donations

-- The Board should take a vote to approve or disapprove acceptance of the donation. Until then and in my opinion, there's nothing "binding" about it except that, in the extreme. if someone gets hurt on the golf cart, it's unclear whose insurance will pay for any injury.

-- Perhaps the donation of the golf cart, to the HOA, should be counted as income to the HOA. It could affect the HOA's non-profit status.

With others, until the Board approves the donation, no one should use for liability & insurance reasons.

You guys are all assuming it was donated to the HOA. The OP didn't say that.

The President may have accepted a gift to himself.

A golf cart would be very useful in my former HOA. Some of the board members use their own golf carts in their duties in my former rural HOA. It would be nice for the HOA to own one the same as they do the tractor/mower.

Can it be purchased by the HOA for $1 or fair market value? How would that affect the nonprofit status or tax implications? As far as the President accepting it without board approval perhaps he or she overlooked the consequences of accepting the gift and was just excited to get it. It certainly should be brought to the Board's attention to vote on. The other posters brought up the potential pitfalls of accepting it.

Yes, I read the post. The President accepted a donation of a golf cart. The President is a homeowner in the community and an individual person. He may have accepted the donation for himself personally and not for the assocation. Nothing in the post says that it was accepted for the assocation from my reading of the original post.

For example, perhaps a homeowner was delinquent on paying dues on time and the President agreed to waive the late fines if a golf cart was donated to him personally.

Or perhaps the homeowner owns a landscaping business, and the golf cart was donated to the President personally if the homeowner received a contract for doing the community landscaping.

Or perhaps the homeowner and the President were playing poker, and the HOA President was a better card player, and the homeowner said "let's square up by me donating a golf cart to you".

Each of these situations could fit the context of the OP's post.

NOTE: One company did offer to donate a "free Big Green Egg" to me personally if I signed a landscaping project contract of $10,000 or more in the next 30 days. This did not sway me because of my ethical beliefs but it was offered.

That is called a "kick back" Michael. Ethically questionable practice.

Get this straight. Not saying that accepting and eventually using the Golf Car will not benefit the HOA. I would have loved one if someone gave us one. It is the LOGISTICS of how it is accepted. Meaning one not expecting some kind of kick back or resolve a debt they may have with the HOA. Both no-no's.

This should have been discussed with the board and approved. It should not be considered "Charity" or in context of paying any HOA debt. It should have been bought at a reduced price not donated. The person donated should not expect it being considered a "charitable contribution" because it's not qualified.

Now if the HOA does accept the golf cart then it should be prepared for the expenses of ownership. That means insurance, maintenance, gas, and taxes. If that is okay, then go for it. Otherwise, let's not get in a habit of "Tit for Tat"...