The receipt scanner built for Form 990
Every receipt categorized to Program Services, Management, or Fundraising. Not Schedule C.
And every person who holds a receipt tags it at the moment of purchase. On their phone. At no per-user cost.
Born from a real audit.
Children's Orchestra Society, a Nimble Dragon Studios client for years, went through a months-long IRS audit. Their finance manager asked us for advice on an iOS app that could scan receipts and save their staff time.
We showed them the receipt scanner in PriceRight Pro, another iOS app we had built for small business owners. Its scanner works well: photograph a receipt, extract the details, categorize it. The catch is that PriceRight Pro categorizes to Schedule C, because Schedule C is what small business owners file on their personal 1040. It was built for its audience.
Nonprofits do not file Schedule C. Nonprofits file Form 990. And even if a scanner categorized correctly, the second problem hit harder. The team was spending hours reconstructing what receipts had been for. They asked the executive director, the manager, the music director, the staff: what was this coffee for, three months ago? Context evaporates. Memory does not hold up in an audit.
So we built the receipt scanner nonprofits should have had all along. Every receipt is categorized to Form 990 functional expense, Program Services, Management, or Fundraising, with grant and program tagging on top. And every person who holds a receipt tags it at the moment of purchase, on their own phone, at no per-user cost.
The audit closed. Children's Orchestra Society uses Giving Toolbox today for their fundraising campaigns, ticket sales, and expense tracking.
Wrong categorization. Lost context. Neither one has been solved.
Existing tools were built for business travelers and small business owners. Nonprofits pay for those tools and then pay again to work around them at audit time.
Categorized to Schedule C
Shoeboxed, Expensify, and Dext categorize receipts to Schedule C by default. That is what small business owners file on their 1040. It is not what nonprofits file. Come 990 time, someone re-categorizes every receipt by hand into functional expense buckets.
Lost context, three months later
A receipt shows up in October for something purchased in July. What was the coffee for? Which program? Which grant? Nobody remembers. The bookkeeper guesses. The audit finds the inconsistencies.
Per-seat pricing keeps the team out
Most tools charge $5 to $18 per user per month. So the app gets restricted to the treasurer or ED. Everyone else is still texting receipt photos to a group chat. The receipts most likely to lose context are the ones from people who never got an account.
Built for how nonprofits actually spend money.
Every feature exists because a Children's Orchestra Society staff member, a PTA treasurer, or a small-nonprofit ED asked for it.
Form 990 auto-categorization
Every scanned receipt tags to Program Services, Management & General, or Fundraising. The app learns your patterns and gets more accurate over time.
Tag at the moment of purchase
The person who bought the coffee tags what it was for right when they snap the photo. Program, grant fund, purpose. Context captured while memory is fresh.
Unlimited users, flat rate
Every staff member, board member, and volunteer captures on their own phone. No per-seat cost. $34.99 flat monthly, unlimited people.
Grant fund tagging
Every receipt has a grant fund dropdown. Restricted funds get tracked separately so you can prove each dollar hit the purpose the funder specified.
AI receipt scanner
Your iPhone reads the receipt on device, then AI extracts vendor, date, amount and line items. Auto-straightens and enhances the image. Handles crumpled receipts and low-light photos.
Bookkeeper export
Push clean CSVs into QuickBooks Online, Aplos, or Xero. Email your bookkeeper an audit-ready PDF pack with every receipt image and its categorization.
From swiped card to 990-ready category in four steps.
No training deck. If your team can send a text message, they can capture a receipt.
Snap the receipt
Open the app, tap Scan Receipt, and photograph the receipt right there in the coffee shop or the office supply store.
Tag at the source
The AI fills in vendor, date, and amount. The submitter picks program, grant fund, and 990 category from dropdowns.
Admin approves
The Executive Director or Treasurer reviews the queue on their iPad. Approve, reject, or reassign categories in seconds.
Export or file
Push to QuickBooks, Aplos, or Xero. Or download the audit-ready PDF pack for your bookkeeper.
How Giving Toolbox compares to Shoeboxed.
Shoeboxed is excellent for its intended audience. That audience is not nonprofits.
Monthly cost
$29-$63 per user per month
$0
Built for
Small business owners filing Schedule C
Grant reporting mode
990 functional expense categories
Yes
Grant fund tagging
Single grant
Volunteer submissions
Charged per seat
Admin only
AI receipt scanner
100 scans/mo
Bookkeeper export
QuickBooks, Xero
Grant PDF only
Straight answers about Form 990 receipt scanning.
What nonprofit finance leaders ask before choosing an audit-ready receipt scanner.
What does Form 990 functional expense mean?
Form 990 Part IX asks nonprofits to split every expense into three categories: Program Services (the direct mission work), Management & General (overhead), and Fundraising. The IRS uses the ratio to judge how efficiently a nonprofit spends donor dollars.
How is this different from Shoeboxed or Expensify?
Shoeboxed and Expensify categorize receipts to Schedule C, which is what small business owners file on their personal 1040. Nonprofits file Form 990, which uses functional expense categories: Program Services, Management, Fundraising. Every other receipt scanner requires hand re-categorization at audit time. Giving Toolbox categorizes directly to 990.
Can volunteers submit receipts without their own paid account?
Yes. The $34.99 monthly subscription is per organization, not per person. Every volunteer, board member, and staff member uses the app on their own phone at no additional cost. The person who holds the receipt should be the one who tags it.
How does the AI receipt scanner handle crumpled or dim receipts?
Your device runs auto-straighten, glare removal, and contrast enhancement before the data is extracted. The AI is tuned for the kinds of receipts nonprofit staff actually deal with: coffee shops, gas stations, office supply stores, hardware stores.
Can one receipt be split across multiple grant funds?
Yes. A single receipt can be split across multiple grants, programs, or funds. The app tracks the amount and the purpose for each split so restricted-fund reporting stays accurate.
Can I export to QuickBooks Online, Aplos, or Xero?
Yes to all three, plus a PDF audit pack that includes every receipt image and its categorization. From the Admin dashboard, choose a date range and destination, and the app produces a clean import file.
Is Giving Toolbox available on Android?
The app is currently iOS-native, iPhone and iPad, iOS 17 and above. Android is on the roadmap but not yet available.
The next receipt shouldn't have to be reconstructed from memory.
Download Giving Toolbox free. Capture your next receipt in the app. Watch your 990 prep get easier the moment you start.
Free: unlimited submissions, 100 AI receipt scans/month, single grant reporting. Pro ($34.99/mo) adds unlimited users, multi-grant tracking, fundraisers, and full 990 prep.
How this fits together
One app for the whole organization
This is one part of a mobile-first nonprofit operations app that also handles expenses, grants, events, volunteers and donors, and keeps working offline.
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