The Annual Receipt Generator allows you to generate end-of-year receipts for multiple donors in a single process. It can be used to thank your donors while issuing their annual tax receipts by email or PDF.
The generator works by identifying eligible payments within a selected financial year and creating one annual receipt for each contact.
- Before You Begin
- Annual Receipt Generator Workflow
- How the Annual Receipt Generator Works
- Step 1 - Select a Receipt Query Type
- Step 2 - Create or Load a Receipt Query
- Step 3 - Review the Search Results
- Step 4 - Select a Delivery Method
- Annual Receipt Document
- Troubleshooting
- Workflow Summary
Before You Begin
Before generating annual receipts, ensure the following has been completed:
- Your Annual Receipt document has both the Annual Receipt and Tax Receipt document tags assigned.
- Your Receipt Settings have been configured under Admin > Receipt Settings.
- All payments for the financial year have been entered and reconciled.
- Your Annual Receipt document contains the required merge tags (covered later in this article).
Important: The Annual Receipt Generator will only generate a receipt where the total donation value is greater than $5.
Annual Receipt Generator Workflow
Annual Receipt Generator
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Select Receipt Query Type
│
┌───────────────────┴───────────────────┐
│ │
▼ ▼
Annual Receipt Statement of Giving
│ │
• Official end-of-year • Annual giving summary
tax receipt • Includes all payments,
• Only includes eligible including those already
payments not previously receipted
tax receipted • Assigns Annual Receipt
• Commonly used for Numbers to eligible
recurring donations payments not previously
receipted
└───────────────────┬───────────────────┘
│
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Create New Query or Load Saved Query
│
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Configure Search & Receipt Options
• Financial Year • Contact Type • Lists
• GL Codes • Attributes • Payment Type
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Review Search Results
• Summarised Results
• All Results
• Export to Excel (optional)
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Select Delivery Method
┌──────────┴──────────┐
│ │
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Email PDF
• Schedule send date • Generate PDF file
• Select document • Download from
• Optional PDF copy User Alerts/Mailbox
└──────────┬──────────┘
│
▼
Generate Annual Receipts
│
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Receipts Assigned & Recorded
• Annual Receipt Number generated
• Annual Receipt Date assigned
• Mailings & Email Receipts updated
• Annual Receipts campaign created
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Review Delivery & ReportingHow the Annual Receipt Generator Works
The Annual Receipt Generator helps prevent duplicate receipts from being issued.
By default, it searches for payments that have not already been receipted.
Whether a payment is included depends on your Receipt Settings.
If Mark payments as receipted only when a document with the tag 'Tax Receipt' is sent is enabled, only payments with a document tagged Tax Receipt (including attachments) will be excluded from the Annual Receipt Generator.
If this setting is disabled, any payment with a document already attached will be excluded, including:
- Receipt documents
- Widget-generated documents
- Acknowledgement letters
This setting can be enabled or changed at any time. Existing documents can also be updated with the Tax Receipt document tag if required.
Step 1 – Select a Receipt Query Type
The first step is to choose the type of receipt query you want to create.
There are two available options:
- Annual Receipt
- Statement of Giving
Choosing the correct option depends on the purpose of the document you want to generate.
| Receipt Query Type | When to Use | Includes Previously Receipted Payments? | Common Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Receipt | Generates an official end-of-financial-year tax receipt for eligible donations that have not already received a tax receipt. | No | Commonly used for recurring donors who receive a single tax receipt at the end of the financial year instead of individual receipts throughout the year. |
| Statement of Giving | Generates a summary of ALL donations made during the selected period. Payments that have not already received an annual receipt will also be assigned an Annual Receipt Number during processing. | Yes | Commonly used as an annual giving summary while also assigning Annual Receipt Numbers to eligible payments that have not previously been receipted. |
Annual Receipt
An Annual Receipt is an official end-of-financial-year tax receipt that combines eligible donations into a single receipt for the selected financial year.
It is typically used when individual payments have not been receipted during the year, such as recurring donations, allowing donors to receive one consolidated tax receipt at the end of the financial year.
The Annual Receipt Generator uses your Receipt Settings and Document Tags to determine which payments should be included.
Statement of Giving
A Statement of Giving provides a summary of all donations made during the selected period, including payments that have already received individual receipts.
For any eligible payments that have not already been assigned an Annual Receipt Number, the Statement of Giving process will automatically generate one during processing. This allows you to provide donors with a complete summary of their giving while ensuring outstanding annual receipts are also recorded.
Tip: Choose Statement of Giving if you want to provide donors with a complete annual summary of their contributions. It can also assign Annual Receipt Numbers to eligible payments that have not already received one, making it ideal for organisations that want to issue both a giving summary and any outstanding annual tax receipts in a single process.
This article focuses on generating an Annual Receipt. For information on generating a Statement of Giving, see attached article here.
Opening the Annual Receipt Generator
Navigate to:
Money → Receipt Generator
The Annual Receipt Generator is completed over three pages:
- Create or load a receipt query.
- Review the results.
-
Generate receipts by Email or PDF.
Step 2 – Create or Load a Receipt Query
The first page allows you to either create a new Annual Receipt query or load a previously saved one.
Load an Existing Query
Select an existing query from the drop-down list to reload previously saved search criteria.
Note: This list only contains queries created within the Annual Receipt Generator. It does not display queries created using the Vega Query Tool.
If you wish to use an existing Vega Query, first add the query results to a List, then use the Include Lists option when creating your Annual Receipt query.
Create a New Query
Select New Query.
Enter a descriptive name for the query before continuing.
Examples include:
- Annual Receipts 2025/2026
- Major Donors 2026 Financial Year
- Corporate Donors 2025/2026
- Regular Giving 2026
Receipt Query Type
Select receipt query type Annual Receipt
Configure Receipt Options
The available options allow you to decide exactly which payments should be included in the receipt run.
| Option | Description |
| Financial Year | Select the date range for payments to be included. |
| Contact Type | Include all contacts, only contacts with email addresses, or only contacts without email addresses. |
| Recurring Payments Only | Includes only payments linked to recurring donations. |
| All Payments | Includes all eligible payments within the selected dates. |
| Include Lists | Includes only contacts belonging to the selected lists. Multiple lists can be selected using Ctrl + Click. |
| Exclude Lists | Excludes contacts belonging to selected lists. |
| Include GL Codes | Includes only payments allocated to selected GL Codes. |
| Exclude Attributes | Excludes contacts with selected attributes. |
These options allow you to create separate receipt runs for different groups of donors.
Examples include:
- Major Donors
- Corporate Sponsors
- Regular Giving
- VIP Supporters
- Donors receiving a customised thank-you message
Tip: Creating separate saved queries makes it easy to send different receipt documents or email wording to different donor groups while using the same Annual Receipt Generator.
Once you've finished configuring the search criteria, click Search to review the results.
Step 3 – Review the Search Results
After clicking Search, Vega will display all payments that match your selected search criteria.
You can use the search box to quickly find a specific contact or payment.
The results are displayed in two views.
Summarised Results
The Summarised Results tab displays one row per contact, providing an overview of their eligible donations.
Information displayed includes:
- Contact details
- Payment date range
- Total donation amount
- Number of payments
- Recurring donation amount (if applicable)
- Recurring donation frequency
- Expected payment count
This view is ideal for reviewing the total amount each donor will receive on their annual receipt.
All Results
The All Results tab displays every individual payment included in the receipt run.
This view is useful if you want to verify that specific payments have been included before generating receipts.
Search results return the payment details for the selected dates and query parameters. You can search the grid using the search box.
• Summarised Results - shows a row for each contact with their payment date range, total amount, count, recurrence amount, recurrence frequencies, expected count, and contact information.
• All Results- shows a row for each payment for every contact
• Excel - exports the search results to Excel, including a sheet for summarised and all results.
Results Page Actions
Several options are available from the results page.
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
| Refine Search | Returns to the search criteria so you can make changes. |
| Save | Saves the current query for future use. |
| Select Delivery Method | Continues to the final step for generating annual receipts. |
Once you're happy with the search results, click Select Delivery Method.
Step 4 – Select a Delivery Method
Choose how you'd like to generate your annual receipts.
You can either:
- Email receipts directly to your donors.
- Generate PDF receipts for printing or manual distribution.
Email
Selecting Email sends the receipt to each contact's preferred email address.
Complete the following fields:
| Field | Description |
| Send Receipts On | Select the date and time the emails will be processed. |
| Receipt | Select the Annual Receipt document to send. |
| Generate PDF Copy | Creates a downloadable PDF copy of all emailed receipts, available through User Alerts. |
Tip: Your email document can include an attached PDF receipt, allowing you to send a personalised email with the official receipt attached.
Selecting PDF generates printable Annual Receipts.
Choose the Receipt document you wish to use.
Tip: Your receipt document can include an attachment if you'd like to provide both a thank-you letter and a separate tax receipt.
Annual Receipt Document
If you don't already have an Annual Receipt document, you can use one of Vega's pre-designed Annual Receipt templates.
Your annual receipt document must be configured with the document tags Annual Receipt and Tax Receipt
Required Merge Tags
Your Annual Receipt template must include the following merge tags.
| Merge Tag | Description |
| #AnnualReceiptNo# | Displays the Annual Receipt Number. |
| #AnnualReceiptTotal# | Displays the total receipted amount. |
| #AnnualReceiptPaymentList# | Lists each payment included on the Annual Receipt, including the payment date and amount. |
After Processing
Once the Annual Receipt Generator has finished processing:
- Every eligible payment receives an Annual Receipt Number.
- Every eligible payment is assigned an Annual Receipt Date.
- The receipt is recorded under Mailings & Email Receipts on the contact.
- A new campaign action is automatically created under the Annual Receipts campaign.
Depending on the delivery method selected:
An email campaign is created, allowing you to monitor:
- Delivery status
- Opens
- Clicks
- Other email engagement metrics
Each email is also recorded against the contact's campaign history.
A PDF generation action is created, allowing you to download and distribute the receipts manually.
Troubleshooting
Why wasn't a payment included?
If a payment does not appear in the Annual Receipt Generator, check the following:
- The payment falls within the selected financial year.
- The payment matches the selected query filters.
- The payment hasn't already been excluded by your Receipt Settings.
- The payment doesn't already have a Tax Receipt attached (if setting is enabled in Financial Settings).
- The contact hasn't been excluded by a List or Attribute filter.
- The total value being receipted is greater than $5.
If everything above appears correct, review your Receipt Settings under Admin to confirm how previously receipted payments are being excluded.
Workflow Summary
The Annual Receipt process follows these steps:
- Open the Annual Receipt Generator.
- Create a new query or load a saved annual receipt query.
- Select the financial year and configure your receipt options.
- Review the search results.
- Choose Email or PDF delivery.
- Generate the Annual Receipts.
- Review the completed campaign and receipt history.
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“Some content in this article may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by staff.”
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