Donations Appraisal

[Ken Eschete]

Avery,
Our first step when we get the offer of a piano donation is to contact the
Development Office for the University.  Donations and the paper work
involved are their specialty.   The actual appraisal needs to be
done by a technician who is NOT associated with the University.  IRS will
question anything  that appears to have a conflict of interest.  It is also
important that your donor pay for the appraisal, which also proves to the
IRS that the professional appraisal was obtained.  The donor should save
the cancelled check with the appraisal letter.  (A professional fee is
about $100.)

Our only involvment in the process is to help our donor find a technician
who will do the appraisal, make sure that the donor gets everything from
the Development Office in the way of IRS forms (which need to be signed by
the appraiser), and a gift receipt from the University.   OUR JOB IS TO
MAKE SURE THE DONOR DOESN'T GET IN TROUBLE WITH THE IRS.

Hope this helps,

Ken Eschete
Northwestern


>>We've had two pianos donated to us in the last few weeks and I need
>>to arrange an appraisal for the donor's (for tax purposes). I've
>>been away from retail for too many years and was wondering what
>>would be the best way to do this.
>>
>>The pianos are both Kawai's, a UST-7 (1981) and a KG-1C (1981),
>>both a Walnut type of finish and both in very good shape, inside
>>and out. Since we're already associated with the Kawai dealer
>>because of our lease program, would asking him to do that be a good
>>way to go?
>>
>>Avery
>
>Avery,
>The two methods that I would use are: 1) half of list price, less any
>work needed (i.e. regulation, hammers, etc.) and 2) depreciation
>schedule from Steve Brady/Larry Fine.  The list price for a UST-7 in
>walnut is $6370, GE-1A (I'm assuming that this is the present
>equivalent) in walnut is $14,990 (prices taken from the 1999-2000
>Piano Book Supplement).  For a piano 20 years old, the percent of new
>value is 43, according to the Brady depreciation schedule.
>
>If there's any other information I can offer, let me know.
>
>Respectfully,
>Jon
>
>Jon Ralinovsky
>Piano Technician
>Department of Music
>Miami University
>513/529-6548


Ken Eschete, RPT
Director of Keyboard Maintenance
Northwestern University School of Music
711 Elgin Road
Evanston, Il 60208

k-eschete@northwestern.edu
847/467-6970