Stock Donations

A Tax-Smart Way to Donate

Meet your giving goals, enjoy potential tax benefits, and contribute to the change you want to see with a gift of securities.

Benefits of donating stock to charity include:

Dual tax benefits

When you give cash to the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, that gift entitles you to an income tax charitable deduction. Imagine you had to sell an appreciated stock in order to have cash for the donation. You’d have to pay capital gain taxes on the sale and have less available for charitable giving.

Instead, imagine you simply gift the appreciated stock directly to the Citizens Research Council. You never sold the stock, so there can be no taxable gain for you to report. Moreover, in most cases, you can claim a charitable deduction for the stock’s full market value. Thus, there is really a dual benefit to making a gift in this manner.

Make a bigger impact

When you give appreciated stocks directly to the Citizens Research Council, your gift can be up to 20% larger because you avoid the taxes you would incur from selling the stock and donating the cash. This means more money going to the work that you support.

It’s quick and easy

Generally, this process is easiest if you work through your financial advisor or the custodian holding your securities. This is a very common gifting method and your advisors will surely be familiar with the process.

Let Us Know

Please let us know if you are making a gift of stocks so we know who is sending us the donation. We want to be able to keep an eye out for the shares coming in, and we’ll need to be able to send our thank you and the needed tax information at the end of the year. If you prefer not to use the form, you can call Eric Lupher (734) 542-8001.