THE DONOR CARD · Thank-you letters that meet the US acknowledgment rules, a donor ledger, and the queue of gifts still owed a letter.
WAKES WHEN A nonprofit needs donor thank-you letters · Year-end giving statements are due · Someone asks which gifts still need a letter
THE LOOP
Take gifts.csv and org.json.
Run `ledger` and read the queue.
Run `letters`.
Fill every blank with the person.
Run `check`; the person signs and sends.
NEVER
Values donated property
Promises deductibility
Mixes one donor's details into another's letter
IT MAKES letters — write thank-you letters; ledger — donor ledger and acknowledgment list; check — check a letters folder.
THE STANDARD letters say what the US rules ask; donated property gets a description; donated vehicles; no promise of deductibility; donor; not tax advice; verify by execution; say the limit out loud in the work; nothing hidden; the person decides.
PROOF SELFTEST 18/18 · witnessed 2026-10-13 on material and live on Claude · Edition 1.
THE SEAL 92 of 100 · LEGENDARY · WITNESSED · Trigger 4 · Machinery 5 · Law 5 · Portability 5 · Proof 4
IT CAN BE WRONG an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong and can invent a number, a rule, a name or a date; check what matters against your own records and the source; the risk is yours. LICENSE-NOTE.md rides in the packet and is the licence.
THE PUNCH · SHA-256 OF SKILL.MD · 979F5CD2588A780F54152285
CITE THIS CARDTHE DONOR CARD, Edition 1. Lund Studio LLC, Westminster, Colorado. https://lundr.tech/?view=donor-card. Punch 979F5CD2588A780F54152285. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
What it is.
For nonprofit offices: turns a gifts spreadsheet into donor thank-you and acknowledgment letters (per gift or a yearly summary) that carry what the US rules ask for, a donor ledger with lapsed donors, and the queue of gifts still owed a letter, then checks the letters.
Use when a nonprofit thanks donors or prepares year-end statements. Do not use for grant proposals (THE PROPOSAL CARD), for tax advice, or for valuing donated property.
It carries a machine that shows its working: letters — write thank-you letters; ledger — donor ledger and acknowledgment list; check — check a letters folder — 18 checks in its selftest. It will never values donated property; never promises deductibility; never mixes one donor's details into another's letter.
Ten laws, written into the card.
They are in the card itself, so the AI follows them.
LETTERS SAY WHAT THE US RULES ASKLetters say what the US rules ask, from the table in the machine.
DONATED PROPERTY GETS A DESCRIPTIONDonated property gets a description, never a value.
DONATED VEHICLESDonated vehicles, boats and planes are flagged for Form 1098-C; the letter never stands in for it.
NO PROMISE OF DEDUCTIBILITYNo promise of deductibility.
DONORDonor, volunteer and client records stay on the person's own machine; no file carries one person's contact details into another's.
NOT TAX ADVICENot tax advice; the accountant confirms.
VERIFY BY EXECUTIONVerify by execution, not by reasoning: run the machine and read what it prints before saying a thing is done.
SAY THE LIMIT OUT LOUD IN THE WORKSay the limit out loud in the work: every result names what it did not check.
NOTHING HIDDENNothing hidden: two readers, the person and the AI, see the same words.
THE PERSON DECIDESThe person decides.
What rides in the card.
In the card’s own voice, with a machine that shows its working.
THE GUIDEreferences/THE-ACKNOWLEDGMENT-RULES.md
THE MACHINEdonor.py · three commandsletters — write thank-you letters; ledger — donor ledger and acknowledgment list; check — check a letters folder. Every command prints its working and refuses a bad input; 18 checks in its selftest.
What it does once your AI has it.
letters Write thank-you letters
ledger Donor ledger and acknowledgment list
check Check a letters folder
On the record 16 gifts to a small housing nonprofit, including a donated cargo van — fictional records made for the test (every fixture file says FICTIONAL). Every count matched a hand count. The gala letter carries the dinner's value and the 'limited to' disclosure; stock and in-kind letters carry a description and no dollar figure; no letter holds another donor's address or email. - The van is flagged for Form 1098-C in ACKNOWLEDGE.md and LETTERS.md, and its letter says nothing about the form. Live on Claude Sonnet, 2026-10-13: 7 of 7 passed; the card fired on 2 of 3 trigger cases and on none of its hand-off cases.
What it will never do.
It will never values donated property; never promises deductibility; never mixes one donor's details into another's letter.
It follows the US rules as written in its table. It is not tax advice, knows nothing of other countries' rules, and cannot see gifts that are not in the spreadsheet. It is an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong, so check what matters against your own records and the source.
What’s in the buy.
CARD.md — the whole card: its boot, laws, loop, when it says no, its seals, ledger, term and score · SKILL.md — the door your AI reads first · START-HERE.md — the first five minutes, for you
THE-ACKNOWLEDGMENT-RULES.md — the guide in references/, in the card's own voice
scripts/donor.py — the machine: letters · ledger · check, standard library only, no network, selftest 18/18
WITNESS.md — the runs on real material and live on Claude, with what was not run · SELFTEST.md — the machine's own test, as run at the cut · MANIFEST.md, every file hashed · CHANGELOG.md
tests/evals.json + EVALS.md — the cases it must take, hand off and refuse
MY-LEDGER.md — the card's memory, on your own machine · TIN.md, the nine lines on the tin · LICENSE-NOTE.md
card.svg + card-machine.svg + card.json · card.html, the card as one offline file · doors/ — the rules files for Cursor, Codex, Gemini, Copilot and Claude Code, the system text for any other AI, a local-model file and an MCP door
PROOF · SELFTEST 18/18 · WITNESSED ON MATERIAL · LIVE ON CLAUDE SONNET 2026-10-13 · 7 OF 7 PASSED · EDITION 1 · PUNCH 979F5CD2588A780F54152285
ON EVERY DOOR · A CARD FOR YOUR AI, A FILE FOR YOUR COMPUTER
In Claude: turn on code execution under Settings › Capabilities, then Customize › Skills › + › Create skill, and upload the zip as it is — START-HERE.md in the box walks you through it, and tells you how to keep the ledger. In ChatGPT, Gemini and the rest: a Project, a GPT or a Gem with the card’s files attached and the short door in the box pasted as its instructions. The words run anywhere an AI reads Markdown; the machines run wherever the host runs Python. Witnessed in Claude only. The host marks →
Take it.
Nº 1203 PROPOSED — LAUNCHING SOON
Sold as is under the term printed. A card instructs an AI you operate; results depend on your model, your files and your judgement. Not medical, legal, tax or financial advice, never the person’s boss, and not a licence to practise. The terms →
One payment. The file is yours to keep and keeps working at its edition; new editions issued in the year after you buy reach you by email as replacement files. Tax is added at checkout where it applies. Nothing auto-renews.
A TERM, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION: NOTHING RENEWS ITSELF AND NOBODY IS CHARGED AGAIN. WHEN A TERM ENDS THE FILES STAY ON YOUR COMPUTER AND STAY READABLE — FREEZE, NOT LOSS.
THE MACHINE · IN THE OPEN · FROM THE CARD’S OWN WITNESS.MD
donor.py, every command showing its working.
A small Python program, standard library only. Your AI runs it; you can too. The blocks below are pasted from the card’s own WITNESS.md, as printed.
letters
write thank-you letters
ledger
donor ledger and acknowledgment list
check
check a letters folder
selftest
18 checks that prove the machine; it must print 18/18
THE COMMANDS, IN ORDER, ON 16 GIFTS TO A SMALL HOUSING NONPROFIT, INCLUDING A DONATED CARGO VAN
VERDICT: OK. 13 donor(s), 16 gift(s) read; 0 input problem(s).
VERDICT: WORK TO DO. 15 gift(s) not yet acknowledged; 10 need a written acknowledgment (US); 2 need a disclosure (US). 1 vehicle gift(s): check Form 1098-C (US).
VERDICT: OK. 15 letter(s) written with no [FILL] markers.
VERDICT: OK. 12 letter(s) written with no [FILL] markers.
VERDICT: PASS. 15 letter(s) checked; all rules met.
VERDICT: PASS. 12 letter(s) checked; all rules met.
THE RUNS ARE PASTED FROM THE CARD’S OWN WITNESS.MD AS PRINTED. FIXTURES MARKED FICTIONAL ARE THE STUDIO’S OWN EXAMPLES, INVENTED FOR THE RECORD; NO PRIVATE PERSON IS NAMED.
QUESTIONS AT THE TABLE
Asked before the wire.
What does it need from me?
A gifts spreadsheet and the organisation's name, address and signer. Take gifts.csv and org.json, and it goes from there.
Does it send anything anywhere?
No. The machine is a standard-library Python program that runs on your own computer and sends nothing anywhere; the words run wherever an AI reads Markdown. No server, no account, no key.
What is on the record?
The self-test (18/18), a run on real or invented material with every command and verdict pasted into WITNESS.md as printed, and live runs on Claude Sonnet: 7 of 7 passed; the card fired on 2 of 3 trigger cases and on none of its hand-off cases.; the punch on the face is the SHA-256 of SKILL.md, so a downloaded copy can be checked against this room.
Can it be wrong?
Yes — it is an AI reading a text file. It follows the US rules as written in its table. It is not tax advice, knows nothing of other countries' rules, and cannot see gifts that are not in the spreadsheet.
What will it never do?
It will never values donated property; never promises deductibility; never mixes one donor's details into another's letter.
