How do I record a donation to a Donor Advised Fund within my brokerage account

Question

What is the best procedure to record a donation to a Donor Advised Fund within my brokerage account? Since the shares were donated to the DAF, there wouldn't be a capital gain and therefore I don't want Quicken to record it as such. Would I simply perform a "Remove - Shares Removed" transaction? I see some people want to create an account in Quicken for the DAF, but I don't see that as necessary since I don't have access to the funds but rather manage how its invested and given to charities. I'm interested in how to remove the shares donated without creating a capital gains record of the donated shares in Quicken.

q_lurker · Answer

My process for any such donation (in short):

* Remove Shares (which will show in Cap gains report as no gain/loss)
* Add Shares (same number of shares now at donated value, original acquisition date just for the record)
* Sell Shares (those just added at donated value therefore no cap gains)
* Spend Cash from sale(s) using your chosen charitable category.

So two potential cap gains transactions may appear, but both are no gain/loss.  You have a record of the correct charitable donation (cash value).  You can repeat the first three as needed for multiple securities being transferred then one final cash transfer.  It has worked for me whether I have donated to a DAF or direct stock transfer to the charity.

Frankx · Answer

Hi @messickbk

I understand that you don't want to have Quicken "record the donation" as a capital gain.  But I would suggest that you still record transactions in Quicken that will allow you to track activity in the DAF going forward WITHOUT having the value of the DAF as part of your net worth.

To accomplish this, you actually setup a "Separate Account" in your current Quicken datafile.  Then, in your brokerage account, you would use the "Removed" action in your datafile.  Next, you would need to use the "Added" action in the separate account for each security you donated, recording the market value of the shares on the date the shares are sold.

Going forward, you can then track the value of the separate account, and it will not be included in your net worth.

Frankx