Ways to Give — Securities

Your stock could light
the next fire.

There’s a piece of Canadian tax law from 2006 that most people have never heard of — and it might be the easiest, largest gift you ever make to Honouring Indigenous Peoples.
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Somewhere in your investment account, there’s probably a stock you bought years ago and mostly forgot about.

Maybe it split. Maybe it doubled. Maybe you don’t even remember why you bought it – a tip from a brother-in-law, a hunch about a mining company, a name you liked the sound of. If it’s grown since then, Ottawa has quietly built you a door marked donate here, and walking through it doesn’t cost you a cent more than staying put. This page explains how that door works – and how walking through it helps keep a fire burning that’s now in its twelfth year.

The short version

Give the stock. Skip the tax. Get the full credit.

Securities are just investments – stocks, bonds, mutual funds, whatever’s sitting in your brokerage account collecting dividends and dust. Since May 2006, Canada has allowed donors to give securities directly to a registered charity, and something genuinely good happens when they do: the capital gains tax that would normally take a bite out of the growth disappears completely. Not reduced. Gone. And you still receive a charitable tax receipt for the security’s full market value.

You don’t need a foundation, a lawyer, or a free Saturday. You need a short form, your broker, and about two weeks.
How the tax works

Here’s the mechanic, plainly.

When an investment you own rises in value, that increase is called a capital gain. Sell it, and you owe tax on half of that gain at your marginal rate — whether you’re cashing out for a new roof or to make a donation. That’s just how it works.
But donate the security itself — not the cash from selling it – directly to a charity, and the capital gains tax on that gift is eliminated. You get a receipt for the full value, based on the closing price on the day it lands in the charity’s account.

The one rule that matters

The security has to be donated “in kind.” If your broker sells it first and you donate the cash, the tax benefit disappears and everyone ends up with less. The instruction to your broker has to be a transfer, not a sale.

Picture this

An illustration, not a sales pitch.

Say you bought shares in a Canadian bank fifteen years ago — nothing dramatic, just a modest amount back before the mortgage was paid off. You forgot about them, mostly. They sat there doing what bank stocks do, quietly compounding while you raised kids, coached hockey, went to work. Today they’re worth several times what you paid.

Sell them, and a chunk goes to capital gains tax before you ever get to decide what happens with the rest. Donate them directly instead, and none of that tax applies — you get a receipt for the full value, and every dollar of it goes toward sending a fifteen-year-old from a nearby town and a fifteen-year-old from a nearby First Nation to the same fire circle, on the same territory, guided by the same Elders. Free, the way it’s worked for twelve years running.
Illustrative only

The math, plainly (a worked example)

This is one illustration, not a personal calculation — your real numbers depend on your province and your tax bracket. Talk to your advisor before you decide anything.
Sell it, donate the cashDonate the security directly
Original cost$1,000$1,000
Current value$5,000$5,000
Capital gain$4,000$4,000
Tax on the gain*≈$9200
HIP receives≈$4,080$5,000
Your tax credit*≈$1,876≈$2300

*Assumes a 46% marginal tax rate, applied to 50% of the gain, and a donor resident in New Brunswick – used here only because it’s the example CanadaHelps publishes. Your actual tax credit rate depends on your province of residence and income. Fees apply to donations processed through CanadaHelps, on a sliding scale that starts around 3% for smaller gifts.

The process

How it actually works

CanadaHelps handles the parts that would otherwise require a broker relationship and a finance department. Here’s the sequence, start to finish:
  1. Give us a heads-up: A quick note to finance@HIPAlly.com lets us watch for the transfer and say thank you properly when it lands.
  2. Fill out the CanadaHelps form: It’s short, and it automatically produces a “letter of direction” – the document your broker needs to act.
  3. Sign it and send it to your broker: Your broker or financial institution transfers the shares – not cash – from your account to CanadaHelps.
  4. CanadaHelps sells the security: They handle the sale, deduct a small handling fee, and transfer the proceeds to HIP.
  5. You get your receipt: A charitable tax receipt arrives for the full market value, based on the closing price the day the shares reached CanadaHelps.
  6. We put it to work: No new infrastructure, no extra overhead – your gift moves straight into fueling the fire.

Timing matters:

Processing a securities gift takes longer than a credit card swipe. If you want a receipt for this tax year, start the conversation in the fall and aim to initiate the transfer by December 15, not December 31.

Next step

One fire. One people. One future.

Your challenge is simply to notice the door. Ours is to make sure what comes through it reaches the people it’s meant for. If there’s a stock sitting quietly in your account doing better than you expected, it might be the easiest transformational gift you ever make – and neither of us has to lose a thing to the taxman to make it happen.
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Read CanadaHelps Guide

Honouring Indigenous Peoples (HIP) Charitable Corporation · finance@HIPAlly.com

This page is general information, not legal or financial advice. Please speak with your own tax or financial advisor before donating securities. Figures shown in the worked example are illustrative and drawn from CanadaHelps’ published materials — your actual tax outcome will depend on your province, income, and personal circumstances. Learn more from the Canada Revenue Agency.