Talking points for gifts of appreciated stock

Repeat, repeat, repeat. You may feel like you are constantly talking with your donors about the benefits of giving appreciated stock. Your talk track may go something like this:

–“Before you reach for your checkbook to make a gift to support our mission, consider giving highly-appreciated stock.” 

–“Appreciated stock is frequently a far more advantageous gift to charity than giving cash.” 

–“When you make a gift of shares held for more than one year, you’ll typically be eligible for a charitable deduction at the shares’ fair market value on the date of the gift.” 

–“Plus, because we are a charity, capital gains tax won’t be triggered on the sale of the shares, leaving the full fair market value to support the success of our mission.”

–“By contrast, if you’d sold the shares yourself and given the proceeds, you’d owe capital gains tax. This can be a big hit if you’ve held the shares for many years and they’ve got a low basis.”

–“It’s easy to transfer stock! We work hand-in-hand with the community foundation team.” 

You say all of this so much that you’re sick of it, so surely your donors are sick of hearing it too, right? Wrong. Your donors don’t live and breathe charitable giving like those of us who work in the nonprofit sector day in and day out. So, not only is the subject matter sometimes challenging, but it’s also likely that donors are not paying attention most of the time. Indeed, a lot of donors are missing out on the benefits of giving stock instead of cash.