This article was written by Prabhjot Gadri, a Salesforce Consultant here at Belmar, and Raisa Rashid, Director at Pllenty.
For registered charities in Canada, official donation tax receipts do more than acknowledge a gift—they help donors claim charitable tax credits, which can lift giving and improve retention. The challenge is the admin load. Creating CRA-compliant receipts, tracking reissues, batching year-end receipts, and keeping everything consistent can eat hours each week.
That’s where Salesforce and Pllenty come in. Pllenty is a CRA-compliant tax receipting solution that works natively with Salesforce to automate receipt creation, email delivery, voids and reissues, and year-end consolidation. The result: less manual work, fewer errors, and more time for fundraising and programs.
Why tax receipts matter for Canadian charities
Tax receipts aren’t mandatory, but they let donors claim charitable tax credits. If issuing receipts is slow or inconsistent, some donors will hold back or delay future gifts. Reliable, timely, CRA-compliant receipts show professionalism, build trust, and make it easier for supporters to give again—especially after year-end.
How Salesforce + Pllenty streamlines CRA-compliant receipting
Customisable Word templates with merge fields
With Pllenty, you can design professional receipts in Microsoft Word and add merge fields for donor name, address, amount, receipt number, greetings, signatures, and acknowledgements. Templates stay on brand and meet CRA requirements while letting you personalise the donor experience at scale.
Automated tax receipting that saves hours
Instead of producing receipts one by one, Salesforce and Pllenty can generate them automatically from donation records or run them in bulk with a click. Fundraising and finance teams reduce manual steps, cut the risk of data entry errors, and get receipts out quickly—daily, weekly, or at year-end.
Need specialised setup? Belmar can support your NPSP or Nonprofit Cloud configuration, while Pllenty streamlines the implementation of your automated tax receipting process.
Online donation forms with automatic receipts
Pllenty offers custom online donation forms backed by a secure, PCI-compliant payment gateway. Gifts flow straight into Salesforce, and—when eligible—donors receive an official receipt by email based on the donation type. That means immediate acknowledgement, cleaner data, and fewer follow-ups.
Bulk and consolidated receipts (perfect for year-end)
Handling a surge of donations at fiscal or calendar year-end? Pllenty’s Salesforce integration lets you batch-generate receipts, email them to donors, or produce PDFs for mailing. You can also issue consolidated receipts for recurring donors, reducing inbox clutter and support tickets.
Easy voids and reissues
If a donor needs a correction, duplicate, or replacement, staff can void and reissue directly in Salesforce. If a refund is required, the payment can be refunded through Pllenty’s gateway and the related receipt updated—keeping your audit trail clean and compliant.
Compliance, security, and donor confidence
Canadian charities must meet CRA rules for official donation receipts. Using a purpose-built system reduces the risk of missing details, reusing numbers, or storing sensitive data in spreadsheets and inboxes. With Salesforce as the system of record and Pllenty handling receipting, you get version-controlled templates, unique receipt numbering, and consistent processes that protect donor information and your organisation’s reputation.
The bigger picture: data-driven fundraising
Because receipting is connected to Salesforce, every donation and receipt supports richer reporting. Use standard dashboards or custom reports to monitor revenue, receipting status, campaign performance, recurring giving trends, and donor retention. Teams can segment by program, appeal, channel, or donor cohort and adjust tactics in real time.
Practical benefits your team will notice
- Time saved: Automate daily receipts and year-end batches to free up hours for stewardship.
- Lower error rates: Eliminate copy-paste mistakes with merge fields and templates.
- Faster donor service: Reissue or void receipts in minutes, not days.
- Consistent branding: Professional, on-brand documents every time.
- Cleaner audits: Centralised records, unique numbering, and clear activity history.
- Happier donors: Prompt, accurate receipts support a great giving experience.
Implementation tips
- Start with a clean template: Include all fields your finance team requires and your charity’s branding elements.
- Align with your CRM data model: Confirm fields in Salesforce (e.g., contact, account, opportunity, payment) map correctly into Pllenty’s templates.
- Set clear rules: Decide when to issue immediate, bulk, or consolidated receipts; document exceptions for in-kind or split gifts.
- Pilot and iterate: Run a short pilot on a recent campaign, validate samples with finance, then scale.
- Train your team: Ensure fundraising, finance, and support staff know the steps for voids, reissues, and refunds.
- Measure impact: Track hours saved, reissue rates, and donor satisfaction after go-live.
Frequently asked questions
Are digital receipts valid in Canada?
Yes—digital receipts are acceptable when they contain the required information and are issued by a registered charity. Automated systems help ensure consistency and a secure audit trail.
Can we send one consolidated receipt for recurring gifts?
Yes. With Pllenty and Salesforce, you can batch-generate consolidated receipts at year-end for recurring donors, making life easier for supporters and your team.
What if a donor changes their email or needs a different name on the receipt?
Update the donor record in Salesforce and reissue the receipt through Pllenty. The system tracks the void and reissue for compliance.
Does automation work with Nonprofit Success Pack and Nonprofit Cloud?
Pllenty integrates with Salesforce used by nonprofits, including NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud data structures, so you can issue receipts from the same system that holds your donor and gift information.
Your mission matters
Your work supports communities, powers programs, and advances important causes. Admin tasks like tax receipting shouldn’t slow that down. With Salesforce and Pllenty handling CRA-compliant receipting—templates, automation, online forms, batching, voids, and reissues—you can spend less time on paperwork and more time engaging donors and growing impact.
About Belmar
Belmar Consulting is an award-winning Salesforce implementation partner, who works with various organizations and enables them to succeed in their digital transformation journey. We combine our intimate knowledge of the public sector and the nonprofit industry with Salesforce to create and implement innovative solutions for our clients. Belmar’s dedication to delivering successful client projects means our clients are more effective in their role to fulfill their organizational missions.