I have a very narrowly-focused site built to promote and support gifted education in my community (stjohnsgifted.org). I will be moving from the community in the coming weeks for a new job, and I would like to be able to donate the site to some organization (a PTO maybe?) that can keep it running, and take a tax deduction.
The site has low traffic, but all of the traffic is highly relevant and the site ranks better than the school district for most keywords. The district's site was terrible with little content, and I shamed the appropriate people into making improvements. For this reason, it is important to me that the site be maintained and improved upon by a qualified group.
Has anyone done this before? Are there appraisal requirements? Would the organization have to be a 501(c)?
Stretch...
FIrst off, this is something a little beyond the scope of what I usually handle so I have to admit I'm stretching a bit here for the answer. However, I will do my best.
The use of section 501(c) and the appraiser would only be if you were wanting a tax deduction for the donation. To obtain that, you would have to both confirm that the organization was a 501(c) and you'd have to have some kind of idea of the value of the site.
However, the latter part of that equation will prove difficult. As has been made painfully clear on other sites, there is no common system for appraising Web sites, there is no licensing board for appraisers and no regulation. Basically, a Web site appraisal is just the opinion of the appraiser with some information behind it.
http://www.thesitedoctor.com/Website_Evaluation_Products/Website_Appraisal.htm
I honestly don't know how the tax issues work here and several searches for the information failed. I would take this up with someone who specialized in that area. This time of year, that should not be difficult to find...
Honestly though, it may not be worth taking a tax deduction. Since the site does not generate a great deal of money and has low traffic, it may be worth less than the amount than what would be saved on taxe, especially when you consider most appraisals run into the hundreds of dollars. Of course though, with appraisals being all over the map in every sense of the word, I could be completely wrong.
What I would do is first try some quick self-appraisals and see if the site is likely worth the expense and effort. If not, just turn the keys over and walk away gracefully. Otherwise, speak with a tax professional and see how to handle appraisals when there is no oversight board and no real set law.
http://www.cwire.org/website-value-calculator/
Note: The above site puts the value at $58.
I can answer with some certainty that you will need to make sure that the organization government recognized, however, the rest of the matter I can't be much help with. I'd love to hear of any other attorneys out there might be able to step in here.
Hope this helps!
Jonathan Bailey - plagiarismtoday.com
Thanks
Thanks Jonathan, I appreciate the effort. You're probably right, I should just hand it over to someone else and walk away.
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