According to a new article by Barlow Mann of The Sharpe Group, organizations asking their older donors to simply include them in their will may be missing a tremendous opportunity: current gifts of publicly-traded securities and other non-cash assets.  MORE »

According to a study by New York University - Stern School of Business finance professor David L. Yermack, corporate CEOs may be taking advantage of inside information to maximize charitable deductions for company stock transferred to their own private foundations. In "Deduction Ad Absurdum: CEOs Donating Their Own Stock to Their Own Family Foundations", Dr. Yermack studies 151 charitable gifts of at least $1 million noting that such gifts, which are not subject to strict insider trading rules, are often followed by sharp declines in the price of the donated stock. He even suggests CEOs may be backdating their gifts in a way similar to recent stock option backdating practices in collusion with the charitable donee and others in order to increase their personal deductions.  MORE »

Publicly traded securities are the most common form of noncash charitable gift asset. This paper reviews various types of publicly traded securities, discusses their suitability as a charitable gift assets and the unique rules that may apply to their transfer, reviews the rules concerning valuation for charitable contribution deduction purposes, and what constitutes delivery for federal tax purposes.  MORE »

When a donor makes a gift of "restricted" or "non-publicly traded" stock to a charity, complex issues arise that may not be present if the gift is one of "publicly traded" stock. In this issue of Gift Planner's Digest, New York attorneys Jennifer Franklin and David Shevlin discuss the issues involved in donating restricted stock from both the donor's and the charity's perspectives. In particular, this article discusses the timing considerations of making a gift of restricted stock that are especially relevant as the year-end quickly approaches.  MORE »

Darryl Ott and Robert Lew discuss charitable planned giving techniques for the increasingly popular (and complex) assets known as incentive stock options, non-qualifed stock options, and restricted stock in this informative article. The article includes a number of case studies illustrating the charitable planning techniques that may be used with these assets.  MORE »

In his second submission to Gift Planner's Digest, University of Missouri law professor Christopher R. Hoyt offers some practical advice regarding charitable gifts of U.S. Savings bonds with specific advice on how to maximize income and estate tax benefits of such transfers.  MORE »

Are your clients exercising all of their charitable options? In this edition of Gift Planner's Digest, Philip T. Temple and Fred J. Marcus join to explore the rules and opportunities that surround contributions of employee stock options and restricted optioned stock.  MORE »