Looking for a Year-End Gift? Start With What You Already Have

Posted by Lindsey Linzer on October 15, 2026 in Blog.

Spanish revival style home. This image was originally posted to Flickr by Sharon Hahn Darlin

Miami has set new records for its generosity, growing Give Miami Day to be the largest single-city giving day in the country. But we know there are more ways to give beyond dollars.

As the year winds down and Give Miami Day approaches, generous Miamians are thinking about how to make their giving count. Here’s something fewer people consider: your generosity doesn’t have to come from your checking account. The way to give more may be sitting in your portfolio.

Because generosity comes in many forms, many organizations have thought through how complex assets can be a way to express generosity. At The Miami Foundation, we do the same. Gifts that are complex assets, including stock and real estate, can go further for our community and come with real tax advantages for you, the donor (or for your clients).

Why selling first costs your giving

When you sell an investment that’s gone up in value, you likely owe capital gains tax. When you give the asset to The Miami Foundation instead, you can likely skip that tax and deduct the full market value. That means more money goes to the causes you care about and less goes to taxes.

It’s an approach more donors are choosing nationally. Two of the nation’s largest donor-advised fund sponsors, Fidelity Charitable and DAFgiving360, both reported that roughly 70% of contributions last year were non-cash assets.

This has already worked in Miami

Jorge and Darlene Pérez have twice given real estate to The Miami Foundation, including the home whose sale produced the largest gift in our history. Read how it worked. These significant real estate donations are now helping to power their impactful philanthropic investments in Miami.

More than cash: what you can give

  • Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds that have grown in value and been held for more than a year
  • Cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital currencies held for more than a year, with the same potential tax savings as stock
  • Real estate, including homes, condos, land, and commercial property
  • Privately held business interests, especially ahead of a sale
  • Retirement assets given directly from your IRA if you’re 70½ or older, which can count toward your required minimum distribution (IRA gifts can’t go into a donor-advised fund, but they can support a scholarship fund or a designated fund)
  • Life insurance and other assets you no longer need, which can be put to work in community

Not sure if what you own qualifies? Ask us. We work through these types of gifts regularly.

Why start now

Gifts made by December 31 count toward this year’s taxes. Complex gifts do take a little more time to process, so let’s please start the conversation early.

And if you open or add to a fund at The Miami Foundation before Give Miami Day on November 19, you’ll have funds available to recommend grants to the local nonprofits you love on the biggest giving day of the year for Miami. To have a gift ready for Give Miami Day, we recommend reaching out by November 1. Our team is here to make this simple. Contact us at philanthropy@miamifoundation.org to get started.

This post is for general information only and is not tax or legal advice.