I apologize if this information is posted elsewhere but I was unable to find anything that answered my question and so if it is posted elsewhere, please let me know and I'll be more than happy to read it!

Anyway, my question is regarding pledge payments that are received in the form of what appears to be a personal check but is really a check from the donor's foundation or charitable trust.  Currently, we send two acknowledgement letters when we receive either a foundation check or charitable trust check.  The first letter is sent to the donor and thanks them for their distribution form their foundation or charitable trust.  The second acknowledgement is sent to the address on file for the foundation or charitable trust informing whomever the recipient is that a letter was sent to the donor and we include a copy of that letter.   Sometimes, the address of the foundation or charitable trust is the same as the donor's address sometimes it is different.  Is it necessary to send two letters?  I can't seem to find any information online nor can I sift through the IRS standards/guidelines and find anything to support multiple letters.   Please do not misunderstand, I do not mind generating duplicate letters, I just want to make sure it is the right thing to do or common practice because numerous donors do not understand why they receive two letters - one to their foundation and one to them (for those that the address is the same).

 Any information or guidance as to where I could find this information is greatly appreciated!

 Thank you very much!

Technically there should only be one true gift acknowledgment issued per IRS standards (IRS publication 1771) to the legal donor. That should be the only one that has the IRS language on it.  If you can not tell from the check if it is a personal gift or a foundation check you must call and find our before you issue an acknowledgment.  The IRS can penalize you for issuing improper receipts (falsifying tax documents or something of that nature)

If you are going to thank anyone else it should not look like a true acknowledgment because they should not be able to claim the gift as their own for tax purposes.  Therefore if you get a gift from a private foundation whose contact and mailing address is the same as the individual contact you may be soft crediting you should send a legal acknowledgment to the foundation.  There would then, in my opinion, no need to send a thank you letter to the same contact for the same gift.

Where I was previously it was up to the gift entry team to do both acknowledgment and thank you letters.  Where I am currently, gift entry only does the legal acknowledgment.  It is up to individual gift officers to do individual thank yous should they feel it is necessary.

I just wanted to thank you for your response.  It was very helpful.  I thought I posted a reply but clearly did not.  Thank you again!