How to Donate Stock to Charity

Call a certified pubic accountant or a tax professional to determine how the donation will affect your taxes. In general, it is better to donate stock that has appreciated in value rather than stock that has lost value.
Look up the name of the charity at the IRS website (See Resources) to ensure that they are a 503c certified organization or a religious organization, which are the only ones that you can obtain a tax deduction for. You can donate to unapproved charities, but you will receive no tax benefits.
Call the charitable organization that you want to donate to and ask them the name and account number for their brokerage account. Not all charities have brokerage accounts set up, in which case they must establish one or you cannot donate your stock to them.
Contact your brokerage account and provide them with the transfer information you obtained from the charitable organization. Tell the broker how much of the stock you wish to donate and the date you want it transferred on.
Print out a copy of the stock transfer transaction and place it in your files for tax purposes. In addition, ask the charity to provide you with a receipt as soon as it receives the funds.