A land transaction at a YMCA in Sarasota, Fla., is raising concerns among philanthropy experts who question whether a board member of the organization received undue financial benefits, reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

A complicated deal between the Sarasota Family YMCA and a trustee of its fund-raising foundation made the charity at least $250,000. David Band, a Sarasota lawyer who sits on the foundation board, also made money on the transaction.

Along with four partners, Mr. Band sold half of a deteriorating office building on land tainted by groundwater pollution to the YMCA for $830,000 and donated the other half of the land to the nonprofit group as an $830,000 gift.

The YMCA sold the entire building for $1.3-million, receiving $300,000 in cash, and providing the buyers of the building with a $1-million interest-only loan.

The deal could save Mr. Band and his partners at least $200,000 in taxes. In addition, his son received real-estate commissions and his law firm received legal fees.

Experts are questioning whether a YMCA fund-raising board member should use a nonprofit organization to generate profits for himself, his family, his partners, or his firm and are asking whether Mr. Band and his partners got a bigger tax write-off than their contributions deserved.

“The whole thing stinks,” said Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a nonprofit watchdog group, in Washington.

Mr. Band and the head of the YMCA, Carl Weinrich, said the deal was completely legal and had been reviewed by a local law firm.