How are others handling their brick campaigns?

Angela Tuttle

Hi! I am curious how others handle their brick/bench campaigns. For instance donated $200 and get an engrave brick. Are you treating it all as a donation? We have been considering the cost of the brick as a benefit. Would be interested in what others are doing!

Joe Moretti

@Angela Tuttle Our organization considers the whole amount a donation. With capital gifts, say to a new building, the whole amount is a donation, the cost of the building is not figured into it at all.

Angela Tuttle

@Joe Moretti thank you!!!

Dariel Dixon

@Angela Tuttle Does the donor get a replica of their brick? I've seen that done, and the cost of the replica was deducted from their donation.

Alex Wong

@Angela Tuttle
If the donor is getting some of value (which would be consider “goods and services") then you need to code the gift with benefits such that it reduces the receipt amount by the “value” and donor is receipted in the lowered donation amount. This is financially and legally the right thing to do.

However, it really depends on how much “value” it is. Your finance team needs to make this determination

Faith Murray

@Angela Tuttle
Hm, I would only consider the brick as a “benefit” if the donor is actually getting the brick. In our campaign 20 years ago (we don't do brick campaigns often), the brick/window was included in part of the building construction, therefore no benefit to the donor.

If the donor IS getting a tangible benefit, you can refer to this website from Nolo, which details the IRS maximum for donor “gifts”:

There is no need for a nonprofit organization to tell donors to subtract out the value of return gifts in two situations:

1. the gifts were merely token, "insubstantial" items, or
2. the gifts were low-cost in comparison to the overall donation.

The exact dollar amounts of what constitutes "token" or "low-cost," however, change year by year.

According to the IRS's latest inflation adjustments regarding quid pro quo contributions, to qualify as insubstantial goods or services, they must cost your organization no more than $12.50 to produce for 2023, or $13.20 for 2024; they must bear your organization's name or logo; and the contribution received must have been at least $62.50 in 2023 or $66 in 2024. (Things like tote bags, coffee cups, or stickers are typical such name/logo items.)

Regarding the exception for low-cost items, these must, for 2023, either have a fair market value of $125 or less or be worth 2% or less of the donor's payment, whichever is less. For 2024, it will be $132 or less.

So in other words, if the donor gives $500 for a brick, but it only costs you $9 to make the brick, that is less than 2% of the total donation and thus, no “benefit” detraction is required by the IRS.

Miki Martin

@Angela Tuttle at my former org we did deduct the cost of the brick and engraving and outlined that in their acknowledgement letter ("thank you for your donation of $150. $100 has been donated to the Sister Mary Agnetis Scholarship Fund" or something to that effect). When I entered the gift I did use the benefit option and a special appeal that pulled different verbiage into the letter. I appreciate the additional information @Faith Murray shared. That's definitely helpful.

Aimee McDonald

@Angela Tuttle our organization offers two different options: 1) Purchase a brick for display at our institution (which they receive 100% full donation credit) and 2) Purchase a replica brick to keep for yourself (which is NOT considered a donation). Neither of these options are associated with construction of a building.