Share-giving

Share-giving is one of the most tax effective methods to make a gift to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Tax advantages

You can claim tax relief equal to the market value of shares you donate, on the day you make the gift, along with associated costs such as brokers' fees. The tax relief is against your income tax for the year. For example: if you donate £1,000 worth of shares and you are a higher rate taxpayer, you will pay £400 less in income tax that year.

You will also not have to pay any capital gains tax (CGT) on any further increase in the value of the shares since you bought them. In theory this could mean a further 'saving' of up to 40 per cent for a higher rate taxpayer, although in practice the saving is likely to be less.

If your shares have reduced in value, you should be aware that you cannot use the loss to offset any other CGT liability you may have.

How to get started

The first thing to do is contact a financial adviser to discuss the best ways for you to give, and the tax implications. The Cystic Fibrosis Trust is not permitted to give you financial advice.



What shares qualify for tax relief?

All shares can be donated, but to qualify for tax relief, your shares must be publically quoted, including through the London Stock Exchange or Alternative Investment Market (AIM). A full list of qualifying stock exchanges is available on the HM Revenue & Customs website. Look at the financial pages of newspapers to establish their market value on the day you make the gift.

What shares can the Cystic Fibrosis Trust accept?

We ask that you sell any shares you would like to donate when you are next selling some of your own. To make sure you get the maximum tax relief, you will need a paper trail of discussions with us before the sale is made, to show that this is being done on our behalf.

Please call our major gifts team on 020 8290 8040 to discuss the process.

If you only have a small number of shares

We can not accept small numbers of shares because selling them costs more than their worth. However, if you happen to have just a few shares we would be delighted if you sent them on to Share Gift, a charity that specialises in accepting large numbers of small share gifts. These shares are then sold and distributed amongst charities suggested by donors.

Please mention the Cystic Fibrosis Trust when you make your gift. The more people say our name to Share Gift, the more we will receive when they come to distribute funds.

See the Share Gift form (PDF 147KB) or visit the Share Gift website for more information.

Please also look at the Giving Campaign's Guide to share-giving (PDF 55KB).

Thank you for thinking about supporting us in this way.