The letter must explain who is gifting the money, where the donor's funds are coming from and the relationship between the donor and the recipient. A gift letter is a note from a donor to your lender regarding cash funds for your mortgage down payment.A gift letter for a mortgage shows your lender that you don't need to repay gift money toward your down payment. Use our mortgage gift letter A short letter like this sample gift letter will cover all of the requirements your lender needs. The purpose of this letter is to document that the money does not need to be repaid as well as the donor's name, contract information, and relationship to you. Here's a sample gift letter you can use to prove that the money is truly meant as an outright gift, with no expectation of repayment. The City of Oakland's CalHome Program operates jointly with participating lenders to assist low income, first-time homebuyers to purchase homes in Oakland. Use these stepbystep instructions for accepting a cash downpayment gift on a home, including a readytouse mortgage gift letter template.