Selling or Donating Your Land

San Isabel Land Protection Trust gratefully accepts gifts of land or other real property. Such gifts are carefully evaluated in terms of formal land protection or resale to be used to further our mission. Donating your land to San Isabel Land Protection Trust may qualify you for income tax deductions. You also might avoid capital gains taxes, and in many cases, achieve significant estate tax savings.

If you are considering a gift of land to San Isabel or another nonprofit organization, we encourage you to talk to us to plan for the maximum benefit of your gift. We strive to honor the wishes of our donors and can facilitate careful planning to achieve their goals.

Donation During Donor's Life

In an outright land donation during the lifetime of the donor, title to the land is transferred to the Land Trust. This may result in an income tax deduction for the full appraised value of the land, and allow you to avoid any capital gains taxes that would have resulted from selling the property. Any such gift would be carefully evaluated as to the needs for formal land protection, or for consideration as a re-saleable asset to be used to further our mission.

Donation by Will

Placing a donation of land or a donation of a conservation easement to San Isabel Land Protection Trust in your will rather than making the donation during your lifetime, means that you receive no income tax benefits from your gift. However, removing some or all of the value of the property from your estate could significantly reduce estate taxes. If you are considering a “donation by devise”, please contact San Isabel to ensure that our Land Trust is willing and able to accept the property and manage it according to your wishes.

Gift of Remainder Interest

You may donate land and continue to live on it by donating a "remainder interest" in the property and retaining a "reserved life estate". With a reserved life estate, the deed to your property is transferred to the Land Trust during your lifetime (which may entitle you to income tax deductions, lowered estate taxes, and elimination of property taxes), but you reserve the right for yourself and any other named persons to continue to live on and use the property for the rest of your lives. However, the value of the real estate gift is reduced by the value of the reserved life estate, calculated according to IRS actuarial tables.

San Isabel Land Protection Trust will work with landowners to arrange a transaction that reflects the needs and objectives of the landowner, while preserving the conservation values of the property.

Bargain Sale

Selling your property or a conservation easement at a price below market value is considered a bargain sale. By donating the remaining value, you may receive a federal and state tax deduction. This not only makes it affordable for the Land Trust, which has limited funding, but offers several benefits to you. A bargain sale provides you with cash and also may allow you to avoid some capital gains tax. It may also entitle you to a charitable income tax deduction based on the difference between the land’s fair market value and its sale price.

  • “Placing a conservation easement on our family ranch assures us of what WON'T happen to the land and water when we're gone.”

    – Bill Donley, fourth-generation rancher