The parcel number or numbers
Large tracts are often several parcels. Each has its own number on the tax bill.
Donate raw acreage to charity: unimproved land of any size
Acreage specialists: (888) 228-7320
Donate Raw Acreage to Charity
Raw acreage is land with no house and no improvements: open pasture, scrub, woods or a creek bottom that has been in the family for years. It is often bought as an investment, inherited, or left over after a farm was divided. Real Estate with Causes accepts raw acreage of any size nationwide, including land far from where you live and land you have never walked.
Tell us about the land
Every property gets a look. Name, phone and email are the only required fields.
Fully IRS Compliant
We Handle the Paperwork
Form 8283 Done Right
501(c)(3) Recognized Charity
Access, frontage and zoning
Three things drive the value of raw land more than anything else: how you get to it, how much road frontage it has and what the zoning allows. A parcel with county road frontage and permissive zoning is worth far more than the same ground reached by an old farm lane.
Easements
If the only access is across a neighbor’s land, the easement needs to be recorded or clearly established. Tell us what you know.
Leases on the land
Grazing, hay or hunting leases usually transfer with the property.
Why acreage suits a donation
Rural acreage can take a long time to sell, and banks are reluctant to lend on it, so buyers often need seller financing. Meanwhile the property tax bill arrives every year.
Land held for many years often has a low basis, so a sale can carry a sizable capital gains bill. A donation avoids the sale, and for land held more than a year the deduction is generally its appraised fair market value, limited to 30% of AGI.
What to have ready when you call
The county record usually fills in the rest.
How the land is reached
County road, private lane or easement across a neighbor.
Any leases or agreements
Grazing, hay, hunting, timber or pipeline agreements.
Raw acreage donation questions, answered
Is there a minimum acreage? +
No. We accept everything from a few acres to large tracts. What matters is value relative to the cost of transferring and holding it.
The land is landlocked. Can I still donate it? +
Tell us anyway. Landlocked land is harder to sell, but access can sometimes be established or a neighbor may want it. It changes the value, not whether we look.
Do I need to clear or improve the land first? +
No. Raw land is donated as it is. Improving it first rarely adds as much value as it costs.
What if part of the land is in a floodplain? +
Tell us. Floodplain affects what can be built and therefore value, but floodplain acreage is still land we review.
Can I donate the land and keep the mineral rights? +
Reserving minerals turns the gift into a partial interest, which generally eliminates the deduction on the surface. If the minerals were severed before you owned the land, you give what you hold. Talk to your advisor first.
We do not provide tax or legal advice. See IRS Publication 526, Publication 561 and the Form 8283 instructions, and consult your own advisor.
Related guides
Tell us about the acreage and we will review it
Send the county and the approximate acreage, and we will tell you plainly what a donation would look like.