Boot Camp Questions - Donations

Question: For a dinner-dance type fundraiser ticket, what is the portion of the ticket price is a donation?

Answer: Everything beyond what is a direct benefit to the donor. Those items are the actual cost of the items and services furnished to the attendees as inducements to attend the event: The food and beverages, the ballroom, the band, the decor.

Question: When do you value donations of stock?

Answer: The date the shares are transferred to your organization, the date of the gift. If a donor wishes to give your organization a gift of stock and take advantage of any tax deductions for tax year 200X they must make sure the transfer takes place before December 31 200X.

If they ask their broker to make the transaction in December but the broker doesn’t post the transfer until January 2nd, then the donation will have in fact taken place in January, not December.