The enterprise resource center for recovery, documentation, and reporting.

Resource guide

Recovery documentation

A recovery record is only as strong as its first entry. Programs that capture weight, category, timing, and custody at the point of origin — and confirm receipt on the other side of the handoff — produce documentation that holds up. Programs that reconstruct the month from memory, email, and estimates produce documentation that has to be defended.

• Capture at the source: who logged it, when, how much, and what kind.
• Keep custody continuous: every transfer has a timestamp and an owner.
• Confirm receipt on both sides: the receiving partner’s weight, not just the donor’s.
• Reconcile before recording: material differences are reviewed before they carry into any report.

Donation documentation

The enhanced deduction under §170(e)(3)

Businesses that donate wholesome, apparently fit food inventory to a qualified organization may be eligible for an enhanced charitable deduction under Internal Revenue Code §170(e)(3) — potentially greater than the ordinary cost-basis deduction. The enhanced deduction exists specifically to encourage donating surplus food rather than disposing of it.

Recent legislative changes

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) addressed the charitable-contribution landscape, including provisions relevant to food-inventory donations. Because the specifics and effective dates carry real consequences, treat any figure or threshold as something to confirm with your advisor for your filing year.

What is generally needed to substantiate a deduction

• A reasonable basis for the fair market value of the donated food.
• A contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the donee organization.
• Records of what was donated, in what quantity, when, and to whom.
• Chain-of-custody documentation showing the food moved from donor to recipient.

Where documentation usually breaks down

The deduction is rarely lost because the food wasn’t donated. It’s lost because nobody can prove what happened. Weights get estimated from memory, acknowledgments arrive late or never, and the chain from dock to distribution exists only in email. At filing time the record has to be reconstructed — and a reconstructed record is exactly what an examiner tests hardest.

How Savur helps

Savur captures weight, category, timing, and chain of custody at every stage of a donation, and generates the underlying records automatically — donee acknowledgments, ledgers, and diversion reports. When it’s time to file, the documentation is already assembled and reconciled, so your team and your tax professional work from verified data rather than rebuilding the year from memory.

Reporting readiness

Finance, audit, and leadership teams tend to ask the same questions of a recovery program: how much moved, where it went, who confirmed it, and what it was worth. Reporting readiness means those answers exist before the question is asked.

• Ledger, intake, diversion, and impact reports produced as events occur.
• Records that export as files your finance, sustainability, and partner teams can use directly.
• Immutable audit history so any figure traces back to its origin.

ESG & sustainability

Verified diversion activity — weights, pathways, timestamps, and source IDs — is the foundation of a credible sustainability narrative. Savur preserves that foundation and keeps modeled outcomes clearly separated from verified facts.

• EPA WARM-aligned estimates carry source, baseline, and factor-version lineage.
• Records are prepared for independent methodology assessment and third-party review.
• Credits, Scope 3 treatment, and compliance outcomes are never automatic or guaranteed.

Partner guidance

Nonprofit Partners confirm receipt through a Fulfillment Link or Fulfillment QR, verify weights on intake, and keep their existing inventory and reporting systems. Upcycle Partners receive recoverable material for compost and livestock-feed pathways and capture yield evidence. Sponsor Impact Partners fund approved programs and deliveries and receive documented outcomes. Partner participation begins with an invitation from Savur or an approved organization.

Regulatory education

Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act

Provides liability protection for businesses donating apparently wholesome food in good faith to nonprofit organizations. It is one reason food recovery is far less risky than many operators assume — but it is not a substitute for sound food-safety practice.

IRS §170(e)(3)

The Internal Revenue Code provision governing enhanced charitable deductions for qualifying food-inventory donations. See Donation documentation above.

FSMA

The Food Safety Modernization Act frames food-safety responsibilities that donors and partners retain throughout recovery. Savur documents the chain; food-safety practice remains the responsibility of the organizations handling the food.

EPA WARM

The U.S. EPA Waste Reduction Model provides emission factors used to estimate the environmental effect of diverting material from landfill. Savur’s estimates reference WARM factors and preserve the factor version used, so estimates can be re-examined as methodologies evolve.