Nonprofit Accounting
Nonprofit Donor Management
Nonprofit Management
Form 990 Schedule M: Reporting Noncash Contributions by Type
Last updated: October 11, 2026 · Independent guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.
Form 990 Schedule M reports the types, counts and values of the noncash gifts your organization received during the year. You must complete it if you received more than $25,000 of noncash contributions, or if you received any art, historical treasures or qualified conservation contributions, whatever their value. Its amounts must tie to Form 990, Part VIII, line 1g, so your donor database needs to code every gift by property type.
The rule in brief
- Who it applies to: Form 990 filers that answer “Yes” to Part IV, line 29 or line 30.
- Threshold: line 29 asks whether you received “more than $25,000 in noncash contributions.” Line 30 asks about art, historical treasures, similar assets and qualified conservation contributions, with no dollar threshold.
- Key date: Form 990 is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after your year ends (May 15 for a calendar-year filer), and 2025 returns must be e-filed.
- Official source: Schedule M (Form 990), 2025 and the 2025 Instructions for Form 990. We checked both on October 11, 2026.
What Schedule M requires
Part I lists 28 property types. For each one you received, you complete four columns: (a) “Check if applicable,” (b) “Number of contributions or items contributed,” (c) “Noncash contribution amounts reported on Form 990, Part VIII, line 1g,” and (d) “Method of determining noncash contribution amounts” (IRS, Schedule M 2025). In Part II you must say whether column (b) counts contributions, items or both.
Line 29 asks how many Forms 8283 you received during the year for which you completed Part V, Donee Acknowledgment. Line 30a covers property you must hold for at least three years but need not use for exempt purposes for the entire holding period. Line 31 asks about your gift acceptance policy, line 32a about third parties or related organizations that solicit, process or sell noncash gifts, and line 33 requires a Part II explanation for any type checked in column (a) with no amount in column (c).
The IRS instructions say: “Don’t report donations of services or the donated use of facilities, equipment, or materials donated.” They also say to report noncash donated items “even if sold immediately after received” (IRS, annotated 2024 Schedule M).
How each Schedule M line maps to your donor database and GL
The coding columns are our recommendations, not IRS requirements: every gift record should carry a subtype that matches one Schedule M line.
| Schedule M line | Donor database coding | GL and documents |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 Art: works of art, historical treasures, fractional interests | In-kind gift, subtype per line; collections review flag | Collection or contributed asset account; triggers Schedule M at any value |
| 4-5 Books; clothing and household goods | One batch record per drop-off or period | In-kind revenue; resale inventory if sold |
| 6-7 Cars and other vehicles; boats and planes | Separate subtypes for line 6 and line 7; VIN in notes | Form 1098-C copy when claimed value exceeds $500 |
| 8 Intellectual property | Property gift, subtype IP | Transfer agreement; Form 8283 if presented |
| 9-12 Securities: publicly traded, closely held, partnership/LLC/trust interests, miscellaneous | Stock/property gift, one record per gift, subtype per line | Investments at gift-date fair value; sale gain or loss booked separately |
| 13-14 Qualified conservation contributions | Property gift, subtype per line | Deed and Form 8283; triggers Schedule M at any value |
| 15-17 Real estate: residential, commercial, other | Stock/property gift, subtype per line | Property or held-for-sale account; Form 8282 if sold within three years |
| 18-24 Collectibles, food inventory, drugs and medical supplies, taxidermy, historical artifacts, scientific and archeological items | In-kind gift, subtype per line; food and supplies batched by period | In-kind revenue with program expense when distributed |
| 25-28 Other, with a description | Subtype named exactly as the Part I description | Account per asset type, such as digital assets |
Securities
The IRS instructions treat each separate gift of securities, rather than each share received, as one contribution (IRS, annotated 2024 Schedule M). In Raiser’s Edge NXT, a sold gift carries its own sale amount, broker fee and gain or loss (Blackbaud, October 7, 2026). Column (c) must match the contribution amount you reported on line 1g, so use the gift amount, not net sale proceeds.
Vehicles
You file a separate Form 1098-C for each qualified vehicle with a claimed value over $500, and it must reach the donor within 30 days of the sale or contribution date (IRS, Instructions for Form 1098-C, revised November 2019). Keep cars (line 6) and boats and planes (line 7) as separate subtypes.
Food, clothing and household goods
Choose one counting basis, such as one contribution per drop-off, state it in Part II, and describe the valuation method in column (d), for example a per-pound rate or thrift resale value.
Art and conservation easements
These categories require Schedule M even under $25,000. Donors claiming $20,000 or more for art must attach a complete copy of the signed appraisal to their own return (IRS, Instructions for Form 8283, revised December 2025). Have collections staff report every accession to finance.
Real estate
Real estate splits into residential, commercial and other. A qualified appraisal is required for donated property valued over $5,000, signed no more than 60 days before the contribution date (IRS, Instructions for Form 8283). If you sell within three years, Form 8282 follows.
Cryptocurrency
The IRS treats donated virtual currency as a noncash contribution reported on Schedule M where applicable, with Form 8282 due if you dispose of charitable deduction property within three years (IRS virtual currency FAQ 37, June 30, 2026). Schedule M has no digital asset line, while Section B of Form 8283 has a separate “Digital assets” checkbox (IRS, Form 8283, Rev. December 2025). In our view, an Other line described as “Digital assets” is the clearest place for it; confirm with your preparer.
Who does not need to file
If you answer “No” to both Part IV, lines 29 and 30, you skip Schedule M. The $25,000 test is aggregate, so many small gifts can push you over it (IRS, annotated 2024 Schedule M). The line 29 instructions say: “Don’t include contributions of services or use of facilities” (IRS, Instructions for Form 990, 2025).
Deadlines and penalties
Schedule M shares Form 990’s deadline and penalties. The 2025 instructions set a late-filing penalty of $25 a day, up to the lesser of $13,000 or 5% of gross receipts. For organizations with gross receipts over $1,309,500, the penalty is $130 a day with a maximum of $65,000 per return (IRS, Instructions for Form 990, 2025). Responsible persons can also be charged $10 a day, up to $6,500, if the IRS demands a complete return and does not receive it.
Schedule M is also open to public inspection (IRS, annotated 2024 Schedule M).
Records you must keep
- Signed Forms 8283. Donors file it for noncash deductions over $500; for Section B property (generally over $5,000) you sign Part V, which states that it “does not represent agreement with the claimed fair market value” (IRS, Form 8283). Keep copies: line 29 asks how many you received with Part V completed.
- Forms 8282. File within 125 days after disposing of charitable deduction property (property listed in Section B of Form 8283) within three years of receipt, unless the donor’s Form 8283 valued the item at $500 or less or you consumed or distributed it for your exempt purpose (IRS, Form 8282, Rev. October 2021).
- Forms 1098-C for qualified vehicles.
- Written acknowledgments for gifts of $250 or more, which must include a “description (but not value) of non-cash contribution” (IRS, June 28, 2026).
- Valuation support for each column (d) method.
The gift acceptance policy question
Line 31 asks: “Does the organization have a gift acceptance policy that requires the review of any nonstandard contributions?” A “No” signals noncash gifts are accepted without formal review (James Moore, February 20, 2026). Keiter, another CPA firm, suggests the policy cover cryptocurrency and NFTs, encumbered assets, closely held and S corporation stock, and Form 8283 signatures. A required approval field on gifts coded to lines 8, 10 to 17 or 25 to 28 makes the policy auditable.
Reconciling Schedule M to Part VIII, line 1g
Part VIII, line 1g is “Noncash contributions included in lines 1a-1f” (IRS, Form 990, 2025). The IRS says in-kind contributions of property, but not of services, belong on line 1g (IRS, June 28, 2026). Because column (c) asks for the amounts reported on line 1g, the column (c) total should tie to line 1g. Explain any gap in Part II.
Illustration (constructed numbers): your GL shows $46,800 of contributed nonfinancial assets. Remove $5,000 of donated professional services recognized under GAAP, and $41,800 goes to line 1g. Your CRM export shows six stock gifts valued at $28,500 on line 9, three cars at $4,300 on line 6, clothing at $3,000 on line 5 and food at $6,000 on line 19. The schedule ties. Had the CRM recorded the stock at $27,900 of net sale proceeds, you would be $600 short.
ASU 2020-07 already requires contributed nonfinancial assets on a separate line, broken out by category in the disclosures (BDO, September 24, 2020). Aligning those categories with your Schedule M subtypes lets one schedule serve the audit and the return.
What to set up in your systems
Raiser’s Edge NXT
Blackbaud’s gift types include Gifts-in-kind and Stock/property, a sold stock or property gift is tracked as Stock/property (sold), and you can set up gift subtypes in Tables under Configuration in the database view (Blackbaud, October 7, 2026; Blackbaud, October 7, 2026). Blackbaud’s documented filters for the Gift Detail and Summary report are appeals, campaigns, constituent codes and funds, not gift type (Blackbaud, October 7, 2026). Export gifts with type, subtype, date and amount, then total by subtype. A user-compiled Community mapping shows stock and in-kind pledge payments appear only as “Pledge payment” in web view, so check them in database view (Blackbaud Community, no date shown).
DonorPerfect
DonorPerfect’s training material describes the Transaction Listing report as one of the only reports that shows fair market value on a gift, with a section grouped by gift type. Easy Report Builder can group by fields such as general ledger and donor type, show counts and sums, and export to XLS or CSV (DonorPerfect, Financial Reporting, no date shown; DonorPerfect, Easy Report Builder, no date shown). The trainer says the Comprehensive Donor Revenue Analysis excludes $0 gifts, which includes in-kind gifts, so avoid it here. Add a gift-level code for the Schedule M line and group an Easy Report by it.
Bloomerang
Bloomerang has you enter in-kind gifts with Amount set to zero, Method set to In Kind, and the value in Fair Market Value (Bloomerang, August 26, 2026). Stock is also entered as In-Kind, and Bloomerang says you cannot filter for stock gifts by default without a custom field (Bloomerang, August 3, 2026). Create a custom field with one value per Schedule M line, then run a transaction report with in-kind columns grouped by that field.
Map each subtype to a GL account or segment so postings to your nonprofit accounting software carry the same category. Our guides to donor management software and Raiser’s Edge NXT alternatives compare gift coding across CRMs.
How we researched this
We read the 2025 Schedule M, Form 990, Form 8283 and Form 8282, the related IRS instructions and guidance, Blackbaud, DonorPerfect and Bloomerang help documentation, and the Schedule M guides from Keiter, James Moore and Tax990. The standalone 2025 Schedule M instructions did not load for us on October 11, 2026, so line wording comes from the 2025 form itself and the counting rules come from the IRS annotated 2024 Schedule M, which reprints the instructions.
Related guides
- How to Record In-Kind Donations: Entries and ASU 2020-07
- Year-End Giving Statement: Requirements and Template
- Form 990 Schedule A: The Public Support Test Explained
Frequently asked questions
Do I count shares or gifts in column (b)?
The IRS instructions treat each separate gift of stock as one contribution, not each share. Part II requires you to state whether column (b) shows contributions, items or a combination.
Where does cryptocurrency go on Schedule M?
The IRS treats donated virtual currency as a noncash contribution, but Schedule M has no dedicated line for it. An Other line (25 to 28) described as digital assets is the clearest option.
Why doesn’t my Schedule M total match line 1g?
Check for stock recorded at net sale proceeds instead of gift-date value, in-kind pledge payments coded as ordinary payments, and donated services included in the GL total.
Does signing a donor’s Form 8283 mean we agree with the value?
No. Part V states that the acknowledgment “does not represent agreement with the claimed fair market value.” You confirm only your qualified status and the date you received the property.
Sources
- IRS, Schedule M (Form 990) Noncash Contributions, 2025 (form created December 29, 2025). irs.gov
- IRS, Schedule M (Form 990) annotated informational copy, 2024, no date shown. irs.gov
- IRS, Form 990, 2025, no date shown beyond tax year. irs.gov
- IRS, Instructions for Form 990 (2025), no revision date shown, checked October 11, 2026. irs.gov
- IRS, Form 8283, Rev. December 2025. irs.gov
- IRS, Instructions for Form 8283, revised December 2025. irs.gov
- IRS, Form 8282, Rev. October 2021. irs.gov
- IRS, Instructions for Form 1098-C, revised November 2019. irs.gov
- IRS, Frequently asked questions on virtual currency transactions, June 30, 2026. irs.gov
- IRS, Exempt organizations annual reporting requirements: Form 990, Part VIII-IX and Schedule D (financial information), June 28, 2026. irs.gov
- IRS, Charitable contributions: written acknowledgments, June 28, 2026. irs.gov
- BDO (accounting firm), New Accounting Standards Update on Nonprofit Gifts-in-Kind, September 24, 2020. bdo.com
- James Moore (CPA firm), Form 990 Schedule M: What Leaders Need to Know, February 20, 2026. jmco.com
- Keiter (CPA firm), Tips for Preparing Schedule M of Form 990, July 20, 2022. keitercpa.com
- Tax990 (sells Form 990 e-filing software), Schedule M for Form 990, August 14, 2023. tax990.com
- Blackbaud (sells Raiser’s Edge NXT), Gift Types, October 7, 2026. blackbaud.com
- Blackbaud, Add a Gift Record, October 7, 2026. blackbaud.com
- Blackbaud, Stock/Property Gifts, October 7, 2026. blackbaud.com
- Blackbaud, Reports Filters Tab, October 7, 2026. blackbaud.com
- Blackbaud Community, Official List of Gift Type Name Mappings Between RE and NXT Web View (user-compiled), no date shown. community.blackbaud.com
- DonorPerfect (sells DonorPerfect), Financial Reporting training transcript, no date shown. donorperfect.com
- DonorPerfect, Easy Report Builder training video, no date shown. donorperfect.com
- Bloomerang (sells Bloomerang CRM), Enter in-kind donations, August 26, 2026. help.bloomerang.com
- Bloomerang, Record gifts of stock, August 3, 2026. help.bloomerang.com
Sherman Hsieh
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more
