Donating vessels to our school

The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is a fully qualified 501(c)(3) educational institution and as such may accept charitable contributions of vessels to use in our programs or sell outright to generate funds for capacity building, campus development and operational expenses. These donations are tax deductible subject to certain rules.

Under the new tax rules, included in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, tax payer deductions for vessel donations are limited to the gross proceeds of the sale of the vessel.

However, if NWSWB significantly uses or materially improves the vessel, generally, the donor may deduct the fair market value, as determined by appraisal or survey, at the time of donation. Please see the full Tax guidelines page for complete details.

Donation Criteria

Repair and Restoration

Students entering this program have spent months learning how to build wooden boats. This course, with the help of "your old boat", will expose them to the real world complexity of wooden boat repair as they learn, hands on, how to evaluate and plan the repair then "wreck out" and replace worn, rotted or obsolete components.

Vessels donated for use in this program should be:

Built of wood or have significant wooden components
In reasonable condition overall but in need of some structural repair
Mechanically complete
Cosmetically intact

Fundraising

Helps to support the ongoing development of our campus, workshops, curriculum and staff. You can participate in our ongoing mission to preserve and restore the unique tradition of Northwest Boatbuilding.

Vessels donated for use in this program should be:

Any material, any size
Ready to sell or in need of minor cleaning or repair

What else do I need to know?

How the Donation process works

Tax guidelines