One of the easiest ways to give to Grace Hill Church is by gifting stock, which has considerable tax-advantages, especially if you have realized capital gains on your original investment.
You'll need to consult your tax adviser or investment adviser for advice specific to your financial situation. However, below you will find an overview of how it works.
Gift Stock to Grace Hill Church
One of the easiest ways to give to Grace Hill Church is by gifting stock, which has considerable tax-advantages, especially if you have realized capital gains on your original investment.
You'll need to consult your tax adviser or investment adviser for advice specific to your financial situation. However, below you will find an overview of how it works.
You'll need to consult your tax adviser or investment adviser for advice specific to your financial situation. However, below you will find an overview of how it works.
HOW TO GIFT STOCK TO GRACE HILL CHURCH
By gifting stock, you can actually give more to the church than if you cashed in your stock and gave the cash to the church. Plus - there is a significant tax savings for you.For illustration purposes only, let's say you purchased 100 shares of Microsoft stock five years ago at $40 per share. Your cost basis is $4,000. And let's say that today those 100 shares of stock are worth $140.00 per share for a value of $14,000 (for illustration purposes only). If you were to sell the shares of stock to give a gift to the church, you would realize a capital gain on the sale, and have to pay the IRS the appropriate capital gains tax. BUT...if you gifted the appreciated shares of that stock to Grace Hill Church, you avoid the capital gains tax PLUS you can deduct the full $14,000 value of the stock from your annual income tax as a charitable donation. All for the cost of $4,000. The church gets the $14,000 and the capital gain tax is avoided completely. This works for shares of mutual funds as well as individual stocks.**Again - this is for illustration purposes only. Consult your personal investment adviser for information specific to your financial situation.
What is the Process for Gifting Stock?
Grace Hill Church has an account with Merrill Lynch which makes it very easy to transfer stock as a charitable contribution. After discussing with your investment adviser how much stock you would like to give, simply provide your investment adviser with the Merrill Lynch Depository Trust Company (DTC) number (8862) and Grace Hill Church's Account Number: 84Z02358. Your investment adviser can easily handle the transfer:
Determine the amount in dollars you would like to gift to Grace Hill Church. Ask your financial adviser to identify which appreciated stock and how many shares of that appreciated stock you will need to donate to meet the dollar amount you determine to give.
Your financial adviser will prepare an authorization form to transfer the stock to Grace Hill's brokerage account at Merrill Lynch. You will need to sign the appropriate paperwork to initiate the transfer.
Ask your financial adviser to prepare a letter to be sent to Grace Hill Church indicating the stock transfer as well the stock price on the day of the transfer. This is a vital step that is often overlooked. Unfortunately, there is no way to identify the stock with your name when it transfers into the church’s brokerage account.
Upon receipt of the gift, the church will send you a donation acknowledgement letter. The IRS requires this letter for any gift over $250 so it is important to keep it with your tax records.
Grace Hill Church will then sell that stock. The proceeds go directly into the fund you designate. If no fund is designated, the proceeds will go into the General Fund.
It's that simple! You've just gifted stock to Grace Hill Church, given more than you would if you had given cash, AND incurred a significant tax savings for yourself!
