You use the Maintenance à Receipt Options window to select various options that affect the output format of your charitable receipts. That brings up the following window:
Receipt Style For
"Canada (English only)" is the original receipt style provided with the program, and includes the name and web address of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
"Quebec (bilingual French & English)" is for organizations in Quebec, or national organizations in Canada that want to provide bilingual receipts. If you check it, all receipts you generate will be bilingual, and will include two copies, one for the federal and one for the provincial tax returns. It also includes the CRA's name (bilingually) and web address.
"Quebec (French only)" is for organizations in Quebec that want to provide receipts that are only in French. If you check it, all receipts you generate will have all of their headings in French, and will include two copies, one for the federal and one for the provincial tax returns. It also includes the CRA's French name and web address.
Selecting "U.S.A." causes a significantly different receipt format to be used. Among other things, the Charitable Registration Number field is omitted from the receipts, as it is not used or required in the U.S.A. There is no 2nd tear-off section for the donor to keep, because the receipt does not have to be submitted with your taxes. In addition, the receipt includes the required sentence "Pursuant to Internal Revenue Code requirements for substantiation of charitable contributions, no goods or services were provided in return for the Tax Deductible contributions".
In addition, if you select "U.S.A.", the heading "Cheque # / Paid By" for Donations on the main window and the One Date Donation Entry window changes to "Check # / Paid By".
Selecting "Australia (Deductible Gift Recipient)" changes the phrase "Amount of Donation" to "Amount of Gift", and adds in the phrase "All gifts over $2 are tax deductible". It also displays the charitable number you entered on the Maintenance -> Organization Info window with the heading "ABN Number". This is for organizations in Australia with DGR status.
Selecting "Australia (not DGR)" is for other Australian organizations. It removes the field for the charitable Registration Number, and does not add in the phrase about gifts being tax deductible. It also removes the phrase "Official Receipt for Income Tax Purposes". It does display the ABN Number, however.
Finally, selecting "Other" is for users in all other countries. The receipt generated is just like the Canadian one, with the exception that the name and web address of the CRA is omitted.
Skip Lines
Checking the "Skip Lines" checkbox causes the row of dashes (two rows of dashes in the case of Bilingual or French-only Receipts) on the receipt to be omitted. This may be better for users who use pre-perforated paper. This does not apply to U.S. receipts as they don't have a tear-off section.
Include
These radio buttons provide options for what sections are included in the bottom section of the receipt. This is the part that (except for U.S. users) is to be torn off and kept by the donor. Normally (if you check "Both Donation Details and Summary") first there is a section listing each individual donation that's included in that receipt. Following that, there is a section summarizing those same included donations, by category.
Checking the "Details only, no Summary" radio button causes it to omit the summary by category section.
Checking the "Summary only, no Details" causes it to omit the detailed donations section.
Details Section Includes
These radio buttons only apply if the detailed donations section is included, i.e. if "Summary only, no Details" is not selected in the previous section. Normally, if you select "Date, Amount, Category (2 per line)", the details section includes those three fields for each donation included in the receipt, and it is in two columns on the page.
If you check the "Also Cheque No (1 per line)" checkbox, the Cheque Number / Paid By field from the donation (or "Check Number / Paid By" for U.S. receipts!) is also printed in the details section, and (because this is wider) it is always just in one column on the page.
If you check the "Also Description (1 per line)" checkbox, it adds the Description from each donation into the details section of the receipt, and again causes it to always print the details in just one column on the page. The reason you can't select both "Also Cheque No" and "Also Description" is because there really isn't room across a line to show both of them.
Location Issued
For receipts to be issued in Canada, the location they were issued must be printed on them. This location can be entered in this field. It is ignored for receipts for all other countries.
Label for Member/Env. #
Donors who have a Member/Envelope # will normally have that number shown on their receipts. This drop-down list determines whether the field on the receipt where this is shown is labelled "Envelope #" or "Member #", or whether this number is always omitted from the receipt (if you select the option "Don't display on receipts").
This field defaults to "Envelope #" if you have not set it yourself, because most organizations that choose to enter Member/Envelope numbers for their donors are churches, who usually call it an envelope number.
Starting Receipt #
This field, which defaults to 1, sets your starting (or minimum) receipt number for each year to the value that you enter into it. Very few organizations will need to use this, or for that matter should use this!
I am aware of two situations in which this should be used. The first is when an organization for some reason splits its receipting up between two databases, probably on two computers - perhaps for two different campaigns, though they are for the same charity. Charities should not issue duplicate receipt numbers, so one of the two systems could be set up with a Starting Receipt # of (say) 1000, assuming the other system was not expected to issue over 1,000 receipts per year. (The current maximum number of receipts per year in DONATION is 9,999, so the maximum allowed setting for Starting Receipt # was set somewhat arbitrarily at 9000.)
The other situation is when an organization starts using DONATION mid-year, and they have already issued some numbered receipts manually or with a different program. They should set the Starting Receipt # to the next number after the last one that they already issued. N.B. in this situation, it is important that after issuing the first receipt with DONATION, with the correct starting number, you set the Starting Receipt # back to 1. Otherwise, the same starting number will apply again next year, which you do not want!
The actual receipt number given to any given receipt is the last receipt number issued by DONATION for the current year plus one, or the Starting Receipt #, whichever is larger. I.e. as soon as you have already issued receipts starting at the Starting Receipt #, it becomes irrelevant for the rest of the current year. (It is not updated as you issue receipts - it is just a minimum receipt number.)
Create Receipts using mail merge instead of normal report method
If you check this checkbox, receipts being created or reprinted with the Receipt menu options are immediately displayed on the mail merge display/editing window, using your edited receipt format. If it is unchecked, receipts from the Receipt menu options are displayed with the standard built-in report formats (which cannot be edited, though they can be somewhat affected by the other options on this Maintenance window).
If you are going to use this option, you need to first make sure that the standard receipt mail merge letter file is to your satisfaction. To do that, go to Letters à One Letter, select the radio button for Selected Receipt information, make sure the checkbox to use standard filenames for the Letter File is checked, and click Edit below the name of the Letter File. You can make any changes you wish, then save your changes.
Also, if you are going to do this, please be aware that you are entirely responsible for ensuring that the content of your receipts is in accordance with government regulations.
Note on Generating Receipts using Mail Merge
If you generate receipts using mail merge (either because the checkbox mentioned above is checked, or when you reprint them using the Letters menu options), only certain of the options above affect them. The Receipt Style For selection determines which mail-merge letter file is used by default for your receipts, and the Location Issued field's entry can be included on the receipts. The Skip Lines, Include, Details Section Includes, and Label for Member/Env. # controls on this window are not relevant. Instead, you would just edit the mail-merge letter for receipts appropriately to make the same sort of changes as are made on the standard receipts by using these controls.