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Giving Home > What to Give > Gifts of Stocks and Bonds

Gifts of Stocks and Bonds

Donating appreciated securities, including stocks or bonds, is an easy and tax-effective way for you to make a gift to Miriam School and Learning Center.

Benefits of gifts of stocks and bonds

  • Avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of appreciated stock
  • Receive a charitable income tax deduction
  • Further our mission today

Gifts of stocks and bonds video

How to make a gift of stocks and bonds

  1. By electronic transfer—Please contact us for instructions on how you can transfer stock or bonds from your brokerage or investment account to Miriam School and Learning Center.
  2. By certified mail—If you hold securities in certificate form, you will need to mail two envelopes separately to complete your gift. In the first envelope, place the unsigned stock certificate(s). In the other envelope, include a signed stock power for each certificate. You may obtain this power from your broker or bank. Please remember to use certified mail.

Here are 3 reasons you should give stock donation a try:

You can give more.

By donating stock that has appreciated for more than a year, you are actually giving 20 percent more than if you sold the stock and then made a cash donation.

The reason is simple: avoiding capital gains taxes. The maximum federal capital gains tax rate is 20 percent on long-term holdings. Given that the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from about 18,000 at the end of March 2015 to over 30,000 in December 2020, you are likely to realize a taxable profit on the sale of assets you purchased in the past five years.

But if you donate the stock directly to a charity, there's no capital gains tax to pay. Plus, you are still eligible to deduct the full fair-market value of the asset you donated from your income taxes, up to the overall amount allowed by the IRS.

And remember that your appreciated assets can also include assets that are not publicly traded, like restricted stock or bitcoin.

You can potentially reduce future capital gains.

Many investors have stocks that they love and want to hold for the long term. Any appreciation of that stock's value confirms your belief in it, but it can also set the stage for substantial gains when you sell.

So consider donating some of your appreciated shares and then buying new shares to reset your cost basis at the current, higher price. This will reduce your future capital gains tax exposure if the stock continues to grow in value.

You can give your portfolio a health check.

Even with a good diet and regular exercise, your health can get out of balance. So, too, can your stock portfolio.

If a review of your investments' gains and losses shows that it's time to rebalance your portfolio to maximize its performance and optimize for risk, donating stock can give your portfolio the health check it needs. Implementing a donation strategy puts your capital gains to work funding your philanthropy. Talk to your advisor about which assets to put to a better use.

What is the process for donating stock to charity?

  1. Your broker can assist you in making a gift of non-cash assets via a direct transfer to Miriam. Talk to your broker about what stock donation works best for you and can make the greatest impact.
  2. Then contact our Director of Advancement Heather Kemper at [email protected] or 314.962.6059. She will provide the information you need to make your transfer and issue a tax deduction receipt. Then, Miriam will put your generosity to work by serving our unique learners.

The transfer of charitable gifts must be completed by December 31 to obtain a deduction for the current tax year. For tax purposes, electronic transfers from your brokerage account are recorded on the day it is received by Miriam, not when you approve the transfer.

More on gifts of stocks and bonds

There are special rules for valuing a gift of stock. The value of a charitable gift of stock is determined by taking the mean between the high and low stock price on the date of the gift. Mutual fund shares are valued using the closing price for the fund on the date of the gift.

Contact us

If you have any questions about gifts of stocks and bonds, please contact us. We would be happy to assist you and answer any questions that you have.