Contributions of appreciated assets offer tax savvy opportunities for gift planning. But what if the donor is not eager to part with the entire asset? That’s no problem if the asset is securities; our donor simply transfers as many shares as she chooses and keeps the rest for herself. However, other assets aren’t so easily divided – things like real estate or bank, investment, or retirement accounts. A contribution of a partial interest can allow donors to give a portion of the property and retain the rest for themselves, their family, or others.

Navigating a contribution of a partial interest can be a bit like the challenges Odysseus faced on his journey home. It wasn’t all smooth sailing. He had to navigate rocky shoals, whirlpools, and angry gods, but eventually, he made it home safely.

At some point in your fundraising career, you will be asked to pull a rabbit out of a hat. You will deal with a donor who wakes up on December 15th with a burning desire to establish a $1M lead trust, or to establish a charitable remainder trust with mutual funds, or make an outright gift of real estate. And in the eager donor’s mind, these should all be easily doable for your charity by year end ‒ after all, you’ve got two whole weeks to pull it off!

While we can’t guarantee a successful mutual fund transfer into a CRT after December 15th (we’re magicians, not miracle workers), we do have a suggestion for handling the last-minute, year-end, Hail Mary pass of an outright gift of real estate.