As we serve more and more donors who are donating their non cash treasure to support ministry, we take time to evaluate what the potential value of the donation is in the current market. Often the donor has an exaggerated idea of what something is worth. Baseball cards are the biggest culprit; rarely will we be able to get the amount someone pays for collectible baseball cards that what they paid for them. Retail sellers of baseball cards place a high markup on their cards but greatly reduce the amount that they will buy those same cards.
Often with collectibles and jewelry, there is a strong emotional attachment. Many donors have a lot of passion for their collectibles and they bring back strong memories or they inherited the collection from a parent or close relative so the collection represents a memory. Because of the strong attachment to a donation, a donor will often want to control the amount a donation is sold for but the IRS requires that when a donation is given, the donor no longer has any control of ownership.
In many of these cases, it is much better for the donor not to give the donation and wait until they are ready to give the donation; no strings attached.
Once I was helping a church with several non-cash donations that were offered in their capital campaign. A late model RV was offered that was potentially worth $60,000 and the donor had been trying to sell the RV for several months. After I consulted with our contracted RV dealer in Kansas City, he said that the RV was only worth $46,000 in the Kansas City Market; this was unacceptable for the donor and he chose to continue selling it himself. I wasn't able to help this church directly but because of having a Donor Advised Fund with Servant Christian Community Foundation, they were able to allow their donors to donate almost anything and otherwise they would have never offered the opportunity. You can learn more about Ministry Foundation (AKA Donor Advised Fund) by going to http://www.servantchristian.com/web/Churches_and_Ministries/churches_home_page.asp?b=17 . Donor Advised Funds are the heart of what Servant Christian Community Foundation and can greatly serve Churches, Ministries and individuals by allowing donors to give many non cash items.

The question in many people's heart is "why should I give" - when the question should be "how much should I give." We see this illustrated in the early church when as a result of their diligent prayer they went and sold all that they had and laid it at the apostles feet. When they saw a need they simply acted and as a result God used them to meet a special need. This type of extreme devotion and obedience to the Lord is many times frowned on. Why is that? I believe that it is simply because we are not listening to what the Lord would have us do with not only our money but also our time and assets. Our lives are very busy and our schedules are packed with things that we have to get done. As a result we become somewhat self consumed. The world that we live in would tell us that we have a right to everything we have. The American thought would say "I worked hard for this money, it's mine and I can do with it whatever I please." Although many of us would never verbalize these words our actions speak for themselves.  Consider this...My lack of generosity and giving is a result of my lack of communion with God. In Acts 4:31-37 we see that only after prayer did the believers recieve boldness, only after prayer did they recieve unity, and only after prayer did they recieve this spirit of generosity. I would ask you today to take moment in prayer and consider what God is leading you to do for Him. Maybe He is calling you to give of your funds but when we seek God even further we will see that He is calling all of us to give of our time, our talents, and our lives. Prayer is the key to experience true freedom on your path to a life full of generosity.