Jim Henry

__Christians are to be generous toward God’s Kingdom and there’s no wrong way to do it. However, some ways may be better than others. While God loves a cheerful giver, He likely also appreciates a smart giver.__

Donating appreciated stocks certainly fits the definition of smart giving. It allows you to pay less in taxes, give more and improve your personal cash flow … all while simplifying your giving.

By donating those stocks *before* the sale, you reduce or eliminate capital gains taxes. The best way to do that is by opening a Giving Fund with the National Christian Foundation. They’ll sell the securities for you and put the net proceeds into your Giving Fund. You’ll then be able to recommend grants to your church or ministries of your choice.

__Here’s a comparison of traditional cash giving vs. donating stocks, using a figure of $10,000.__

With traditional giving, you write checks to your church and other ministries totaling the $10,000. That qualifies you for a $10,000 charitable deduction. However, you have to keep track of every tax receipt and at some point you’ll have to pay capital gains tax on the equivalent $10,000 from the sale of stocks in your portfolio.

The alternative is, instead of cash, you donate $10,000 worth of appreciated stock into your NCF Giving Fund. NCF then sells those stocks, tax free to you, and puts the proceeds into your Giving Fund for distribution to charities. You still have the $10,000 in cash you *didn’t* donate, and you can use your tax savings to be even more generous.

Donating stock has two more advantages. The first you might call “deduct now, grant later.” You can get a tax deduction this year for the full amount of your donated stock, even though you may be granted over several years.

It also simplifies things. You can make one stock gift that easily supports multiple ministries. You also consolidate tax receipt paperwork under one charity, in our example, NCF.

__And you can do it all online. Sign in to your Giving Fund on NCF’s [website](http://ncfgiving.com/) from any device to see your Fund balance, make gifts, and recommend grants to your favorite charities.__

When making your giving decisions, please remember that MoneyWise Media is entirely listener supported. Without you, we can’t provide listeners with information they need to be better stewards of God’s resources.

__2 Corinthians 9 tells us, *“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”*__

FaithFi

Articles

Christians are to be generous toward God’s Kingdom, and there’s no wrong way to do it.

INVESTING | Mar 20, 2025

Smart Move—Donating Stock

By: Jim Henry

Where Faith Meets Finance

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