The people that donated generally just bought the houses and wanted something different or more high end. 

Two are baptist priest, I donated items from the house to the churches.

Having bad employees or being inconsistent is not a good way to accomplish that goal.Now, if enjoy being a non-for-profit company, by all means do the good work... just be aware you will under-funded, working for donations, and relying on volunteers...

I think these deals are interesting, but may need to build up more capital before undertaking them as to avoid donating all of the potential profits to the lenders!

(b) to do business in Californa is just too expensive, remote works shows that company can do the same without office(c) most jobs are shifting to the cloud anywaythe last recent layoffs of microsoft hit into data center support guy while microsoft is donating their cash to nvidia (aka buying off their gpu lol)

I think I might look into donating it just to get a tax write off as well as stop paying taxes for someone else's land.

She donates her time to scouting and likes zumba and whatever else.  

You can put a contingency in the sales agreement that you will get an approval for the variance.You can make donations to the politically elected folks for their re-election and become their best friend.You can talk with the neighbors to make sure they will not object.You can talk with the zoning folks and discuss how they make the decision, what they consider, and get a 'ball park' view if you project has a chance.  

My goal is real estate should be about increasing my financial freedom,  and this deal has "donated hours from land lord" written all over it. 

She has a FB page where she takes donations, maybe an idea for you?