# Gifts for Board Members: Holiday, Thank-You and Outgoing-Member Gifts Under $40 That Ship to Each Home

A good nonprofit board member gift is small and useful, and ships to each member's home with a personal card from the chair. One nonprofit spends "around $20-30 each" on logo mugs, blankets and scarves; retiring members get something more personal. Check your bylaws and gift policy first.

*We sell a $35 logo mug gift box, printed, packed and shipped to each person's address. This guide covers the other options too.*

**Key facts**
- One nonprofit on r/nonprofit gives board members holiday gifts every year: "Usually around $20-30 each. We've done mugs, blankets, scarves, travel DOPP bags all with our logo on them" ([r/nonprofit, Jan 2026](https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/1qbd31w/)).
- For retiring members, another organization "ordered yeti coffee mugs with our logo and packaged 2 with a pound of local coffee and a meaningful note about their influence of their time on the board" ([r/nonprofit, Jul 2026](https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/1v7lfai/)).
- IRS Publication 1771: a charity "must provide a written disclosure statement to a donor who makes a payment exceeding $75 partly as a contribution and partly for goods and services" ([Pub. 1771](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1771.pdf), Rev. 11-2023).
- For 2026, IRS "low cost articles" are "articles costing $13.90 or less" ([Rev. Proc. 2025-32, §4.33](https://www.irs.gov/irb/2025-45_IRB)).

This page is part of our [client gifts by profession](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/professions) guide. For donors, see [donor thank-you gifts](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/professions/donor-thank-you-gifts).

## What do nonprofits give board members for the holidays?

**Small, useful, and in these threads, with the organization's logo.** An executive director whose board had just finished a capital campaign asked r/nonprofit whether a "small token gift. About $15 each" was all right ([thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/1qbd31w/)). The replies were mostly yes: "We do gifts for our board members every year for the holidays," wrote one commenter, and another's nonprofit "would do annual board gifts for those terming off/retiring."

The same thread had a better idea than a gift card: "say you give a $15 mug for only those folks who helped out with the campaign, that means something and is unique."

| Gift | Reaches a member in another state? | What stays after the holidays | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handwritten card from the chair | Yes, by letter mail | The card | Nothing to watch |
| Logo mug, blanket or scarf | Yes, if you ship it | The item | Sizes for clothing; a big logo reads as swag |
| Donation to a charity they choose | Yes | Nothing to keep | Ask them which charity |
| Photo book of the board's year | Yes | The book | Time to make; you need photos |
| Dinner | No, only members nearby | A memory | Members who live far away miss out |
| Logo mug gift box with cocoa and truffles (Personalized Gifts Delivered, $35 delivered) | Yes, lower 48 and DC, except Texas for now | The mug, and the chair's card | Shipping and the card are in the $35; the truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten) |

## How much should you spend on a board member gift?

**We found no survey of board gift spending.** The amounts nonprofits share in public are modest:

- "About $15 each," for a whole board, from an executive director ([r/nonprofit](https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/1qbd31w/)).
- "Usually around $20-30 each," every holiday season, from another nonprofit (same thread).

A common pattern in that thread: a modest holiday gift for the whole board, and gifts "for big campaign work and when they retire/leave the board for long terms of service." Our box is $35, delivered, a little above the holiday range, with shipping, packing and the chair's printed card inside that price.

## What do you give a board member who is retiring or leaving?

Someone planning gifts for retiring board members asked r/nonprofit for ideas beyond "an engraved clock or something" ([thread, Jul 2026](https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/1v7lfai/)). The answers fell into four groups:

- **Something with the logo, plus a note.** "We did similar-ordered yeti coffee mugs with our logo and packaged 2 with a pound of local coffee and a meaningful note about their influence of their time on the board."
- **A gift to their cause.** "We ask them for the name of their favorite local charity and make a donation to it. We gave up on physical gifts 'cause who really needs another plaque?"
- **A book of their years on the board.** One commenter's organization gave photo books to its last two outgoing chairs, and one of them said: "I have a bin full of gifts in my garage that I'll never use, but I'll keep this book in my office."
- **A card from the people who knew them.** "Maybe a nice bottle of something and a handwritten card from the staff who actually knew them."

And one warning: "I've been gifted multiple bricks with plaques and have to say that while the thought was lovely, it went straight into the trash."

**The card does most of the work.** Name what they changed: the campaign they led, the hire they pushed for, the meeting they kept on track. A logo mug with that note is a keepsake; the same mug without it is merchandise.

## Board members live in different states: how do you get a gift to each?

"Everyone lives in different states and Canada," the organizer of that retirement thread wrote, which ruled out a photo book built from meetings. Boards that meet a few times a year, or only online, can't hand out gifts at the table. Ship each gift to each home:

1. **Ask for a home address.** Members may have given you a work address. Ask once, in a short email from the chair; see [how to ask for a home address](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/how-it-works/ask-clients-for-address).
2. **Keep one list.** One row per member; the card can greet each member by first name from it, and your finance lead can log each gift beside that member's giving. Start from our [address spreadsheet template](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/how-it-works/client-address-spreadsheet-template).
3. **Sign it from the chair.** Make the chair's name the order's sign-off, so every card comes from the person members serve with.
4. **Order by the date.** Order by the date for your occasion in the table below.

| Occasion | 2026 date | Order Personalized Gifts Delivered by |
|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving | Thu Nov 26 | Mon Nov 16 |
| Hanukkah | Begins the evening of Fri Dec 4 | Mon Nov 23 |
| Christmas | Fri Dec 25 | Tue Dec 15 |
| New Year | Fri Jan 1, 2027 | Mon Dec 21 |

## Are there rules on gifts to board members?

This section quotes the rules. It doesn't apply them to your organization.

**Start with your own documents.** One of the first replies to the executive director was "Check your bylaws." Your gift policy, your conflict-of-interest policy and your expense policy decide whether a board gift is allowed and who approves the spend. Corporate and public boards add their own: a company's gift policy or, for a public body such as a school board, state and local ethics rules.

**If a board member also gives money,** the IRS rules on goods given in exchange for a contribution are worth reading:

> "Donors may only take a contribution deduction to the extent that their contributions exceed the fair market value of the goods or services the donors receive in return for the contributions" … "An organization must provide a written disclosure statement to a donor who makes a payment exceeding $75 partly as a contribution and partly for goods and services provided by the organization."
>
> [IRS Publication 1771](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1771.pdf) (Rev. 11-2023; read Oct 29, 2026)

> "A donee organization provides goods or services in consideration for a taxpayer's payment if, at the time the taxpayer makes the payment to the donee organization, the taxpayer receives or expects to receive goods or services in exchange for that payment."
>
> [26 CFR 1.170A-13(f)(6)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.170A-13) (read Oct 29, 2026)

> For 2026, "'low cost articles' are articles costing $13.90 or less," and the $5, $25 and $50 guidelines "are $13.90, $69.50 and $139, respectively."
>
> [Rev. Proc. 2025-32, §4.33](https://www.irs.gov/irb/2025-45_IRB) (read Oct 29, 2026)

**What the texts say, and don't:** we found no IRS text that names a thank-you gift above the low-cost amount that a board member didn't know about when they gave. More on donors: [donor thank-you gifts](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/professions/donor-thank-you-gifts); other trades' limits: [client gift limits by industry](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/gift-rules/client-gift-limits-by-industry).

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your tax professional) before you send.

## What should the card from the chair say?

Two or three sentences about their year. Your message is printed on the card (up to 300 characters), it can greet each member by first name from your list, and the chair's name goes in the order's sign-off, not in the message. One message and one sign-off cover the whole order, so a farewell for retiring members is an order of its own.

- "Dear {first name}, thank you for the hours you gave this board in 2026, from the budget retreat to the spring gala. We could not have reached our campaign goal without you. Warm wishes for the holidays."
- "Dear {first name}, thank you for your years at this table. Your steady hand shaped this organization, and we will miss you at every meeting."
- "Dear {first name}, we crossed the campaign goal because you made the calls nobody wanted to make. Thank you from all of us. Enjoy a quiet cup of cocoa this winter."

More lines: [thank-you messages](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/card-messages/thank-you-messages-for-clients) and [holiday card messages](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/card-messages/holiday-messages-for-clients).

## Where can I order a board gift that ships to each member's home?

Check any seller for five things: it takes your list as a spreadsheet, ships each gift separately with tracking, prints a card per member, covers the states your members live in, and shows you the logo before it prints.

### Can staff pack and mail the gifts themselves?

Yes: staff can pack and mail board gift boxes themselves, and by our estimate 25 logo mug gift boxes take about 9 hours of hands-on work, plus a week or more waiting for supplies. That's a mug printer's proof, about 8 supply orders, 25 labels, 25 cards and about 3½ hours of packing (about 8 minutes a box). Per box, it comes out about even with our $35: about $38 with USPS counter postage, about $34 with commercial postage, with $1,192.84 paid up front for the mugs, the retail supply packs and 25 postage labels ([our DIY cost comparison](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/compare/diy-mug-gift-box-vs-ordering), prices as of Oct 29, 2026). A mug packed without a collar can break at the handle, and a stale address sends a box away and back.

With Personalized Gifts Delivered, you can [send each board member a box: a custom logo mug gift box, shipped to each home, no minimum](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/custom-logo-mug-gift-box). Add your logo (or type your website and we'll find it), or a photo or a few words for a personal gift; check the preview of your mug and card; add your address list; and pay $35 per box. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address. We ship from New York, to the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now. Ships within 2 business days of a complete order (your design, your address list and payment). Ships by USPS Ground Advantage or UPS Ground, with tracking, and usually arrives 2–5 business days after it ships. Delivery dates are carrier estimates, not guarantees, and run slower in mid-December.

## What to know before you order

- **One message and one sign-off per order.** The holiday card for the whole board and a farewell for retiring members are two orders; one box is a complete order.
- **The seal and the treats in warm months.** The tissue's gold seal reads "Happy Holidays", so for a farewell outside the season the chair's card carries the occasion. The box holds chocolate, which softens in summer heat.
- **The treats.** LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels. The [allergy and diet checklist](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/client-gifts/food-allergy-gift-checklist) covers what to ask first.
- **Where we ship.** The lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now; no Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, other US territories, APO/FPO or international, including Canada. The order page flags any row we can't ship to, so you can fix it or take it out.

## Where Personalized Gifts Delivered fits for a board spread across states

A board that meets a few times a year, with members in different states, needs a gift shipped to each home with the chair's words in it. One order does that:

- **The chair's card in every box:** your message, printed, greeting each member by first name and signed with the chair's name, in an envelope closed with a gold wax-seal sticker. You see every member's card before you pay.
- **Small, useful, with your logo:** an 11 oz white ceramic mug with your logo printed small, a 1.5 oz packet of Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles packed inside it, black tissue closed with a gold seal sticker, in a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid.
- **At each member's home, discreetly:** packed by hand in foam, in a plain white carton with only the shipping label; nothing on the carton names your organization, and the return address shows PersonalizedGiftsDelivered.com.
- **A record for your finance lead:** when your boxes ship, you get one email with a spreadsheet of recipient, ship date, carrier, tracking number and $35 per box.

That's $35 per box, delivered, whether you send 1 or 50. Send each board member a box: [start your order](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/order).

## Frequently asked questions

### What is an appropriate holiday gift for nonprofit board members?

An appropriate holiday gift for nonprofit board members is something small and useful with a personal card from the chair, such as the logo mugs, blankets and scarves one nonprofit on r/nonprofit gives. It gives board members holiday gifts every year, "usually around $20-30 each".

### How much should we spend on board member gifts?

Board member gifts in one r/nonprofit thread run from about $15 to $30 a member; we found no survey. Commenters in the same thread also give board gifts for big campaign work and to members who retire or leave after long terms of service.

### What do you give a board member who is retiring?

Give a retiring board member something tied to their years on the board: a photo book, a donation to a charity they choose, or a logo mug with a note about what they changed. One organization sent retiring members logo mugs with "a pound of local coffee and a meaningful note."

### Are board member gifts allowed?

Your own bylaws, gift policy and conflict-of-interest policy come first (public boards also have state and local ethics rules); one r/nonprofit reply put it as "Check your bylaws." For members who also donate, IRS Publication 1771 says donors "may only take a contribution deduction to the extent that their contributions exceed the fair market value of the goods or services the donors receive in return for the contributions."

### How do we send gifts to board members who live in different states?

Collect each member's home address in one spreadsheet and use a seller that ships each gift separately, with a card from the chair in each box. Personalized Gifts Delivered ships a $35 logo mug gift box to each member's own address, with no minimum, to the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now.

## Sources

1. IRS, [Publication 1771, Charitable Contributions: Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1771.pdf), Rev. 11-2023 (text read from the PDF, October 29, 2026).
2. eCFR via Cornell LII, [26 CFR 1.170A-13](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.170A-13), paragraph (f)(6). Read October 29, 2026.
3. IRS, [Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-45](https://www.irs.gov/irb/2025-45_IRB), Rev. Proc. 2025-32, §4.33 (2026 amounts). Read October 29, 2026.
4. r/nonprofit, ["Ok to purchase small gifts for board members?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/1qbd31w/) (Jan 2026); checked word for word against the Arctic Shift archive, October 29, 2026.
5. r/nonprofit, ["Good Gift Ideas For Retiring Board Members?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/1v7lfai/) (Jul 2026); checked word for word against the Arctic Shift archive, October 29, 2026.