Minimize Taxes: Support CharityWatch With a Stock Donation
Jan 14, 2025
CharityWatch is a small organization and is not funded by nonprofit industry interests. Like investigative journalism, our work is critically important but difficult to fund. Our average donation is around $75. Meaning, we rely primarily on small donations from the general public to support our work with investigative journalists; the in-depth analysis of charity financial reporting conducted by our degreed accountants that makes our charity ratings possible; and our original reporting on the nonprofit sector.
While this diversity of support helps us to maintain our independence, it makes it really challenging to increase the scope and scale of our work.
In other words, we could really use your help.
One way to support CharityWatch while also helping your bottom line is with a donation of stock or long-term appreciated securities. While each person’s individual tax situation is different, such donations generally allow the donor to:
*Take an immediate income tax deduction in the amount of the full fair market value (if you itemize deductions).
*Eliminate capital gains taxes and the Medicare surtax. These two taxes combined could be up to 23.8%
For example, if the original cost of the securities was $25,000 and your federal long-term capital gains rate is 23.8%, the value of the securities is $40,000.
Fidelity Charitable’s Appreciated Assets Donation Calculator can help donors estimate potential tax savings.
3 Ways to Donate
One way to donate stock or securities to CharityWatch is to login to your account with Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, or other brokerage firm to liquidate stock. Those donors who maintain donor-advised funds may login through the charitable arms of these firms to process distributions.
Another way is to visit CharityWatch’s profile on Every.org to process your donation of stocks. Every.org does not charge CharityWatch a platform or other fees, and does not take a cut of the donations as administrative fees.
And finally, donors can visit CharityWatch’s profile page on DonateStock.
DonateStock charges administrative and brokerage fees that may reduce the value of your donation.
As always, each person’s individual tax situation may be different and could impact how much you may be able to deduct in a particular year and the value of your donations. The information provided in this post is general and educational in nature and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Consulting a competent and knowledgable attorney or tax advisor to discuss your specific legal or tax situation is advisable. This is particularly true if the tax deduction and other implications of making a donation are an important factor in your decision to donate.
As always, your donations to CharityWatch are noticed, needed, and greatly appreciated. Thank you for giving wisely!