Vacation timeshares usually sound like a good deal in the beginning, but often the shine wears off after a while. They can be costly, with maintenance fees, taxes, and the like, and if you want to try a different timeshare or week, it can be difficult to switch with someone else. Adding insult to injury, once you decide to sell, you may find the process expensive and time-consuming. If any of this sounds familiar, you may want to donate your timeshare to your favorite charity.
Donateforacause.org will sell your timeshare and donate the profits to your favorite charity. It costs nothing for the charity, and you get a simple, fast, and socially-responsible way to get rid of your timeshare. You may be surprised to learn that often, donation makes the most financial sense.
So if your timeshare is more trouble than it's worth, consider donating it to your favorite charitable cause. You'll support work that you admire and get a tax write-off to boot!
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Also, check out the Gifts for Sight Timeshare Donation Program.
Here is a whole list of charities that accept timeshares including some smaller ones - remember that not all timeshares will be accepted. Charities will only accept those that they think they can sell quickly.
If you find that you can't dontate it to charity, you may be able to give the timeshare back to the timeshare resort
A lot of people don't realize that some companies which accept timeshare donations are affiliated with online resellers trying to stuff their listings with timeshares for cheap - or free. To me it would make more sense to sell the timeshare, then donate the proceeds, seeing as many charities have misappropriated donations over the years. Sorry for sounding a down note, but being a retiree, I can't afford to throw money around like I did when I was in my 20's.
I have had good success with an online company called SellMyTimeshareNOW. They have a blog which makes for some interesting reading, at http://timeshareownersblog.sellmytimesharenow.com They helped me recover about 2/3 of the original purchase price of my unit, which is pretty good for a timeshare. From what I understand, they optimize their site to get traffic from the search engines, which I'm told is a good thing. I guess it worked, because I had two emails from actual buyers - not just bums making offers - within the first month. I ended up selling my week to a great family from Des Moines. Because of this I was able to donate $2000.00 to the American Red Cross (this happened just after hurricane Katrina). I thank God that every cent of my donation went to the victims of this horrible calamity.
So, there's nothing wrong with donating your timeshare, but if you can sell it, why not?
Thanks for the comment, Anon1. Thanks for the link to communityhousingdevelopment.org, Anon2.
I hope you both will visit So what can I do again soon. And spread the word!
And thanks for your thoughts, PFA.
Hi,
The advantage I can see to donating is that you get a tax write-off for the fair market value, not the amount that it ends up getting resold at.
So...let's say you bought a timeshare for 8,000. The fair market value may be more like 6,000. But we all know it is impossible to sell for the same price we paid for. Timeshares depreciate almost as badly as new cars when you drive them off the lot. The jacked-up price we pay when we purchase is for the advertising and you can never get that back.
Let's say you're in the 33% tax bracket. If you donate, you'll get a tax write-off of 33% of 6,000, or 1980.00. That's cash in your pocket.
If you can sell your timeshare for more than a 1980.00 proft AFTER all fees and AFTER the IRS tax of your profit, then sell it.
But if you can't (which I think defines most people), you're better off donating and getting 1980.00 extra money back on your taxes.
Another advantage to donating is usually once you give the organizing your timeshare, you're done. On the other hand, when you sell, you may wait years for your unit to be purchased.
We donated our other timeshare. We got an 1800.00 tax write-off. My charity only ended up getting 200.00, if you can believe it. That's a good indication of the kind of money you get when you try to sell; not much. But I didn't care because I got 1800.00 from the tax write-off, and my charity got a little extra money.
I've used donateforacause.org because they let you pick your own charity.
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