01Tell us about your property
Submit the two-minute inquiry form with the property state, type, and your contact information. County and parcel number help but aren’t required — we can find them.
02Free review and title check
Within about one business day we review county records, confirm ownership and liens, and tell you whether we can accept the property and what happens to it.
The title check is where we earn the “no surprises” promise. We verify the owners of record, find any liens, unpaid taxes, or easements, and confirm the legal description matches what you think you own — a mismatch there is common with old family land and better discovered now than at signing. The review costs you nothing whether or not the donation proceeds.
03We prepare the deed, you sign
We draft the deed and arrange a notary — mobile or local to you. Every owner of record signs once. You never travel to the property or to us.
Multiple owners? Each signs the same deed, wherever they live — we mail documents and arrange notaries in parallel, which is why co-inherited parcels don’t take much longer than sole-owner ones.
04We record the deed — donation complete
We pay recording fees and closing costs. You receive a donation receipt, and for deductions over $5,000 we sign your IRS Form 8283.
Timeline expectations
- Vacant lots: two to three weeks is typical.
- Farms, homes, multiple owners: three to six weeks.
- Commercial property: four to eight weeks, driven by environmental screening (why that matters).
What we accept — and what we can't
We accept vacant land, farms and ranches, residential property, commercial buildings, and unusual interests reviewed case by case (fractional shares, timeshare deeds, mineral rights). The honest exclusions:
- Debt above value. Liens, mortgages, or back taxes exceeding what the property is worth make a transfer that helps no one.
- Serious contamination. Properties with environmental liability that outweighs their value — think former fuel or industrial sites that fail screening.
- Title that can’t yet transfer. Unprobated estates and ownership disputes have to resolve first; we’ll tell you what’s needed and wait for you.
Everything else — landlocked, unbuildable, remote, “worthless” — send it in. Rejections are rare and always explained. Then the tax side of your donation is covered on the tax benefits page, and the form to begin is at donateland.com/donate.