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Donating cash to charity

What’s the difference between writing a check to charity and using a Giving Account?

The Giving Account, a donor-advised fund at Fidelity Charitable is a simple and tax-efficient way to set money aside just for charity. Like writing a check, you’re eligible to take a tax deduction, but a Giving Account also includes many more advantages:

  • Make a difference to numerous charities at once

  • Recommend grants to qualified charities now and in the future

  • Pre-dedicate funds to easily support charitable requests as they come up

  • Set up automated Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) contributions
    • Streamline recordkeeping

    • Invest your contribution for potential growth, tax-free

    • Provide ongoing support to charities with recurring grant recommendations

    • Easily make contributions, manage investments, or recommend grants on the go with our state-of-the-art website for desktop, tablet or phone

    How does it work?

    It’s easy to make a cash contribution to Fidelity Charitable with any of the following:

    Check illustration

    Check

    Transfer illustration

    Wire transfer

    Bank illustration

    Electronic Funds Transfer from a bank

    Cash position illustration

    Cash position from your Fidelity Brokerage account

    Make additional charitable contributions of cash to Fidelity Charitable at any time, or consider contributing other assets, such as stocks, privately held business interests, and more.

    Sharing simplified…and amplified

    Instead of writing checks to separate causes as they come up, Phil and Susan established a Giving Account. They contributed $25,000 through a wire transfer, which was immediately available for a tax deduction of up to 60% of their adjusted gross income. That contribution was invested in one of Fidelity Charitable’s Investment Pools, where it has the potential to grow tax-free—possibly increasing the amount of money they’ll ultimately be able to use for grant recommendations to qualified charities.

    In the meantime, they’ve set up an automatic grant recommendation from their Giving Account to their church for tithing every month. When their university’s annual fundraiser comes up, or a friend or neighbor asks for support, they simply recommend another grant.

    Set up recurring grant recommendations for tithing and college fundraisers

    Instead of mailing checks, contribute to a Giving Account at Fidelity Charitable, where the money is dedicated to charitable use and has the potential to grow tax-free, making it possible for greater charitable support. Even better, contribute long-term appreciated stocks to Fidelity Charitable. Capital gains taxes are eliminated so your contribution (and your deduction) may be larger.

    Phil and Susan’s new approach to supporting Parkinson’s research improved in the same ways: better than writing checks here and there, they’ve set up a recurring wire transfer from their checking account to Fidelity Charitable. They’re actively making a series of automated charitable contributions, then recommending how they would like their donation to be invested, giving their Giving Account the potential to grow tax-free. Their goal is to support Parkinson’s research for as long as possible, in the smartest way possible, and the Giving Account from Fidelity Charitable is helping them do just that.

    This hypothetical case study is provided for illustrative purposes only. It does not represent an actual donor, but is meant to provide an example of how a donor-advised fund can help individuals give significantly more for the causes they care about.