Gifts of Appreciated Securities

Appreciated securities such as stocks and bonds are often contributed to Habitat for Humanity. This simple, effective method of giving doubles your tax benefit:

As a devoted Habitat supporter, you may wish to consider the benefits of making a gift of appreciated securities, such as stocks, bonds or mutual fund shares, particularly at the end of the year.

Suppose, for example, that you purchased 100 shares of XYZ stock at a cost of $2,000 in 1985. Today, your XYZ shares are $10,000. If you sold all your XYZ shares, you’d owe a capital gains tax of 15% on the $8,000 gain, or $1,200.

If you itemize your return, you can receive an income tax charitable deduction for a contribution of appreciated securities; those owned for longer than a year are deductable for their full fair market value. You also avoid capital gains tax.

By donating the $10,000 of XYZ stock to Habitat for Humanity, you could save up to $2,500 in income taxes and $1,200 in capital gains taxes. This is far more than you would save by donating cash or selling the securities and donating the cash proceeds.

How to Make a Gift of Securities

There are several ways to make a gift of securities.

If you have the actual certificate, you can mail the unendorsed certificate and a signed stock power (in separate envelopes) to our Planned Giving department. The gift date is determined by the postmarks on the envelopes. Most financial institutions can provide stock powers, or, if you prefer, we will send one to you.

The fastest and easiest way to make a stock gift is to have your broker perform an electronic transfer. He or she will need the following information:

DTC #: 057
Account Name: Habitat for Humanity International
Account #: 100-10367-1
Brokerage: Edward Jones, St. Louis, Mo.

Important: please be certain to notify us when you've made a gift of securities.

Gifts of Closely Held Stock

Provided you have owned it for more than one year, a gift of closely held stock may enable you to make a more significant gift than you otherwise could, while generating an income tax charitable deduction equal to the fair market value of the stock on the date of the transfer. By making a gift of stocks, capital gains taxes are avoided. So long as there is no binding obligation on Habitat to accept any subsequent purchase offers nor any specified price at which Habitat must sell, Habitat may entertain offers from family members or the corporation issuing the stock to purchase the transferred shares.

For more information, please contact our Stock Gift Coordinator at (800) 422-4828, Ext. 7674, or send an e-mail to devinfo@habitat.org.