{"id":56556,"date":"2025-10-21T13:42:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/?p=56556"},"modified":"2025-10-22T16:27:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T20:27:03","slug":"securities-donations-made-simple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/charity-life\/fundraising-2\/securities-donations-made-simple\/","title":{"rendered":"Securities Donations Made Simple: A Guide for Charities of All Sizes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Securities are a growing donation trend. Our research in the recent Giving Report<\/a> showed that the value of securities donated in 2024, was over $57.6 million, that\u2019s a 5x increase since 2018. This is a great opportunity for charities to tap into. Learn why charities should be making the most of this trend and how you could start accepting donations of securities today.<\/p>\n

This blog has been adapted from our webinar Securities Made Simple: A Guide for Charities of All Sizes<\/a>, with some additional perspectives shared by Jenn Graves, Manager of Major Gifts and Planned Giving, who has been running a successful securities donations program at Ottawa Food Bank.<\/a><\/p>\n

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What are donations of securities?<\/h2>\n

Securities are investment assets such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds that are publicly traded.<\/p>\n

When donating a gift of securities, instead of selling the securities and donating the proceeds, the donor transfers ownership of the securities to the charity.<\/p>\n

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Why promote securities donations?<\/h2>\n

1. It\u2019s a growing trend\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

As mentioned in the introduction, the value of securities donations have grown 5x since 2018. To put this into context, that\u2019s the same level of growth as donations given on GivingTuesday. That\u2019s a much more visible trend with many charities celebrating and participating in this worldwide movement. Both of these trends have seen a 5x increase but fewer charities are actively providing options for securities donations than participating in GivingTuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The growth in securities giving is particularly significant when we see that overall donations in the same time period have only increased by 7%.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Donations of securities are often larger<\/b><\/p>\n

When people are able, or are particularly moved by a cause, they often do make large donations. There has been a general shift in donation behaviour, even beyond securities, that sees a smaller donor base, making more generous donations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking at CanadaHelps data, we see that<\/span> the average securities donation in the last 2 fiscal years has been $7815.<\/b><\/p>\n

This year has been particularly good for the stock market. Despite an uncertain outlook at the start and the downturn in April due to tariff announcements, there has been a strong recovery and record highs across many indices through to today. There are likely some potential supporters that have benefited from this bull market and are looking to protect their capital gains while making a statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. Win-Win Donor Tax Advantages<\/b><\/p>\n

The reason that people donate more when gifting securities can be because of the tax advantages, and this results in a win-win for donors and your charity.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the example in the table, a supporter originally invested $1000 which has appreciated to $5000 resulting in capital gains of $4000. If they were to sell the securities for cash, they would be taxed $920 and only be able to donate $4080. They would be given a charitable tax credit of $1876.00.<\/span><\/p>\n

If they were to donate securities directly, even accounting for any fees, the Donor would have gained a tax credit that would be $424 larger and your charity would have received $920 more.<\/span><\/p>\n

So to recap, donors avoid capital gains taxes by donating securities directly. This results in a larger tax receipt and maximized contributions for charities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some things to keep in mind for tax purposes include:<\/span><\/p>\n