Any type of donation made to CANERS is acknowledged in writing to the donor and acts as the official tax letter. This is for award donations, fundraiser events and the annual raffle giveaway. If there are multiple donors for a specific award, the names are forwarded to the family or company, etc. - however requested. Oftentimes, awards are established posthumously to honor an industry member. Anyone can donate to the award and the family can increase the amount of the award with a direct donation at any time.

Donations accepted, for example, in the year 2004 or newly established awards in 2004, will not fund research or scholarships until they have been in the investment earning pool for one year. When the CANERS Trustees meet in March of each year, they compute the distribution based on the CANERS fund balance as of one-year back using December 31 as the benchmark date. So the award established in 2004 will not fund until spring of 2006. The one-year back rule was established to protect the integrity of the endowment.