Over the past couple of years, the Finance Committee of the Elder Board has been looking into a “Donation-in-Kind” offering to allow donors to donate publicly-traded securities, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs. Donation-in-kind offerings are a tax-effective way to donate and provide you with another way to exercise stewardship in tithing to our church.
We are pleased to inform you that our church has now opened an account at the Royal Bank of Canada Direct Investing (RBCDI) effective immediately to directly accept Donation-in-Kind offerings. Our members can now choose to donate via cash, cheque, e-transfer, or donation-in-kind.
The Elder Board has appointed two trading officers, Ken Lam and Stewart Wong, both members from the Finance Committee, to be responsible for overseeing the RBCDI account.
The role of trading officers is to manage our trading account and the sale of donated securities. A Donation-in-Kind process and form has been created and is now available on our website.
Once securities arrive in the account, trading officers will sell the shares within the current or next trading day. Once the sale is complete, the net proceeds will be deposited into the investment account. The trading officers will then transfer the cash into ECAC’s RBC savings account.
Donors will not be charged a fee for contributing a Donation-in-Kind offering. RBCDI charges a standard flat-rate fee of $9.95 per transaction which will be covered by the church.
RBCDI will send the church monthly reports on all account activity, and the church will be responsible for issuing tax receipts to the donors based on actual value of donated securities received on valuation day.
With this arrangement in place, we will be providing another option for you to make donations to the church. There are financial implications and/or tax benefits for donors to make such in-kind donations. We advise you to consult with your accountant or financial advisor to discuss tax and financial considerations. Our trading officers and the treasurer, William Wong, are pleased to answer your questions regarding this service. For more information and to access the corresponding form, please visit the offering page.