Donating Stock Instead of Giving Cash or Savings

If you’re a tither/charitable donator and you have long-term appreciated stock, you should seriously consider donating your stock instead of cash/savings…

​If you donate long-term appreciated stock, you won’t pay any capital gains on the stock growth, and you’ll receive a tax deduction on the full Fair Market Value of the stock donated (assumes you itemize deductions and don’t exceed max allowable charitable deduction limits, which apply on donated cash/savings as well anyways).
 
Plus, you can always turn around and use the cash/savings you would’ve donated, and instead use those funds to repurchase the stock you donated. This will give you a new higher cost basis and replenish your original stock holding.
 
Another thought is that you can also use this as an opportunity to rebalance your portfolio. Sometimes folks are highly concentrated in company stock, but don’t want to sell because of the potential large capital gains. Well, using the strategy above, this could be a way to sell and rebuy other holdings to diversify, as you don’t have to rebuy the same stock.
 
This is ultimately a strategy that changes the way you give, and results in providing yourself the gift of lower taxes and potentially a more diversified portfolio!