Creative Ways to Give

Appreciated Stock

Give stock instead of cash. You may avoid the federal capital gains tax you would owe if you sold the stock yourself. If you like the stock, you can give it to JBU but then buy it back. This will increase your basis in the stock so that your potential capital gains liability is reduced for a future sale.

Here's how it works: In order to deduct gifts of appreciated assets, you must have owned the assets for at least one year and one day. If you own publicly traded or closely-held stocks that qualify as appreciated assets, you can transfer them to John Brown University and take an immediate income tax deduction for the current fair market value of the stock no matter what you originally paid for it! What's more, you can reduce estate and capital gains taxes.

All appreciated property gifts are deductible up to 30% of your adjusted gross income in the year of the gift. Any unused portion of the deduction may be carried forward over as many as five subsequent years.