DIK equals donation in kind - a tax advantaged way to pay tithing and other offerings.

My brokerage is at Schwab, but I expect that all of the bigs have just as easy a process for a Donor Advised Fund. I have never used a DAF, only donated directly.

Background - I paid double tithing last year to take advantage of the tax changes (as well as take some profits after the market run up) and I am sitting here and don't like the feel of the current market pricing and wanted to take out some more profits. So, I identified some appreciated equities in my brokerage account for liquidation and donated them today after the market's close. I donated enough today that should cover tithing for 2019 and 2020, but maybe a little extra I can use in the future. Very happ that now I can click off my brain - I have taken all of the profits I need to take and derisked for the next two years...(plus the tax reduction which is no small thing). I only wish I had done four years worth in 2017 instead of two years in 2017 and two years in 2018. The tax savings are more significant the more years you can group into one (which means maybe later in the year I donate for 2021 if the market doesn't correct before then).

What did I like?

1. Very easy to set up and allowed me to set up an additional account holder (my wife) and a contingent account holder (my daugher) should something happen to me. If you think you might do this, I might set it up in advance instead of trying to do it the day I wanted to donate. My wife had to acknowledge her info and that slowed the process a bit making that coordination.

2. Donating securities is even easier than doing a DIK direct to the church. In fact, it is so much simpler that I may do it this way going forward versus direct. I expect it relieves the burden for the church to send the tax reporting as well as process all of the paperwork. It also allows me to pay tithing more exactly rather than trying to guess years in advance.

3. I haven't donated to the church yet, but it was user friendly enough that I went to the donation page and was able to find the church listed there. Again, very easy. Retrospectively, this would have made a lot of sense for mission payments.

4. Partial shares. You can't donate stock partial shares via the DIK from Schwab directly to the church (they used to let you), but using their Donor Advised Fund I was able to donate partial shares. It is a small thing, but something I really like due to having some DRIP stocks that have partial shares.

5. They have a money market option. The whole idea is that I want to take profits, so I need to be able to not have it at risk. Check.

Thing I didn't like:

Fees. About the only thing so far is there is a 0.60% ($100 minimum) fee per year to have the account. The money market option pays more than that, so I guess I come out ahead. Still relatively inexpensive, but I always like even less expensive. That is about $60 per $10K.

Overall impression:

If anything changes I will report back, but outside of the fees, I really like this option and it is probably worth it. This may be how I do DIK's going forward.

If you don't know what DIK is or the benefit of double or triple paying tithing, search my name and posts. The only place in the tax code where you can have your cake and eat it too.

The church has a DAF it it makes anybody feel better to do it through them.