Donating your timeshare to a charity- Did it work for you?

[JLB]

If you're looking to do some research, to uncover other donation programs . . . they use closing companies, so try contacting them.

GLS used Timeshare Transfer, so ask Tia or Susan if they are working with anyone.

[JLB]

As I posted, check with Andria at Trejesto. They handle Turpentine Wildlife donations. Use the link in my post above to find the link to Andria. (I'm trying to avoid posting email addresses, as I once got in trouble for doing that. )

In light of the economy, who knows who's doing what any more?

Originally Posted by joycapecod

Right now I have three units I am willing to give away. Over the years we have collected more than we can ever use. I'd even be willing to do a quick claim deed for free and the taker pay for the filing. Gregg and I have 14 weeks....plus points and we live on Cape Cod.

If anyone finds a reputible charity that will take these (no mortgages, fees current) please let me know!

Joy

[rikkis_playpen]

The issue here is that most of the properties people want to donate don't have a legitimate resale market- so they either don't qualify for acceptance, or if accepted they just don't sell... A year later, you find out you still own the property!

The only real complaint I've heard about Donate for a Cause (run by Jim Tarpey who owns Resort Closings, Inc. out of Montana) is that they seem to treat the donation in the manner of a listing.. They simply try to sell it, but the ownership remains in your name until they find a buyer.. If they do find a buyer- Jim's company gets paid to do the closing, and the proceeds from the sale (if any) are paid to the charity you choose. I believe the properties are sold on the Donate for a Cause website, on eBay, and by the affiliated brokerage, GO Timeshare. If the brokerage procures the buyer, I have to assume that a commission is also made from the sale (licensed agents don't work for free!)..

Since Turpentine Wildlife is also affiliated with a closing agent (Trejesto Closings)- what brokerage actually sells these properties? I did look at the link, and it looks like only properties that can be easily sold would be accepted.

There was a charity out of Denver I worked with a few years ago called Special Needs, and another out of Chicago called Fairy Godmother Foundation which accepted timeshares and actually deeded them into the charity's name upon acceptance- guaranteeing the donor would be rid of the ownership. I do believe that both required a cash donation as well to cover their costs. I'll check to see if either is still in the vacation business..

Regardless, my advice is to always be very careful when investigating these types of organizations. In the past, several have been discovered to simply be lead generation programs for timeshare freedom type companies- who then offer to relieve you of the property for a nice fee of $3,500.- none of which seems to make it's way to the charity.

If anyone else knows of a legitimate charity- please share the info here.. With selling becoming even more difficult than ever before- every avenue of transferring an unwanted ownership should be explored!

[JLB]

Nowadays, that would be almost all TS's, plus most also do not have a retail market.

Getting rid of one is now harder than ever.

Granted, as I have mentioned many times, there are some soldout resorts that do have a real market for resales.

Originally Posted by rikkis_playpen

The issue here is that most of the properties people want to donate don't have a legitimate resale market!

[rikkis_playpen]

Fairy Godmother Foundation is out of the timeshare business... They actually still have a few they would love to give away, but they are no longer accepting any new timeshare ownerships... A rep said their timeshare experiment left a bad taste in their mouth and got the last CFO fired!

Another option bites the dust.....


****** 4/27/09 I received info that the Fairy Godmother Organization out of Chicago has been dissolved, and all the timeshare ownerships still in the charity's name simply abandoned.

[rikkis_playpen]

I made contact with usaspecialneeds.org and there was a new person (Maggie) running things from when I'd dealt with them, but they are still accepting timeshares. They require a cash donation (similar to the Timeshare Relief models)...

Per Maggie, they accept all timeshares and campgrounds that are free and clear (unless the resort does not allow a corporation to own the property) and agree to deed the property into the charity's name when the ownership and account status have been confirmed. Once the charity has ownership, they normally try and sell the property- but stated there are some ownerships that they keep to use for rental and fund-raising purposes where they auction off vacation packages at live gala events throughout Colorado and Florida. She said that often they'll have a cooperative agreement with other charities and split the proceeds.

They sell and rent through several brokers, but currently do have a number of low value properties that they haven't been able to sell. The one thing I was actually impressed with is that they don't give you the "you'll get a huge tax benefit from your timeshare" ploy.. They told me I'd get tax benefit for the cash donation, but recommended I wait to claim the timeshare until I got a second tax form showing what it actually sold for, since many sell for very little.

I then came clean and told her who I was- and got them to have a recent donor call me as a reference since I actually had a buyer for one of their junk weeks. He told me he donates at least two weeks from Hotel on the Cay each year to the charity (I called the resort and they confirmed this- plus said the guy still owns another sixty or so intervals! A little excessive for one location IMHO!)....

They still seem legit- so if you've been tempted by the Timeshare Relief or Timeshare Freedom pitches- send me a PM and I'll give you contact info for this group.

I'm going to be checking into a few more of these charities over the next few months- so again- if you have feedback on a charity please share!

update:
No form 990 info found but I found articles of incorporation. Richard Byron Peddie shows as registered agent, and Louis Courte shows on the board of directors.

update: 7/3/09
I s.w Maggie today. She stated that the board has suspended the timeshare program as they review the feasibility of continuing to accept timeshares.. Currently, they are not accepting any new donations as they attempt to liquidate the inventory already held in the charity's name.

update: 1/7/10
Maggie is still there, but the charity no longer accepts any real estate or timeshares. Cash donations have also dried up, so they aren't sure at this point if the charity will be able to continue operating. She said they still have two properties they have not been able to get rid of.. She is not sure if they'll be able to pay the fees this year.

[rikkis_playpen]

Southern New Hampshire University...This charity is affiliated with SellMyTimeshareNow and Timeshare HotDeal LLC. The charity enters into a one-year donation/listing agreement with the timeshare owner to try and locate a buyer for the property. If a buyer can be located, the proceeds from the sale (minus any broker commissions earned) are paid to Southern New Hampshire University at closing. Closings are handled by SellMyTimeshareNow's inhouse closing company, Transfer My Timeshare, LLC.

Update*****

No form 990 info found.

Update*****

I've been informed they are closing down their in-house closing company. Closings will now be disbursed to different closing agencies- with the majority going to Chicago Title. I would expect the commission requirement to be increased slightly to make up for the lost closing revenue, but no confirmation of that was given to me.

[rikkis_playpen]

Florida Veterans Assistance.... I contacted this group and I'm sorry to say I was not very impressed.

The first gentleman I spoke with told me there were no upfront fees and any property would be accepted.. I was pretty skeptical at this point, so he handed the phone to a Joel who introduced himself as the company president. Joel said the first guy was new and must have made a mistake since there were upfront fees involved with a timeshare donation, but he couldn't say what those would be. He then admitted he didn't know one timeshare from another so said couldn't help me either, but did promise to have the "resort guru" call me.

About an hour later, I received a call from a Kim who introduced herself as the timeshare coordinator for the charity. Kim, I am happy to say- actually new what a timeshare was and stated that she handled all the paperwork for timeshares. She said that they sold the properties through about three different brokers, and that the timeshare would only be accepted if one of the brokers wanted the property. She would not disclose who any of those brokers were. She stated that the donor would have to pay all the closing and transfer costs, as well as an additional fee to the charity (but again- could not or would not tell me what that fee would be...)....

Kim said that they operated much like a telemarketing operation and bought calling lists of timeshare owners, but didn't know where those lists came from.

My overall impression of this group was very poor, as they never seemed to be able to provide me with any specifics. My first impression was that this charity simply treated timeshare donations as a by-product of their traditional fund raising campaigns- and that they simply checked with a few brokers for offers on any timeshare donations that they were offered. If the brokers would buy the property, the charity would accept it..

However- with the disclosure that they actually used calling lists to target timeshare donations- that theory didn't make much sense. The cost of staging telemarketing campaigns and buying owner lists to target timeshare sellers made their business model unrealistic to me- since only one person seemed to have any real timeshare experience. I just felt that there must be something else involved with the operation this group.

If anyone has any past experience with this charity, please share your thoughts. Did I just get them during a very bad day- or are they simply a lead generator for another company (often charities are used for telemarketing purposes since they are exempt from federal and state "Do not call" restrictions).

***

update: I found info about this group on another thread as well that didn't seem very positive.. http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82924

***

update: I've spoken with them again recently.. Kim states they were working with a sales group tied to a small closing agency that recently defaulted on over 200 purchase agreements, and they are now attempting to find information on the status of all these ownerships. Needless to say- they are currently swamped with calls and upset clients, and are trying to recover- but there may be some serious delays in store.. If you are involved in a donation to this group that hasn't closed yet, I'd recommend you contact and request a status to find out if you are in the group of defaults.

***

update: I had recent correspondence with Brian Rogers (owner of TUG), who believes this organization is a valid charity with good intentions, so perhaps my first impression was not a true litmus test for their character. Brian believes they simply made a mistake by developing a relationship with a reseller, and believed these ownerships had already been transferred.

***

update: Joel Markman signed the 2006 form 990 as company president showing donations received totaling $442,961. No 2007 filing was available.

[rikkis_playpen]

Charity Foundation, Inc........ As indicated by Spence earlier, this charity is affiliated with 2nd Market Timeshares out of Virginia.

Donors pay a transaction and processing fee that varies based on the resort being donated (similar to the Timeshare Relief model) to have the ownership transferred to the charity. Lower demand ownerships would have to pay a higher transaction fee. The charity in turn tries to liquidate the timeshares via the brokerage. Most properties are accepted.

The employees were upfront with information, and the affiliated brokerage has a good knowledge of the industry and is experienced with the transfer process for most properties. If you've considered paying someone to take a timeshare off your hands, you may want to ask this group for info.

***
update

C. Larrie Kline signed the 2007 990EZ as the company president showing $0. as the total donations for the year.

[rikkis_playpen]

TimeshareDonations.org is website of Works of Life Ministries, Inc out of California. I tried pulling the business records from the state, but only found one business entry showing a suspended status (under the registered agent name of a Cameron Arballo).

I then called and spoke with a gentleman there who was very forthright in how they process their donations. He wasn't aware of the state's registration status, but said the organization basically operates to refer donations out to other companies- which handle the entire process for a finder's fee.

With timeshares, potential donors fill out an online info form that is then sent to the Florida Veterans Assistance group out of Florida. An agent from that group will call within two to three business days. The gentleman at Works of Life says they've only been accepting timeshares for about a year, and that he didn't have any knowledge of the industry but simply acted as a lead generation and referral source for the Florida organization.

update:
No form 990 info found.