Donating 26X to Charity Question?

[ROAD Soldier]

I am going to donate my to charity Boat Angel says they will reimburse storage cost and allow 40 percent proceeds to go to my church. Has anyone had any dealings with Boat Angel? Anything I need to look out for? Need answer soon.

ROAD

[grady]

http://www.bbb.org/stlouis/migration/bb ... d-waters-/

[Obelix]

Why don't you sell the boat and donate the proceeds?
This way, you would keep the sharks out of it. I don't know the specifics of this particular group, but I've seen stats from other "no-profit"-groups, where only 15% to 20% of the donation reached the proposed cause.

Obelix

[NiceAft]

Could you give it to the church, take a write off for whatever you believe it's worth, and have the church sell it? You will know that the maximum amount of proceeds go to where it needs to go.

Ray

[Herschel]

Could you give it to the church, take a write off for whatever you believe it's worth, and have the church sell it? You will know that the maximum amount of proceeds go to where it needs to go.

Ray

I am in agreement with Ray. I have been on the board of a non-profit that helps families of homicide victims for almost 20 years. And I have been involved in church leadership positions. I get a bad feeling reading about all the potential conflict of interest situations that seem to have developed around this particular charity. I know what good charities and good churches do, and we don't do that stuff. I think the extra effort you go to sell your boat yourself will help insure a good person gets the boat and your church gets the level of support you envision for it. Worst case scenario, hire a yacht broker to deal with the buyers.

[sailboatmike]

I used to do a lot of work IT for a very large charity, we used to give a good discount rate until we discovered the perks and wages the executives were taking, not sure there was a huge amount left over for the people that needed help, they maybe got a few cents in the dollar donated.

Sell it yourself and ensure the money goes exactly to the place you want.

I see mobs (I dont like to call them charities) like that charge the buyer a wack on top of the purchase price as well to pay for overheads, seems they want their pie and to eat it too

[sunshinecoasting]

You lost me the second you said "church", sell it and donate all proceeds directly to the local childrens hospital, this way 100% goes directly to the needy and no questions about propiety.

[Catigale]

Are you moving up or moving on from sailing Road?

Don't be a stranger either way...

[Russ]

Are you moving up or moving on from sailing Road?

Don't be a stranger either way...

^ This.

Also, I have a friend who donated his boat to the Sea Scouts. They sold it for peanuts to a sailing school. Really hacked him off to know how little went to the actual charity.

[Herschel]

You lost me the second you said "church", sell it and donate all proceeds directly to the local childrens hospital, this way 100% goes directly to the needy and no questions about propiety.

I can appreciate your secular position on this issue, but I think we do better on this forum to honor the intent and values of the poster as much as we can. One of the very nice things about living in democratic countries like yours and ours, is that we do have the freedom to choose how we expend our resources and upon whom we bestow our gifts. I recommend that we celebrate Road Warrior's generosity, and try to share our opinions about the charity (and it's type) that he is questioning.

[Judy B]

Could you give it to the church, take a write off for whatever you believe it's worth, and have the church sell it? You will know that the maximum amount of proceeds go to where it needs to go.

Ray

I have donated boats to non-profits and charities. I don't remember all the details of how it works, but the IRS has many rules that limit how much you can write off a vehicle or boat donated to charity. Under $500 the rules are pretty simple. Over $500 it gets complicated.

First of all, at a certain value (I think over $500), you have to obtain a professional appraisal before donating. Using Blue Book Value isn't acceptable.

Secondly, if the charity sells the boat within 3 years, they are required to report the actual selling price to the IRS. They send you a copy of the form too. If they sold it for a lower price than you claimed as a deduction, , the IRS will send you a bill to recapture the tax benefit you got for the over-stated deduction.

[Retcoastie]

Judy B wrote

I have donated boats to non-profits and charities. I don't remember all the details of how it works, but the IRS has many rules that limit how much you can write off a vehicle or boat donated to charity. Under $500 the rules are pretty simple. Over $500 it gets complicated.

First of all, at a certain value (I think over $500), you have to obtain a professional appraisal before donating. Using Blue Book Value isn't acceptable.

Secondly, if the charity sells the boat within 3 years, they are required to report the actual selling price to the IRS. They send you a copy of the form too. If they sold it for a lower price than you claimed as a deduction, , the IRS will send you a bill to recapture the tax benefit you got for the over-stated deduction.

Good info, Judy. I didn't know that. Thanks for the post.

Ken

[HamiltonGil]

I haven't personally had any dealings with Boat Angel, but I would recommend doing some research on the organization to make sure they are reputable and that you feel comfortable working with them. You could check out their website and read reviews from other donors to get an idea of what to expect.
Also, it's always a good idea to consult with your pastor or any other legal advisor of your church, in my case the Apostolic Protestant Church in Portland, to ensure that you are making the most of the donation and that the funds will be used in the best possible way.

[NiceAft]

HamiltonGil,

Welcome to the forum. We look forward to seeing more from you.

Just a note, this particular thread is 6 years old. I hope the donation went well.

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

Yeah, it’s an old thread but kinda relevant given tax season is on us again…and thoughts of deductions dance in some of our heads

Current IRS rules passed about 4 years ago pretty much blew a hole in most charitable giving donation tax deductions (as well as disproportionally helping a very small subset of people…but that’s not for discussion here).

If Road Warrior want to give a donation to his church that’s fine, to a Children’s Hospital or Food Pantry is fine too!
I think the point is to actually KNOW WHAT YOUR DONATIONS ARE GOING TOWARD!

Back when I was in Texas the big Baptist Tabernacle spent millions of donations on salaries and perks for the church ‘leadership’ while only providing a pittance to those in need. They even ‘tapped’ into the donations for the give away Thanksgiving meal packages with something like a 20% facility fee

I agree that it’s Road Warrior, or any individual, right to give away their money as they see fit but it’s a shame to see it pocketed and not actually do the good it was actually intended to accomplish. There are a lot of hucksters and they come in a variety of garb.

If an organization can’t or won’t fully disclose a full certified annual audit (whatever the excuse) then it’s best to look elsewhere to give your donations…it could just end up funding Caribbean Cruises or fancy cars and houses etc… it’s ok to be skeptical
A cursory look-see found a couple of “interesting” articles that should give a rational person pause if considering ‘Boat Angels’…

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
https://www.stltoday.com › local
BBB issues advisory about Boat Angel charity


Complaints Board
https://www.complaintsboard.com › ...
…Boat Angel& is NOT on the boat, Angel! Review: Fraudulent Check Scheme ...
Feb 25, 2021 — Boat Angel is a SCAM company. They are being investigated by the BBB and the IRS. They have executives that take a large salary …….


It would be better to sell your boat yourself or pay a n honest broker fee to find a buyer than to have frauds pocket your assets in the ‘name’ of ‘good works’ that never happen.

There are also near countless cases where ‘charity auctions’ sell of items at ‘prearranged’ prices that are penny on the dollar to enrich the insiders behind the scenes. Again, it’s OK to be skeptical!

Best Regards
Over Easy