Frequently Asked Questions For Nonprofits

General FAQs

DonateStock’s mission is to transform charitable giving by making stock gifting easy and accessible to all nonprofits. We fill a critical gap by enabling donors to initiate stock gifts in minutes while empowering all nonprofits to solicit and receive stock gifts with ease - no brokerage required. We also remove the friction associated with reconciling and acknowledging stock gifts so nonprofits can grow stock gifting programs without having to add staff. DonateStock was founded by experienced business leaders with a shared desire to unlock new sources of funding for nonprofits of all sizes. We are also fortunate to be industry leaders from Fidelity, JP Morgan, Marcum, Google and the Lily School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.

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Appreciated stock is the most-tax advantaged way for donors to support nonprofits. Not only can they itemize the current value of the gift, but they may also avoid the capital gains tax. While stock gifting used to be a painstaking process for donors and their advisors, our Easy Button enables them to make stock gifts in minutes with ease. Stock gifting is also strategic for nonprofits for several reasons:

  • Larger gifts averaging $5,000 (30x larger than the average online cash or credit card gift).
  • Limited competition for stock gifts. Automated stock gifting is still in its infancy so the earlier adopters stand to gain a larger relative share of their donor’s stock gifting allocation.
  • Diversification of fundraising efforts. While many households may feel cash-constrained, more than half have substantial stock portfolios that are ripe for giving.

Stock gifting has been around for decades, but is rarely utilized due to the lack of awareness amongst investors, a painstaking and manual process for donors, financial advisors and nonprofits, and the lack of transparency (nonprofits cannot easily tell who gifted the stock). DonateStock removes these pain points to make sock gifting accessible to all.

  • Donors can donate stock to any nonprofit in minutes with ease - at no cost.
  • Advisors can obtain the information they need to initiate gifts without contacting the nonprofit.
  • Nonprofits can solicit and receive stock gifts with ease and transparency - no brokerage required.

By removing friction for donors, we’re leading the effort to unlock billions in funding for nonprofits of all sizes. To learn more, get our stock gifting guide for nonprofits here.

We make stock gifting accessible to all nonprofits - no brokerage required! On behalf of thousands of Orgs, we can facilitate the entire process, including the sale, reconciliation and acknowledgement of stock gifts and the distribution of proceeds - all for a modest transaction or subscription fee. With dashboard reporting, detailed statements and integrations with online giving platforms, we remove the barriers to stock gifting for orgs of all sizes. Learn more here.

While many organizations receive stock gifts today, it’s a manual, time-consuming process that is not scalable. The more gifts they receive, the more people are required to process them, and the harder it is to reconcile and acknowledge them in a timely manner (exacerbated by the lack of information about who gifted the stock). We remove limitations to growth and efficiency with an automated platform that offers numerous benefits:

  • Exponentially grow stock gifting volume: as evidenced with World Central Kitchen (grew stock gifting 15x in one year) you should see a dramatic lift in stock gits by implementing our Easy Button.
  • Diversify fundraising efforts: while inflation and economic uncertainty has left many households feeling cash-strapped, millions have large and growing portfolios that are ripe for harvesting.
  • Reduce the cost of processing gifts. With each stock gift requiring more than 3 hours to process, the soft cost per gift is well over $200 (excluding brokerage fees and additional hours investigating unknown gifts). With dashboard reporting and integrations with leading donor CRMs, you won’t have to manually track and enter stock gifts
  • Improve donor satisfaction and retention. By making stock gifting a pleasant experience for donors, organizations improve the likelihood of recurring gifts (20% of our donors have made 3.5 stock gifts). Compared to the traditional painstaking stock gifting process, we offer a much better donor experience that results in higher lifetime value of each supporter.
  • Receive matching gifts. In 2022 we awarded $600,000 in matching gifts and grants to nonprofit customers.
  • Favorable commercial terms: there is no cost to get started - we charge a modest transaction or subscription fee. We cap our fee on gifts over $100,000 and we do not require exclusivity.

By making it fast, safe and easy for donors and nonprofits to utilize stock gifts, we will help you grow and diversify while saving countless hours of work for your team. Best of all there’s no cost to get started - learn how today.

DonateStock honors user privacy and does not sell or share personal information of donors, advisors or nonprofits with third parties. While we do share the donor’s information with the nonprofit they support, we also allow donors to give anonymously. For details please see our privacy policy here.

Our comprehensive security governance program was designed by our Chief Information Security Officer. Through ongoing assessments, testing, monitoring and contingency planning we go to great lengths to ensure our platform is reliable and secure. Please read our security statement.

There is no cost to the donor or their advisor. We are compensated by the nonprofits we support.

There is no cost to get started - we charge a modest transaction or subscription fee, and we cap our fee on gifts over $100,000.

No brokerage is required. We can convert the stock to cash through Donatestock Charitable (501c3) and send you the cash in days - not months.

There are two ways to receive stock gifts:

  1. You may elect for the stock to be transferred directly from the donor’s account to your organization’s brokerage account
  2. You may elect for the stock to be sold, reconciled and acknowledged by Donatestock Charitable (501c3) and have the proceeds disbursed to your organization via ACH.

If you elect to receive gifted shares, we will bill your credit card 15 days after the transfer is initiated.

If you prefer our cash disbursement option, the transaction fee will be deducted from the proceeds sent to your organization.

Either way, all transactions are reported in your nonprofit dashboard for easy tracking, reconciliation and reporting.

Registration FAQs

The nonprofit registration process can take as little as 20 minutes if you are authorized by the organization and you have the following information:

  • Nonprofit’s EIN and contact information
  • One of the following documents:
    • Organization’s EIN letter
    • Letter of determination from the IRS
    • Bylaws and/or articles of incorporation
  • To receive stock: the organization’s brokerage account details
  • To receive cash from the sale of stock: ACH details and a voided check

If your organization is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in good standing with the IRS, we likely already have a stock gifting page you may claim at donatestock.com. You can claim or register your page by entering your EIN number and following the instructions. For more information on the registration process, check out this short video.

Donations FAQs

Stock gifting is now fast, safe and free for donors. The online process takes less than 10 minutes upfront. Each subsequent gift takes less than 2 minutes. Like PayPal for stock gifting, our Easy Button for stock gifting enables donors to execute stock gifts directly on the Orgs web page or giving page at donatestock.com. Once the donors submits the required information, a transfer request is sent to their brokerage or financial advisors. The stock is then transferred from the donor’s brokerage account to either: a) the organization’s brokerage account or b) the brokerage account held by Donatestock Charitable (501c3). In both cases, the stock is usually sold upon receipt and the cash proceeds disbursed to the org’s bank account. If you choose to receive the stock, you’ll be required to do the following:

  1. Reconcile the gift and mark as “Received” in your dashboard
  2. Prepare an acknowledgement letter for the donor

If you choose to receive cash vs. stock, Donatestock Charitable will perform these tasks for you (at no additional cost).

Once initiated, stock gifts are irrevocable and cannot be reversed.

The donor’s information is provided in the notification email and in the nonprofit’s exportable dashboard. We also have integrations with leading donor CRMs to streamline aggregate reporting.

If the receiving org chooses to route stock gifts to their own brokerage account, they may do as they please with the stock. But as a general rule, nonprofits’ policies are to sell the stocks upon receipt due to market volatility. If the org opts to have Donatestock Charitable process the stock and send them the proceeds, our policy is to liquidate the stock upon receipt.

Each org has a dashboard of stock gifts processed by DonateStock with the details of each donor, transaction and status: “Pending”, “Received” or “Action Required” (past-due). Dashboards are easily exported to streamline reporting and analysis.

If the donation is never updated to a “Received” status, it will automatically change to a “Action Required” status after 15 days. Once this happens, a DonateStock Customer Service representative will launch an investigation into why the shares were not transferred and work to successfully execute your donation.