Donating Real Property

It can be a meaningful and tax-efficient way to support the cancer center's mission.

Did you know that you can gift a house, a vacation home, a farm, a plot of land, or other real property to the University of Virginia so it can be sold to support UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center? The benefits to you as a donor include being eligible for a charitable income tax deduction equal to the property’s fair market value (if you owned it for more than one year) and avoiding any capital gains tax liability from selling the property yourself. 

An outright gift of property offers immediate support to the center, but there are other ways you can leverage real estate to meet your philanthropic and personal financial goals, including:

  • Designating UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center the beneficiary of the proceeds of property in your will or living trust. This scenario provides the cancer center with future support and may offer you estate tax benefits. It’s important to let UVA’s planned giving team know about a designation of this nature, so your intentions can be fully understood and implemented.
  • Donating the remainder interest in a personal residence, while retaining the right to live in or use it during your lifetime. You would be eligible for an income tax charitable deduction based on the value of the remainder interest. At the end of your lifetime, the property would pass to UVA to benefit the cancer center. 
  • Transferring property to a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT). You can use real estate to fund a CRUT held at UVA, making you eligible for an immediate income tax charitable deduction and removing the asset from your taxable estate. Once the property is sold, the CRUT pays you a fixed annual percentage, typically 5%–7% of the total trust value. At the end of the trust term, the remaining assets pass to UVA to benefit the cancer center. 

If you’d like to explore gifting real estate to benefit UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center, please get in touch with Erin Hughey-Commers, Director of Gift Planning for UVA Health, at erinhc@virginia.edu or 434-760-3281. 

A few caveats: Gifts of real estate are subject to due diligence to determine whether UVA can accept the property. The foregoing article is intended as a high-level overview only. UVA does not provide legal, tax, or financial advice, and we strongly recommend that you consult your own professional advisers for gift-planning guidance and considerations.

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