Make a gift of publicly-traded securities to Holy Cross Family Ministries and potentially save income tax and capital gains tax, too.

A gift of publicly-traded securities could be right for you if:

  • You own publicly-traded securities that you have owned for at least one year.
  • Some of these securities have increased in value since you bought them.
  • Some of these securities may provide you with little or no income.
  • You would like to make a gift to Holy Cross Family Ministries.

How it works

  • You transfer shares of one or more publicly-traded securities, such as stock, bonds, and mutual funds, to HCFM.
  • The two most common ways to give publicly-traded securities are to make an outright gift of your securities or to make a gift of your securities and receive payments for life.

How Your Gift Helps

Your gifts to Holy Cross Family Ministries help inspire, promote, and foster the prayer life and spiritual well-being of families throughout the world. Your support will provide us with the resources to…

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inspire and promote the prayer life in 17 countries through retreats, days of reflection, and digital resources;

create family, faith-based programs to entertain, inspire and educate the family;

provide impactful articles, books, podcasts, activities, and reflections daily for Catholic parents.

 

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What are Publicly-traded Securities?

Publicly-traded securities are stocks, bonds, and other investment vehicles whose values are readily available from an established securities market. For example, stocks listed on the New York or NASDAQ stock exchanges are publicly-traded securities.

Are Mutual Fund Shares Publicly-traded Securities?

Although mutual funds are sold by individual mutual fund companies rather than on an exchange, the same charitable contribution rules apply to mutual fund shares as to shares of publicly-traded securities. Gifts of mutual funds have the same tax benefits as gifts of individual securities.

Tax Benefits of Contributing Publicly-traded Securities

You can save income tax and capital gains tax when you give shares of a publicly-traded security that you have owned for a year or more.

Income Tax Benefit

If you have held your securities for more than one year, and provided you itemize, you may deduct from your taxable income the full fair market value of your shares as of the date of your donation, regardless of what you paid for them. Your deduction is limited to 30% of your adjusted gross income. You may, however, carry forward any unused portion of your deduction for up to five additional years.

Capital Gains Tax Benefit

When you donate publicly-traded securities that have increased in value, and you have owned the securities for more than one year, you do not have to report any of your capital gain in the securities. If you were to sell these securities yourself, you would owe capital gains tax on the difference between the sale price and the amount you paid for them.

Should I Give My Securities or Sell Them and Give the Proceeds?

You should give your securities directly to Holy Cross Family Ministries if you have held them for more than one year and they have appreciated in value. This way, you will avoid paying tax on any capital gain you have in your securities. If you sell your securities first and then give us the proceeds, you will have to pay capital gains tax on all of your capital gain, an unnecessary and potentially substantial cost to you.

What is the Advantage of Giving Appreciated Stock Instead of Cash?

When you make a charitable gift of cash, you get an income tax charitable deduction only. When you make a charitable gift of the same value with appreciated stock, you get the same income tax charitable deduction and you avoid capital gains tax on all of your capital gain. The more highly appreciated your security, the more capital gains tax you will avoid.

The chart below shows how making a gift with appreciated stock can save substantially more taxes than making the same size gift with cash.

Cash Gift vs. Stock Gift

 Cash GiftStock Gift
a.   Gift Value$10,000 $10,000 
b.   Income tax deduction$10,000 $10,000 
c.   Income tax saved (at 37% rate)*$3,700 $3,700 
d.   Purchase price   -$1,000 
e.   Increase in value (a - d)   -$9,000 
f.    Tax avoided on gain (at 20% rate)   - $1,800 
g.   Total tax savings (c + f)*$3,700 $5,500 

*assumes donor itemized deductions

Should I Make a Gift of Securities that Have Lost Value?

No! If you sell securities that have lost value, you can net that capital loss against capital gains. Even if you cannot take a deduction for loss securities this year, there is a five-year carry forward. If you want to make a gift of loss securities, sell the securities and take the capital loss. You can then donate the proceeds of your sale to Holy Cross Family Ministries and use the capital loss to offset future capital gain.

What Happens if I Give Securities that I Bought Less Than One Year Ago?

The charitable deduction available for property you have owned for 12 months or less, so-called "short-term capital gain" property, is limited to either its current full value or what you paid for it, whichever is less. For example, if you give stock worth $10,000 that you purchased nine months ago for $1,000, your charitable deduction will be $1,000, not $10,000.

When you give short term gain property, your deduction is limited to 60% of your adjusted gross income rather than the usual 30%.

Is it Easy to Make a Gift of Publicly-traded Securities?

Yes. Whether you plan to give one share or one thousand shares, it is easy to give your publicly-traded securities to us.

Example

Dominick Foster would like to make a $10,000 gift to Holy Cross Family Ministries. While he could write a check for this amount, he will be able to save even more in taxes by giving stock worth $10,000 instead. After reviewing his plans with his investment advisor, he decides to give shares of Poptropica Corporation worth $10,000. He paid just $​1,000 for these shares when he bought them 20 years ago.

Benefits

  • Dominick will earn an immediate income tax charitable deduction of $10,000, which will save him $3,700 (37% tax), provided he itemizes.
  • Dominick may deduct up to 30% of his adjusted gross income in the year of his gift, with a five year carry-forward period.
  • He will avoid tax on $9,000 of capital gain, which will save him an additional $1,800 (20% tax).
  • He will gain the satisfaction of making a $10,000 gift to Holy Cross Family Ministries.