Unfortunately, the answer is no. The IRS rules make it clear that with respect to any charitable auction, a charitable deduction can only be taken for the amount someone pays over and above the fair market value of what they receive for the payment, and such excess must be paid with the intent that it be an excess payment that is a charitable contribution. In other words, it is a knowingly donative gift.

The IRS rules require that the secondary market for tickets and not the ticket’s face value determine a fair market value. The fair market value of the tickets being sold in the auctions varies significantly by the seat location, the event location, and the date of the sale. For that reason, it is essentially impossible for us to establish and report in advance to each auction winner a reliable fair market value based upon which the auction participants could base their charitable intent with respect to bidding above such fair market value price. Therefore, it is impossible for the payment made to be partly a charitable donation under the IRS rules, and therefore, we cannot provide donation letters.

The intent of the auctions is to capture the spread between the face value of the ticket and the fair market value and give this spread to charity instead of ticket brokers.

Thank you for your support. A very generous amount has been given to charity by the use of the ticket auctions.

Please be sure to discuss your specific facts with your tax advisor. For example, if you give the tickets you buy in the auction to charity, the analysis is completely different.