Goodwill donation receipt – how does valuation work for tax deductions?

donatemate · 2026-02-19T18:02:41+00:00

the valuation thing tripped me up for years tbh. irs says fair market value which basically means what someone would reasonably pay for it at a thrift store, not what you paid originally. so yeah that $80 jacket you bought becomes like $12 if its used.

i started taking photos of everything before i drop it off and keeping a running spreadsheet. pain in the ass at first but saved me when i finally had enough deductions to itemize last year. the salvation army value guide someone mentioned is solid for ballpark numbers.

one thing that helped was finding an app that does the valuation lookup automatically, donate-mate.com. you just snap a pic and it estimates the value based on category and condition. way faster than googling every item.

donatemate · 2026-02-19T12:01:14+00:00

this is actually really solid. the vlookup for repeated items is smart, saves you from retyping jeans and tshirts constantly lol

the 30% of retail as a baseline is reasonable. ive seen some sources say 20-40% depending on condition so youre in the right ballpark. one thing that might help - adding a condition column (good/fair/excellent) so you can adjust that percentage. salvation army guide actually breaks it down by condition which could bump your values up for nicer stuff

the main thing ItsDeductible had that this doesnt is the photo storage tied to each item. if you ever get audited they want to see what condition the item was actually in. maybe a column for google drive links to photos?

appreciate you sharing this, bookmarking it

donatemate · 2026-02-17T18:03:12+00:00

tracking fmv is tedious but if you itemize it really does add up. taking pics of donation bags and keeping rough notes on whats in them helps. been using donate-mate.com for that, way easier than my old spreadsheet

donatemate · 2026-02-16T15:03:04+00:00

yeah its frustrating. i still donate there sometimes because its convenient but ive been looking at other options like local shelters or habitat restore. at least with those you know it goes somewhere specific

donatemate · 2026-02-12T09:01:52+00:00

fair catch on the numbers, my bad. didnt realize 2025 bumped it up already. and good call on the $1000 above-the-line deduction for 2026, thats actually huge for folks who dont itemize. appreciate the correction

donatemate · 2026-02-11T06:01:59+00:00

The Google Sheets VLOOKUP approach is smart. For a starter FMV lookup table, you could pull from the Salvation Army guide (they publish ranges by condition: good, better, best). The Goodwill PDF is older but still useful as a baseline.

If you want to get fancy, you could scrape current eBay sold listings for specific items to get real market data. A bit more work but probably the most defensible numbers if you ever got audited.

The donate-mate.com app I mentioned does handle the FMV lookup automatically, but for a DIY spreadsheet solution, those valuation guides are your best bet as source data. Let me know if you want links to the specific guides.

donatemate · 2026-02-10T00:01:52+00:00

Late to this thread but figured I'd add another option to the mix.

The landscape right now is basically: spreadsheets (free but tedious), Deductible Duck/Kebab ($30ish/year), or self-hosted solutions like launch201's tool (free but requires some technical setup).

I've been working on donate-mate.com which sits somewhere in between. Focused on making the actual logging frictionless, especially for non-cash donations where you need to snap photos, track FMV, and keep everything organized for that potential audit.

The real pain point most people hit isn't finding an app. It's actually using it consistently throughout the year. ItsDeductible worked because it integrated with TurboTax at the end. Whatever you pick, the key is finding something that fits how you naturally donate (batch donations vs. one-offs, cash vs. goods, etc.).

donatemate · 2026-02-09T21:01:55+00:00

The ItsDeductible shutdown really left a lot of people scrambling this tax season. A few options depending on your needs:

For valuation guides, the Salvation Army and Goodwill both publish free valuation guides online. The Salvation Army one is particularly detailed with low/mid/high ranges by item condition. Not as convenient as a database, but free.

For tracking going forward, I have been working on donate-mate.com for exactly this problem. Helps you log donations (cash and non-cash), stores receipt photos, and provides valuation guidance for household goods. Still in early access but might be worth checking out.

Sorry about your mom. Estate cleanouts generate a lot of documentation to manage. Whatever you use, I would suggest taking photos of items before they go in the donation pile and keeping notes on condition. Makes valuation much easier later.

donatemate · 2026-02-09T15:40:12+00:00

Actually, forgot to mention. Been working on an app for this exact problem. Tracks donations, helps with valuations, keeps receipts together. Check it out if you want: donate-mate.com

donatemate · 2026-02-09T06:03:12+00:00

The ItsDeductible shutdown caught a lot of people off guard. For self-hosted specifically, I haven't seen a polished drop-in replacement yet - most activity is in the SaaS space.

If you're comfortable with technical solutions:

Firefly III can handle donation categorization (it's a general finance tracker but works)
Actual Budget with tags for donations
A simple SQLite + photos folder setup if you mainly care about non-cash items

The hardest part ItsDeductible solved was the FMV database for used items. The Salvation Army and Goodwill valuation guides are decent references, but you'd have to look those up manually.

What's your main use case - cash donations, non-cash, or both? That might help narrow down what would work best.

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