Donating shares instead of cash to your favourite charity is something I’ve discussed previously, and it’s an outstanding way to do good while at the same time reducing your tax bill more than you might expect!

Donating shares directly has a double tax benefit:

• You get the usual charitable donation credit that’s equal to the fair market value of the shares on the day they are transferred
• AND you don’t have to worry about any capital gains for this transaction. They are essentially forgiven. Nice.

In retirement, I’ve not yet taken advantage of this benefit; instead, I just carried on with supporting my usual charities through monthly deductions, normally paid for with my credit card. Mostly it’s laziness; I don’t really have to think about the monthly donation and the charities get a steady stream of cash from me. Also, as mentioned elsewhere, I’m a cheapskate, and the fee that Questrade chooses to levy on such transactions¹ seems mean-spirited and pricey.

But I do hold a few shares at Wealthsimple, so I figured I’d see how easy or hard that would be. I wanted to send the Ottawa Food Bank and Salus some shares, so I went to work. Wealthsimple’s own help page is surprisingly helpful.

Step 1: Find charity-specific security donation forms

These forms are generically referred to as “Letters of Direction”. Larger charities often have their own forms; smaller charities that don’t can also receive donations by using a service like CanadaHelps. Both the Ottawa Food Bank and Salus have their own:

• Ottawa Food Bank: https://www.ottawafoodbank.ca/donate/donate-securities/
• Salus: https://salusottawa.org/donate/#securities

These forms are all a little different, but are generally looking for things like

• The security name and symbol you’re wanting to donate
• The CUSIP of the security to make absolutely sure it’s the right one (a quick google search reveals this)
• Account number of the account that holds the security in question
• How many shares you want to donate
• Approximate value of the shares you want to donate
• Name and contact info for your broker

Step 2: Fill out the form and upload it to the Wealthsimple portal

The Wealthsimple portal’s “Documents” section is found under your profile if you’re using the website.

It’s pretty easy.

Step 3: Contact Wealthsimple support to let them know

This I chose to do at around 8pm on a weeknight and I chose to use chat. And you know what? I got connected to a real live person pretty quickly and that real live person knew what they had to do, and they did it². All of this took perhaps 10 minutes. If this sounds painfully ordinary, I can assure you it is rather atypical in the world of online brokerages. I received email confirmation from the front line agent within minutes, and the next day I got contact from the team responsible:

I’ve submitted both donation requests, one for each charity, to our team for review and processing. Share donations typically take 7–10 business days to process.

What happens next

Once your shares have been sent, we’ll send you an email update. You can then confirm receipt directly with each charity. Our team will review each Letter of Direction and process the donations as instructed. If we need anything else from you, or if there are any issues with either request, we’ll reach out to you right away.

There’s a few things notable about this communication:

• It’s not a form letter. Or if it is, it’s been edited, since I did indeed make two donations at the same time.
• It’s written in clear English.
• It sets expectations clearly and concisely.

I’d like to tell you that this is no big deal. But it is. This kind of clear, concise communication is shockingly rare. It’s pretty awesome.

Step 4: Let the charities know what’s coming their way.

The forms from Ottawa Food Bank and Salus each had different ways they asked to be contacted if you donate securities. Just emails, nothing more.

Step 5: See the shares leave your account

News flash: this happened THE SAME DAY I was contacted by the team responsible. I’m gobsmacked at this point. Nothing in DIY investing is ever this fast!

Step 6: Await charitable donation receipt

Salus sent this to me yesterday, two days after the shares left the account, three days after I submitted the forms. Ottawa Food Bank told me the amount, and promised a receipt next week.

This was, if I’m honest, way easier and less hassle than I anticipated. Wealthsimple gets 5 out of 5 stars for their involvement. And they charged me nothing. Next time, I’ll try it with Questrade. I’m not so certain it will go as smoothly.

1. Can’t find mention of the fee, but I was told by support (which may depend on who one talks to and what day of the week it is) that $25 will be charged. I guess I’ll just have to try and see at some point. ↩︎
2. Which was to direct my query to the correct team. I don’t expect product expertise at 8pm on a weeknight, but I do expect if live people are online, that they have sufficient training to handle these kinds of requests. ↩︎