, as keeping the relationship warm may lead to future support.
Acknowledge In-Kind Donations Promptly
When someone donates, properly track and record their contribution to ensure accurate financial records. This is especially important for tax purposes and reporting.
Start by ensuring your tax receipts meet IRS requirements, making it easy for donors to claim tax deductions. In-kind donation receipts differ from financial gift receipts in a few ways. For instance, you should describe donated items but leave space for donors to enter their gift's fair market value (FMV) as your organization isn’t legally allowed to provide that.
Once recorded, express gratitude as soon as possible. A timely, thoughtful thank-you reinforces impact and primes donors to give in the future. For effective donor appreciation, you should:
Send thank-you letters. eCardWidget’s donor thank-you email guide suggests personalizing each letter by highlighting the donor's specific gift and its impact. You should also include powerful visuals and a call to action to continue engaging in your mission.
Publicly recognize donors. If donors prefer public recognition, highlight their generosity in newsletters, on social media, or at events. If they donated an auction item, credit the donor on the bid sheet or in the auction catalog entry for that prize (e.g., “A VIP Wine Tasting Experience generously donated by XYZ Winery”).
Follow up after your campaign. Share the success of your event or campaign, letting donors know how much their contributions helped.
Thanking in-kind donors reinforces their generosity’s impact. Pay attention to donors’ preferences, so you can create a positive experience that encourages future contributions.
Securing in-kind donations does more than meet immediate needs—it helps build a sustainable donor base that supports your nonprofit long-term.
If you already accept in-kind donations, review your strategy to identify gaps and refine your approach. Otherwise, start by crafting your gift acceptance policy and wishlists. The more intentional you are, the more helpful the donations you receive will be.
This guest post was written by Jeff Cova.
Jeff Cova worked for more than 20 years in event management, sales, and fundraising before launching an auction production company that provided solutions to many of the challenges he faced in those fields. In 2008, Jeff founded Winspire with the goal of helping nonprofits across North America increase their event fundraising revenue and better engage their donors. Jeff and his team have helped these organizations identify 200,000 new supporters and raise more than $110 million for their missions to date!