Rent Receipts and Donation Receipts as PDF from JSON

Some receipts matter long after the payment. Tenants keep rent receipts as proof of payment for deposits, benefits and tax claims. Donors keep donation receipts for their tax returns, and charities have to issue them correctly. Both are simple documents, sent often, and exactly the kind of thing to generate from payment records rather than write by hand.

PodPDF has a template for each in Templates → Template library → Receipt.

Rent Receipts

The A5 rent receipt shows the receipt number and date, who paid (received from), the landlord’s name and address, the property, the rental period, the payment method, any balance still due, and the amount received in large type, signed by the landlord.

curl -X POST https://api.podpdf.com/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID/render \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -o RR-2026-09.pdf \
  -d '{
    "data": {
      "receipt_number": "RR-2026-09",
      "date": "2026-09-01",
      "landlord": { "name": "Helen Carter", "address": "12 Birch Close\nCambridge CB4 1XY" },
      "tenant": { "name": "Jordan Lee" },
      "property": "Flat 3, 45 Mill Road\nCambridge CB1 2AD",
      "period": "1 September – 30 September 2026",
      "amount": 1250,
      "payment_method": "Bank transfer",
      "balance_due": 0
    }
  }'

The starter is set to British English and pounds; switch the language and currency in Page & style for US dollars, euros, rupees or any other currency. To print two to a sheet, use your printer’s two-pages-per-sheet setting on A4 — or send it by email, which most tenants prefer.

Automate it: when your bank feed or property management system records a rent payment, render the receipt and email it to the tenant. For a portfolio, a monthly job can generate receipts for every paid tenancy at once.

Donation Receipts

The donation receipt is a thank-you letter and a receipt in one, on US Letter paper:

• Your organisation’s name, address and EIN
• The donor’s name and address, the receipt number and the date received
• A thank-you paragraph
• The amount, payment method and what the gift was designated for
• A statement that no goods or services were provided in exchange, and that the organisation is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3)
• A signature from your executive director or treasurer

{
  "data": {
    "organization": {
      "name": "Riverside Food Bank",
      "address": "740 Water Street\nPittsburgh, PA 15222",
      "ein": "25-1234567"
    },
    "receipt_number": "DR-2026-1187",
    "donor": {
      "name": "Maria Gonzalez",
      "address": "77 Sunset Boulevard, Apt 5C\nLos Angeles, CA 90028"
    },
    "donation_date": "2026-09-12",
    "amount": 250,
    "method": "Credit card",
    "designation": "Weekend meals for children",
    "signatory": { "name": "Denise Walker", "title": "Executive Director" }
  }
}

Check the wording with your adviser. The template’s statement fits a gift with nothing given in return. If donors received something — event tickets, a dinner, merchandise — the receipt needs to describe it and its value instead; edit the statement in the builder. Outside the US, replace the 501(c)(3) wording with your country’s charity registration details (for example a UK Gift Aid declaration, or a Canadian registration number).

Year-End Summaries

Many donors want one receipt for the year. Use the same template with the year’s total as amount, the date of the last gift as donation_date and "Total gifts in 2026" as designation — or duplicate the template and add a table listing each gift’s date and amount.

Use Cases

• Landlords and letting agents: monthly rent receipts, deposit receipts, and arrears statements with the balance due
• Property management software: receipts generated on every payment, stored with the tenancy
• Student housing and co-living: receipts per room or per term
• Charities and nonprofits: receipts for online gifts, recurring donors and event donations
• Churches, mosques, temples and community groups: receipts for offerings and appeals
• Schools and PTAs: receipts for fundraising and sponsorship

Connecting Your Payment Source

• Stripe, PayPal or your donation platform: a payment webhook → Zapier or n8n → render → email the PDF (Zapier, n8n)
• Spreadsheet: a row per payment, processed once a day or once a month
• Your own system: call the render endpoint right after you record the payment

Mark the fields you always need — receipt number, date, donor or tenant name, amount — as Required (they are in the starters). A payment record missing one is rejected with the field named and isn’t charged, so nobody receives a receipt with a blank amount.

Pricing

Each receipt is one PDF at $0.01. Generated PDFs aren’t stored unless you ask for a download link, which expires after 1 hour; keep your own copy for your records.

Get Started

• Open the template library and filter by Receipt
• Read the templates API reference
• Related guides: 80 mm till receipts, account statements, thank-you letters