Coordination Library

Giving to what matters.

"I want to give $100,000. How?"A check works. It's almost always the most expensive way.

You want to give $100,000 to causes you love. Writing a check works. It's also, almost always, the most expensive way to do it.

The ripple

A gift is one decision. How you give it decides how much reaches the cause, and how much reaches the IRS instead.

A family wants to give $100,000
Cash, appreciated stock, a donor-advised fund, or a QCD?
Appreciated low-basis stock avoids the capital-gains tax entirely
A donor-advised fund can bunch several years of giving into one deduction
After 70½, a QCD gives straight from the IRA and satisfies the RMD
The deduction only helps if it clears the standard deduction this year
The gift and the estate and legacy plan are the same conversation
What you keep

One gift. Several ways to give it — most of them better than a check.

Same gift, two outcomes
Uncoordinated
  • The gift is made in cash, from the checking account.
  • Appreciated stock is sold separately, triggering a capital-gains tax.
  • The standard deduction is taken anyway, so the gift buys no tax benefit.
  • The timing has no relationship to a high-income year.
Coordinated
  • The gift is made in appreciated low-basis stock, so the gain is never taxed.
  • A donor-advised fund bunches several years into one deduction, in a high-income year.
  • After 70½, part of the gift is a QCD, straight from the IRA.
  • The giving is timed to the year it does the most good, for the cause and the return.

Same gift. More reaches the cause, less reaches the IRS.

In the room: CPA, the investment plan, and the causes you're giving to.

Financial decisions should not surprise one another.
More from the library: All coordination cases · The $600,000 conversation · Why family offices win
See the ripple on your own numbers.
The Tax Diagnostic starts with your state and bracket and shows what a coordinated approach could be worth for you, in about two minutes.
Run the Tax Diagnostic →
Illustrative and educational — not investment, tax, or legal advice. This is a hypothetical scenario. Outcomes depend on your own facts and on current law; gifts of appreciated securities, donor-advised funds, and qualified charitable distributions carry their own rules, trade-offs, and deadlines, and require individualized tax and legal advice. Driftwood coordinates with your CPA and attorney; it does not provide tax or legal advice. Driftwood Wealth is a registered investment adviser; Form ADV Part 2A and Form CRS are available directly; the firm’s public record is at adviserinfo.sec.gov. Privacy Policy · Terms of Use.