Donating Publicly Traded Securities
Revenue Canada has established a procedure for the donation of publicly traded securities to registered charities that allows the donor to benefit from not having to declare any capital gains.
The stocks are transferred from your broker or financial advisor to RBC Dominion Securities. The value of the transfer that appears on your tax receipt is applied at the end of the trading day on which they are received by our broker. The proceeds can then be used to make a donation to Congregation Habonim, including a particular synagogue fund, such as Aviva’s Music Fund, Eli’s Program Fund, or Social Action Fund.
This way of donating often benefits the donor to an extent not realized by making a simple cash donation, especially if the stocks being donated have appreciated significantly and would generate a large capital gain tax bill. Talk to your financial advisor if this is a useful tax reduction option for you.
To initiate the process:
- Complete the Stock Transfer Release form. Download our Stock Transfer form HERE
- Send the Form to your broker to transfer the shares to Congregation Habonim’s account at RBC Dominion Securities.
- Send the form to Reeve.serman@rbc.com and abhijith.gowda@rbc.com, with a copy to office1@congregationhabonim.org, to alert them to the imminent arrival of the shares.
You will receive a letter from Congregation Habonim acknowledging your donation, with your official tax receipt to follow in February.
Please note that the amount deemed to have been donated is the value of the shares at the close of trading on the day they were received by the Congregation Habonim broker. This can differ (up or down) from the time you request the transfer. This could result in a lower amount than expected. If the amount is higher than you expected, we cannot return any excess, since under tax law, we have to report the value at closing as the “donation amount”. Any surplus will therefore be placed in the General Donation Fund, with our appreciation.
The minimum stock donation amount is $5000. Congregation Habonim covers any of our broker’s fees charged for the transaction.
