How to make donation statements from Excel or Google Sheets

You have a year of gifts in a spreadsheet. Now each donor needs one page that lists their gifts and the total. Here is how to set up the sheet, and three ways to get from rows to statements.

Updated October 2026

Set up the sheet: one row per gift

A name, a date and an amount are all you need. Add address columns if you will mail the statements, and a fund or payment method if you want them shown.

• Spell each donor's name the same way every time, or add a donor ID or envelope number column. “Bob Smith” and “Robert Smith” will be treated as two people.
• Keep one gift per row. Don't add them up by month.
• Enter refunds and returned checks as negative amounts so the total comes out right.
• Leave non-cash gifts out. Stock and property need a separate acknowledgment that describes the gift without a value.

Method 1: Word mail merge

Mail merge makes one letter for each row of a spreadsheet, so it works well when every donor has exactly one row. Giving records have one row per gift, which means you have to summarize first.

1. In Excel or Google Sheets, insert a pivot table with the donor name in Rows and the sum of the amount in Values. That gives you one row per donor with a total.
2. Copy the pivot table to a new sheet as plain values and add the address columns back.
3. In Word, go to Mailings, start a Letters merge, select the summary sheet as the recipient list, and insert the merge fields into your letter.
4. Finish the merge and print.

The limit is that each letter can show the donor's total but not the list of individual gifts. A total on its own is weaker: for gifts of money, the donor's record is supposed to show the date and amount of each gift, so a list is the safer choice.

Method 2: your giving or accounting software

If you use church management or donor software, look for a statements report first. If it has one that you are happy with, use it. If it doesn't, or the result is hard to read, export the gifts to a spreadsheet or CSV file and use the next method.

Method 3: paste the rows into Statement Press

1. Select your rows in Excel or Google Sheets, including the column names, and copy them.
2. Paste them into the box on the Statement Press home page, or choose a CSV file.
3. Check that the name, date and amount columns were matched correctly.
4. Add your organization's name and address, and choose the goods-or-services wording.
5. Download one PDF with a page for each donor, ready to print. With a pass you can also get a separate PDF for each donor to attach to emails.

It groups the rows by donor, sorts the statements by last name, lists every gift with its date, totals them, and places each address where a #10 window envelope shows it. Nothing is uploaded: the work happens in your browser, so your donor list never leaves your computer.

Exporting from other systems

Almost every giving platform, bank and accounting system can export its transactions as a CSV or Excel file. Look for Export, Download CSV, or a transactions report. As long as each row has a name, a date and an amount, the column names and their order don't matter.

What the statement has to say

Whichever method you use, the finished statement needs your organization's name, the gifts, and a sentence about whether the donor received anything in return. See what the IRS requires and the giving statement template.

This page is general information, not tax or legal advice.