What value..........
 

Here's the situation..........
I will be donating some items made from donated bits of fabric to a silent auciton. I need to put a value on the items that is fair but that also makes the item look like a good deal for the person bidding.

One set of pillowcases------------gingerbread men with red trim. Sort of Christmasy but could be for a kiddo any time of the year. I'm thinking a value of $25 for the pair. I've read on this board before the some folks are selling the pillowcases for about $15 each.

And I'll be making a rag quilt for kiddos, maybe two, about 40" by 60" probably (mine work themselves out!). Again the fabric is donated, so I don't have a supplies cost to base my value on. I'm thinking $50. Personally, I'd never pay that for a rag blanket, but I've made a few from newly purchased fabric that cost me more than that.

And a table runner---------again from fabric that didn't cost me a cent. $25 value??

I'm sort of basing my numbers on what a bidder would consider a great buy for his bid. I can always go higher on my value---------but at what stage does my "value" become laughable?

Please don't ask me for pics. This board will not allow me to post pics.

Thanks for your suggestions

Your pictures are probably too large to down load. I have "Paint" on my computer and I just shrink by half, change 100 % to 50% and it works for me. I have the same problem, the Boxer Dog quilt I made to donate needs a value also. Anyone have a clue?? The 4 corners are appliqué, the others are pre-printed.
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IMO, the applique would kick up the value quite a bit, but I'd be leary of assessing a value.

As long as you are not using said 'value' for tax purposes, I'd set the amount as what you would list them for if made from purchased goods and you were selling them outright. To jack up the 'value' because it's an auction and you think the bidders want to feel they are getting a deal makes no sense.

Charity auction bidders pay little or no attention to the 'assigned' value of any item, high or low. They bid what the item is worth to them at that moment with a bit extra added in because "it's for charity". Don't try to psych them out.

Bottom line, use similar item retail value.

The fair market value you put on should be what you would sell them at a craft expo for assuming you purchased all materials to complete. Do not discount due to fabrics being donated, gifted, scraps, etc.

if the winner puts the item on their taxes as a donation the charity will subtract the fair market value from the amount bid as the amount donated for charitible purposes.

i do lots of charity fundraising for groups and this is one of the toughest parts, determining fair market value. Two tickets to Hong Kong are easy to identify the fair market value. Hand made things are a whole different ballgame. We had a starving artist donate a piece once and he said the value was oodles more than the average price of any piece he had ever done. It was like, duuuuuude. What are you thinking? You do charcoals at the market for 20$. And you want to claim this portrait of Elton John is worth 2k$. Uhhhhh no. Sure you get to claim it as a donation to a charity on your taxes but duuuude.....

I guess I'm the exception. I do take the value into consideration when I bid on something.

I DONATE, I don't claim anything on taxes. So that is not a concern.

And I don't sell anything, so again, I'm out of the information Wait, I have sold some shopping bags------usually $10.

Somewhat OT, but...If the charity is providing the winner with an 'adjusted' donation amount, it is in violation of tax law. It is up to the individual to determine their deductible amount, not the charity, and the charity is putting itself at risk if it does so. That is why the common disclaimer of "Donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law" is used when a donation might not be fully tax deductible.

As for the artist, what's between him and the IRS is none of the charity's, nor the fundraiser's, concern. His deductible amount depends on how his business, if any, is organized and several other factors. The value he assigns to a donated work will seldom, if ever, be the same as his tax deductible amount.

I think that your values are correct. When we do a silent auction, people start the bidding at anything they want and others bid them up from there so there isn't even a starting value or a stated value. Have fun.

We just do sanity checks on values of donations to make sure the person put the right amount. One year a lovely woman donated a very dear old violin and said it was worth 36.75 because that was the cost of it when her great grand father had it comissioned. We helped her out and got her in touch with an appraiser because clearly she didnt know what she had. Another guy went to donate a comic book and in poor penmanship it looked like he wrote 2500. And he meant 25$. The local artist is just colorful creativity and we all adore him and he always says he has to try to donate a million dollar piece. It is almost a standing game anymore.

And we are required to itemize our reciepts to buyers that say they PURCHASED x item at a charity auction and y is the street value leaving a donation of y for said item. The disclaimer is listed as well. Our tax attorneys are very clear how we are to list things on reciepts at auctions, one group clears about 1.5M in their christmas gala so we gotta do it right. It isnt a gift with donation as many do, these are outright auctions.

Returning to topic.

I think the value also depends a bit on the audience. The boxer quilt (which is beautiful, btw!) would seem to have a more reasonable value to people at an appropriate fundraiser, ex. a boxer rescue fundraiser vs. a children's hospital fundraiser. I'm sure there are baselines for this sort of thing and I would base it on what you might sell it for if you'd bought the fabric and made it if you're writing it off on your taxes. If you're assigning a value for the silent auction guests to see and bid based on then consider your audience and price appropriately.