Bernice Ross

Would you like to tap into an entirely new way to market your brand, earn full commission and make a huge difference to nonprofits in your local community, all at once? If you volunteer or are passionate about a cause, there’s a powerful new way to use real estate charitable giving to achieve all three objectives.  

Did you know that most charities will take a $500 donation over the gift of a $500,000 house? It seems crazy on its face, but most nonprofits lack the capacity to make mortgage payments, taxes, random repairs and other things that come with property ownership.  

Cami Baker, the author of “Real Estate Is Hot, Fundraising Is Not,” has created what she calls her Real Agents of Change system that allows property owners to donate all or a portion of the value of their real estate to a nonprofit without the nonprofit assuming the burden of property ownership.  

According to Baker, the beauty of this approach is that the nonprofit is not competing for a part of the three percent of cash that most people have. Instead, they’re dipping into the “wealth bucket” of real estate which can be hundreds of thousands of dollars per donation.  

Instead of the nonprofit having to take title, a intermediary – typically a dedicated nonprofit – acquires the property to handle the sale, and then distributes the designated amount of the proceeds to charitable organization of the donor’s choice. The intermediary is also the one who guarantees your full commission. 

While this system has been around for a very long time, it has been completely underutilized. 

How It Works 

Baker says the most likely place for charities (and Realtors) to find real estate donations is on the nonprofit’s existing donor list. Many of their current donors will contribute real estate when they realize they can take advantage of the tax benefits, they have the option of taking out a partial cash distribution for themselves in conjunction with the nonprofit donation and/or they’re leaving a significant legacy for a cause about which they are passionate. In fact, many prefer to donate while they’re still alive to see the money put to good use.  

Here are Baker’s top three recommendations on how to locate donors who would be interested in making a charitable gift of real estate. 

The most important place to prospect for potential donors is the charity’s current donor list.  

“When you think about it, a donation of $600,000 on average is not something that you find through a Facebook ad. It’s based on a relationship with people who are already in love with your cause. This isn’t about selling them on it. You can’t convince somebody to donate real estate. What you can do is you inform, educate and share with them what their options are,” Baker told me. 

Other places to prospect include financial advisors and your own client base. 

“We know all the people who own property,” Baker said. “We have already sat at the closing table with people who complained about capital gains tax. We have already been in the homes of veterans with the flag on the wall or the person who has 14 little cats and dogs running around when we do our listing appointment.” 

Why It Works 

Every nonprofit was created by passionate people who care strongly about their cause and want to help others. Donors contribute because they share that passion. What better way to create legacy by taking advantage of charitable real estate with the nonprofit’s current donors.  

The beauty of this model is that a Realtor can focus on all the nonprofits in their community. There’s an average of 499 nonprofits per county across America. In Florida that number is 2,400 nonprofits per county and in California, the number is 5,000.  

Baker shared a wonderful story with me about how charitable real estate helped the Berkeley Humane Society in Berkeley, California.  

It was Dec. 10, 2021, and Baker’s team received a phone call from a donor who owned 12 lots and wanted to donate them by the end of the year to get the tax deduction. The team was able to transfer title in one week, then property sold for $406,000, and the proceeds were given as a grant to the Berkeley Humane Society.  

The Berkeley Humane Society didn’t exactly understand how it all worked but decided to call their top donors to tell them about the $406,000 grant and ask if they knew anyone else who might be interested in donating real estate. A woman who had inherited a house that she didn’t want in a 55-plus community in Carmel, California decided to donate it. The sale generated a $646,000 donation. Those two donations totaled $1.05 million.  

Bernice Ross is a nationally syndicated columnist, author, trainer and speaker on real estate topics. She can be reached at bernice@realestatecoach.com.