I tend to agree, they didn't make a donation, they purchased something from you and that means you can't put your name to a letter that says otherwise.

Not OK. She bought stuff; she didn't make a donation. If she opted out of the fundraiser and just gave you $400 instead, well, then would be a donation for which she didn't get any goods or services in exchange, so you could give her the letter. That's not what happened.

Tell her she can donate all the cookie dough to the local food pantry and get a letter from them if she wants a donation.

We recently had a cookie dough fundraiser. We had one parent come forward asking for a contribution letter so they can take a tax deduction. Here is what we suspect happened and are looking for guidance. We think this parent had all their neighbors/coworkers pay cash or made checks payable to the parents for the cookie dough . In turn, the parent gave us one large check ($400+) for the entire order.

Since the amount we received is in excess of $250, can we write the standard "Thank you for your donation of $___ for the cookie dough fundraiser" type of letter? Do we say "No goods or services were given in exchange" as the IRS Pub 1771 says, even though they did get cookie dough?

Is it fair to give this parent this type of letter when we are pretty sure they didn't come out of pocket for the entire $400? Or is it really none of our business and just give them the letter?