What Kind Of Piano Should I Donate To My School?

piano-player-54 A number of individual states and the US Government have given individuals who file tax returns several advantages for assisting accredited public benefit organizations. When a person donates a piano to an eligible nonprofit organization, he may be able to obtain an actual deduction on his income tax, which is equal to the piano’s full market value.

Thus, if you pay your taxes, it means that you are able to keep the money or better yet, obtain a refund of money that you may have already paid. If you want to donate your old piano to a school, follow these suggestions:

Determine the Fair Market Value

Keep in mind that it is entirely up to you to establish the value of the piano that you are planning to donate. During this time, you need to find out how much you can sell your piano for to an interested buyer. If your piano is worth less than $4,000 to $5,000, then you do not need to appoint an appraiser to assess the value on your behalf.

If it is worth more than $5,000, the appraiser who is giving you the value should not be from the non-profit organization. It is therefore best to find an appraiser from a third party company.

Where to Get Your Piano Appraised?

Normally, you can get your piano appraised by a registered piano technician, piano dealer, or a personal piano appraiser. You need to make sure that none of the appraisers are involved in buying or reselling the piano for any non-profit organizations.

What Kind of Piano should You Donate?

You can donate any type of piano, as long as it is still in excellent condition. For this reason, it is ideal that you ensure the piano is fully appraised. Whether it is an upright or grand piano, it has to have fully functional keys, soundboard, strings, and pedals. If it is possible, the exterior of your piano should also be flawless.

Establish the Donation Criteria

Usually, you can make two different types of piano donations. One is a non-restricted donation, which means the non-profit organization can decide how it should best utilize the piano or whether it wants to sell or exchange the unit for other resources. The other type is a restricted donation and this entails you to tell the non-profit organization exactly how you want the organization to use the piano.

Whatever donation type you choose, I would recommend that you conduct proper research regarding piano donations first. Ask for other people’s opinions to help identify which choice is the best.

Do you have a piano that you want to donate? Do you require any further assistance?

photo credit: Ed Yourdon via photopin cc