Here’s what you’ll want to consider

Pros: By choosing Donate for a Cause to handle your timeshare donation you’ll enjoy our professional,  fast,  and streamlined transfer process. If your property is eligible for the program then you are guaranteed the successful transfer of the timeshare out of your name. Timeshare donation offers a generous tax-deduction and you will have the satisfaction of knowing you helped your favorite charity.

Cons: None that we know of! Our 10 years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers makes us confident that this is the best exit option for owners 99% of the time.

Or you can choose a rescue companies to divest of your timeshare. Rescue companies must be carefully vetted. When you do  find a legitimate transfer company be prepared to pay a large fee,  typically upwards of 4K . Don’t forget: you get zero tax benefit when you dump your timeshare.

Your final option is signing up with a timeshare listings service. These companies advertise your timeshare on their website for  a fee for which they agree to promote your timeshare and generate leads.  But watch out for high listing fees and little results. There are more sellers than buyers so getting an offer on your timeshare could prove nearly impossible.

The post The Pros and Cons of Timeshare Donation appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.

We just got rewarded for our transparency in a big way when GuideStar awarded us with their official seal of approval this week. If you’re not familiar with GuideStar, they are arguably the most respected source of information regarding charitable organizations. Think: the Better Business Bureau of the nonprofit world.

We earned their endorsement after we submitted our last three years of our 990 forms, the IRS financial statements that prove the charitable work we’ve been doing.
“Guide Star is the primary source that donors look to for guidance when making a charitable gift,” says Fred Peck,” an independent consultant who helps nonprofit organizations become more effective; as well as the Chief Financial Officer of Spokane Housing Ventures. “It gives potential donors a whole new level of confidence in Donate for a Cause.”

You can see our GuideStar status for yourself here: http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/20-4862885/project-philanthropy.aspx.

We’re also very proud and excited that one of our donors left a positive comment on the GuideStar site and gave us a five star rating! If you’ve donated a timeshare yourself through us, we would love it if you too would support us by leaving a five star rating and comment on the GuideStar site as well.

The post Donate for a Cause Earns the GuideStar Exchange Seal, Demonstrating Our Commitment to Transparency appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.

This year alone we have helped 2841 unsatisfied timeshare owners out of their timeshares! That’s 2841 people that are no longer beholden to increasing maintenance fees, special assessments and possible scams associated with their timeshares.

But the impact only begins there. Thanks to the generosity of donors, we have helped raise almost $300,000 for charities just this year! Think of all the people and animals all over the world that are benefiting from that money!

We at Donate for a Cause would like to thank each and every timeshare owner who has chosen to donate their timeshares to a good cause. Without their generosity we would not be able to support wonderful charities such as the American Cancer Society, Feed the Children, Alzheimer’s Association, National Wildlife Federation, and many more.

Please click here to view a thank you letter from St. Jude’s Children Hospital.

We are so proud to be a part of something so BIG! Please consider donating your timeshare as a way to give to those in need this holiday season. You will be rid of your timeshare once and for all, get a generous tax-deduction and help support your favorite charity- all at the same time! It’s a win-win-win!

Click here to see a list of some of the wonderful charities we support

Donating your timeshare to charity has never been easier. Contact us today if you are interested in divesting of your timeshare in 2013.

The post DFC Your Cause, Your Choice – Donating Your Timeshare to Charity appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.

In the news piece, Cherry interviews Clark Rowley from the ARDA, who warns of unethical
listing companies who charge upfront fees to sell your timeshare. Rowley warns to never use
a company that charges fees upfront because they will have no incentive to sell your timeshare.
They will take your money and you will be left with your timeshare.

One such victim was longtime timeshare owner Kay McDermott. Like many timeshare owners,
McDermott had been paying for years on a timeshare that she never used and didn’t want. After
28 years of throwing her money away, Kay was more than ready to get rid of her timeshare. She
tried two times unsuccessfully to get rid of her timeshare using scam listing companies. She
finally found Donate for a Cause and is now very happy and relieved to be free of her timeshare
burden.

Donate for a Cause has done more than 40,000 closings in the last 10 years and more than 100 in
Arizona just this year. If you donate your unwanted timeshare, you get the full Fair Market Value
as a deduction on your taxes. In some cases, you won’t pay anything. Call today to see if your
timeshare qualifies 1-877-822-2873.

See the full article here

CBS 5 – KPHO

The post Got an Unwanted Timeshare? DFC on CBS News appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.

The woman bought a timeshare in 2009 and was later laid off from her job. For the past 2 years she has struggled to pay bills and has gotten behind on her timeshare payments. She is afraid to just stop paying altogether because she knows that it will negatively affect her credit.

Deborah writes back with several options and things to consider:

First, try to sell the timeshare using a timeshare broker. However it may take a long time or may not ever sell, plus you have to pay broker fees.

You could also try offering it to a friend or relative, but this too has pitfalls. Not only would you have to find someone to take on this liability but you would have to make sure the creditor and resort both agree to change ownership.

Another option, if you want to keep the timeshare but can’t afford the payments, is to consider consolidating the timeshare and your home mortgage together through a refinance. However, this is not recommended if you are only 2-3 years from paying off the timeshare all together because then you are just extending the mortgage.

Deborah then suggests using Donate for a Cause. She points out that not only does donation offer generous tax savings, it also helps consumers avoid the pitfalls of selling their timeshare: telemarketing fraud, identity theft, wire fraud, with new scams to defraud seller’s of their money popping up everyday.

To read the entire article, click on the link below:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/timeshare-379121-credit-fees.html

The post Can’t Afford Your Timeshare? Credit Expert Deborah McNaughton Suggests Donate for a Cause! appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.

Many people who purchase timeshares discover months or years later they no longer have the time or desire to use them anymore, or they can’t afford the annual maintenance fees. But selling a timeshare can be difficult. There’s a way owners are getting out of their unwanted timeshares and getting a tax break.

But selling a timeshare can be difficult. There’s a way timeshare owners are getting out of their properties and getting a tax break. They’ve contacted Donate for A Cause to handle their unwanted timeshare and are becoming timeshare free in a matter of weeks.

While some timeshares retain or increase their value over time, others may be worth only a fraction of what was originally paid or even less than the cost of annual maintenance fees. Instead of trying to sell your timeshare, you may want to donate it, which could help cut your tax bill.

It’s easy to donate clothing, toys, even vehicles. Timeshares are another matter.

Because many timeshares are worth very little, it can be difficult to find a buyer willing to take over a contract that could require them to pay several hundred, even a thousand dollars or more, in annual fees.

The post Unwanted Timeshare? ABC News 7 Talks with Donate For a Cause appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.

You may have seen articles around the web warning consumers about “charitable contribution timeshare scams”. Some might even site DFC as being an illegitimate company. Nothing could be further from the truth and in this post we will rebuke some common claims against legitimate timeshare donation firms.

Get the Facts About Charitable Timeshare Contributions

Although there are, no doubt, many timeshare scams out there, they are presenting the information as if all timeshare donation companies are scams. Many people may falsely assume that Donate for a Cause is one of these types of scams. Here we will set the record straight…

#1. Sites claiming that you will pay timeshare donation companies “a fee of up to $5000 or even more…

Truth: Donate for a Cause charges a fee of $2495. This price covers a double real estate closing as well as all recording and marketing fees associated with selling your timeshare. The only additional fee associated with donation is the resort transfer fee charged by your resort. We are not able to build this fee into our program as they vary too much from resort to resort. While some resorts do not charge a fee, others charge up to $4,000. With DFC there are no hidden costs! Our price is what we state it to be which is half of what they are claiming that timeshare donation companies charge.

#2. Timeshare donation companies “will arrange to transfer ownership of your timeshare to a ‘charity’ that they work with.”

Truth: In order to give donors a legitimate tax write-off, the property must first be transferred into a 501 (c) 3 charity. DFC transfers the timeshare into our registered 501(c) 3 non-profit, Project Philanthropy. We then use top rated 3rd party brokers and closing companies to sell or rent the property. We then donate the proceeds raised from that transaction to local and national charities. This double real estate closing is the only legitimate way to donate a timeshare. Some charities used to take in the timeshare’s directly, but due to the high liability of timeshare ownership, charities simply cannot afford take in timeshares.

That is where DFC comes in. We allow charities to reap the benefits of the donated timeshares without taking on any of the risk. And the donors get the rewards of tax write-offs as well as knowing that their timeshare went to benefit the charity of their choice. For the donors and charities, it’s a win-win!

#3. Claims that the appraisal that timeshare donation companies give is bogus and will trigger an IRS audit.

Truth: Any time a donor wants to claim a real estate donation of $5,000 or more they should have the property appraised by a licensed real estate appraiser. The amount it appraises for is the amount which the donor can claim as the fair market value (FMV) of the asset donated. Upon request Donate for a Cause will have your donation appraised by a 3rd party licensed appraiser. The IRS code states that if the appraiser falsely inflates the value of your donation they will be fined and held liable for the difference in your tax burden.
The reason why your timeshare will typically appraise for more than what the charity may sell it for is because they IRS has instructed the timeshare appraisers that they must take into account all contemporaneous sales prices which include both the resale and developer prices. FMV is not a subjective test both rather an objective view of the entire market.

#4. Claims that by donating your timeshare “You are a knowing and willing participant in lying to the United States IRS…because you know your timeshare isn’t worth the “appraised” value”

Truth: This is simply a a scare tactic. We at DFC would never advise our customers to lie to a US government agency. The donor is submitting their donation value which has been determined by a 3rd party licensed expert. Where is the lie?

#5. “By the time the IRS finds out, the scam company will have picked up and left town with your money.

Truth: While this is very true for many fly-by-night scam companies out there, it is not true of DFC. We have been doing business in the same location for over 8 years. If what we are doing is illegal, we would have been shut down long ago.

#6. Timeshare is transferred to a charity and the charity doesn’t want to keep it due to annual liability. When the transfer is done, the charity will immediately “sell” it to a 3rd party-usually a holding party owned by.

Truth:The only truth in this statement is that charities don’t want to keep and use your timeshare due to the liability. We work with large, well renowned charities for years. They would not work with us if we were a scam.

The post The Charitable Contribution Timeshare Scam appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.

Helping Raise Money for Charities through Timeshare Donation

Arizona Scholarship Fund
“Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire.” –William Butler Yates.
The education of our children is one of the most important investments we can make. The mission of The ASF Support Foundation is to financially support the operations of the Arizona Scholarship Fund – which provides parents with tuition assistance throughout Arizona in meeting the academic, social, and spiritual needs of their children by providing scholarships that will allow their children to attend the non-governmental school of the parents’ choosing.

Guardian Angel Service Dogs
“Man’s best friend” takes on an especially important role when assisting people with health conditions. Not only do service dogs provide companionship and new freedoms to the people they serve, they also save lives.
Guardian Angel Service Dogs, Inc. helps families find local resources to help offset the costs associated with the purchase and training of a service dog. In addition, Guardian Angel Service Dogs, Inc. serves to provide education and raise awareness about the role of service dogs and the different types of assistance they may provide to persons with invisible health issues such as Type 1 and 2 Diabetes, Seizure Disorders, Hypoglycemic Unawareness, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury and some spectrum disorders such as Aspergers or Autism.

Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Gallatin County
Big Brothers, Big Sisters is the United States’ largest and most-effective youth-mentoring organization. Their network of 370 agencies supports over 250,000 children annually.
BBBS of Gallatin County serves youth in South Western Montana. Their mission is “to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported 1-to-1 relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. We hold ourselves accountable to demonstrating outcomes for children matched in our program in three critical areas- socio-emotional competencies such as higher aspirations, greater self-confidence, and better relationships; avoidance of risky behaviors including juvenile delinquency; and educational success.”

Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly
Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly is nationally recognized for excellence in building and managing affordable independent housing for low-income older adults in the Greater Boston area. Housing is coupled with supportive services and life-enhancing programs that enable residents to live independent, full lives for as long as possible.

Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center
Wildlife education is vital to preserving and protecting the natural world for future generations. The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, located in West Yellowstone, MT, serves to provide visitors to the Yellowstone area an opportunity to learn about, view and ultimately appreciate the grizzly bear and gray wolf—two keystone species to this beautiful and unique habitat.

Eagle Mount
Eagle Mount is a non-profit organization located in Bozeman, Montana which provides therapeutic recreation for people with disabilities and youth with cancer. Started in 1982, by a retired Air Force General, Eagle Mount gives people with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, visual and hearing impairments, developmental disabilities, amputations and spinal cord injuries opportunities to ski, horseback ride, and swim. Eagle Mount also runs the Big Sky Kids camps for children with cancer.

Handi-Dogs, Inc
Handi-Dogs, Inc., one of the oldest assistance dog training programs in the country, was founded as a pilot program in 1973 to teach people with disabilities how to train their own dogs to be their assistance dogs. Serving the Greater Tucson Area, Handi-Dogs mission is to “promote independence, freedom, health, and dignity for seniors and people with disabilities through the use of trained dogs”.

The post Timeshare Donation Raises Money for Charities appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.

TSscammer, a self proclaimed timeshare con-artist recently wrote a post on a board on TUG (Timeshare Users Group) revealing some interesting details from the inside of a timeshare scam operation.

Although TSscammer refrained from revealing the secrets to his new and lesser known scams he did elaborate on some of the more widely known scams and how he and his colleagues pulled them off.
One of the most common scams pulled over on timeshare owners involves a telemarketer calling the owner and stating that there is a buyer waiting to pay top dollar for their timeshare. The owner just needs to pay an upfront fee to get the process started and then they will be free from their timeshare once and for all.

Once the scammer gets money from the victim he then pulls off at least two more scams on that person.

TSscammer gives one possible scenario: the scammer will send a counterfeit check to the victim for a higher amount than the so-called sales price. They will call the victim and act like they made an accounting mistake and that they will lose their job if they don’t correct the mistake. They ask the victim to go to the bank, cash the check and then wire them back the difference. By the time the check is discovered to be a fraud the wired money has already gone.

The timeshare con-artist then passes the victims information onto another colleague who calls victim several weeks later pretending to be a private investigator. The “investigator” tells the victim that they have been a victim of a timeshare scam. Of course, they have all of the victim’s information so it seems legitimate. They then ask the victim for money to investigate the scam. And once more the victim has fallen prey to yet another scam.

Many of these scam companies get shut down, but as TSscammer reveals, there are ways to get around this and stay below the radar. TSscammer works for a very small operation with just 4 people. They are licensed in a different state and they don’t use any land lines, just pre-paid cell phones.

Perhaps the most shocking revelation might be the lack of remorse the scammer feels for the victims. TSscammer writes: I feel only contempt for them now. What kind of person receives a phone call they weren’t expecting and ends up driving to the bank an hour later to give a stranger thousands of dollars?

The post Confessions of a Genuine Timeshare Con-Artist appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.

A woman from California is frustrated when she must find a way to get rid of a timeshare her parents no longer use. She wants to know what their best option is for selling it. Suze and her team researched several different options for divesting of an unwanted timeshare and made several recommendations:

Suze points out that in an especially weak market selling your yourself may be difficult and time consuming. Suze suggest that timeshare owners should consider offering their timeshare as a charitable property donation by contacting Donate for a Cause. Donate for a Cause is a non-profit dedicated raising money for charity through charitable timeshare divestment. Got questions about getting rid of timeshare? We’ve got answers, call us at 1-877-822-2873.

The post Suze Orman: Advice for Getting Rid of Timeshare appeared first on Donate For a Cause Blog.