{"items": [{"author": "Elizabeth", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940026612012", "anchor": "fb-940026612012", "service": "fb", "text": "Doesn't google have a thing that let's you donate with pre-tax money, which would increase the amount that's deductible to you?", "timestamp": "1525379826"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940026612012&reply_comment_id=940028667892", "anchor": "fb-940026612012_940028667892", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Pretty sure the IRS doesn't allow that", "timestamp": "1525380763"}, {"author": "Chris", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940026612012&reply_comment_id=940117250372", "anchor": "fb-940026612012_940117250372", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Some employers *do* have this, but I believe the same amount is deducted either way: one just gives you the immediate deduction (those dollars are never taxed) the other waits until you do your taxes for you to claim your deduction.", "timestamp": "1525438287"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940026612012&reply_comment_id=940117385102", "anchor": "fb-940026612012_940117385102", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Chris: some employers will let you make donations via paycheck, but the amount being donated still counts as income for you.  So, for example, if you earn $50k and donate $1k through a paycheck deduction you probably do better to take the standard deduction than to itemize, and without itemizing you can't deduct your donation at all.  Which means your donation is entirely post-tax.", "timestamp": "1525438424"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940026612012&reply_comment_id=940130004812", "anchor": "fb-940026612012_940130004812", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman You mean \"your donation is entirely posttax\"?", "timestamp": "1525444439"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940026612012&reply_comment_id=940132464882", "anchor": "fb-940026612012_940132464882", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Ross edited!", "timestamp": "1525446044"}, {"author": "Doug", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940029241742", "anchor": "fb-940029241742", "service": "fb", "text": "Love the thought you put into this. We just set up a Donor Advised Fund, which is a great place to transfer brokerage assets that have ramped up in value, as most have in the last couple of years.", "timestamp": "1525381095"}, {"author": "Michael", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940031781652", "anchor": "fb-940031781652", "service": "fb", "text": "You could put the money into an index fund, but don't personally insure the risk of the investment. If the investment goes down, the charity gets less money. That's how I do it, although in practice, so far the market has always gone up in between when I started saving the money and when I donated it.", "timestamp": "1525382454"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940031781652&reply_comment_id=940039231722", "anchor": "fb-940031781652_940039231722", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;For legibility reasons I want to donate 50% of our AGI, which means if I invest before donating I have to personally insure.", "timestamp": "1525384434"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772", "anchor": "fb-940043198772", "service": "fb", "text": "If you don't want the market exposure, I'll take it!<br><br>More seriously: maaaybe it's legitimately too risky for you, but I think the right way to look at this from the perspective of your personal finances is that it's free leverage, which is a thing many people (me me me?) would love.", "timestamp": "1525386591"}, {"author": "Chris", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940117290292", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940117290292", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Maybe sounds like I'm joking, but is that a risk you're willing to take on *for* Jeff? Is there a way to set up a loan or legal way to encode this?", "timestamp": "1525438379"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940117519832", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940117519832", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;I'd be pretty surprised if this made sense.  Assuming for the moment that keeping it as cash is the right thing to do, that's probably because lots of people donate more when the market is doing well and so in a crash donations might be especially valuable.  But letting David borrow it and invest it opens me up to significant counterparty risk concentrated in exactly the case of large price falls that made this worth doing.<br><br>(I still think that keeping it as cash probably doesn't make sense.)", "timestamp": "1525438593"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940118013842", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940118013842", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;I mean, Jeff could give me a cheap loan? But I'm not sure what you mean by taking on the risk \"for\" Jeff. <br><br>Nb: I would have to convince my spouse that we want the extra leverage.", "timestamp": "1525438694"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940119291282", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940119291282", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Kind of an aside, but Jeff, how much more effective do you think donations are in a market downturn? Should you be putting your money in a DAF that shorts the market?", "timestamp": "1525439291"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940119939982", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940119939982", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;I'm not sure at all. I think it's likely that the community as a whole is very much long the market, so it could make sense to try to hedge that some. But I also don't really know much about this, and don't want to do foolish things through inexperience.", "timestamp": "1525439715"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940119999862", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940119999862", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;The aside is interesting because it's possible that you should either short the market or give me a cheap loan. If P(downturn) and \"effectiveness given downturn\" are jointly high enough, then short the market. If low enough, give me a free-ish loan.<br><br>Or maybe there's some middle ground where you should do neither. Depends on the details, but it's interesting!", "timestamp": "1525439765"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940120059742", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940120059742", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Jeff the stuff about giving me a loan is mostly not serious, but if you do want to consider whether you should altruistically short the market, that'd be fun to help you think about.", "timestamp": "1525439840"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940120329202", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940120329202", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;I wonder if eg Good Ventures has thought about this. Probably their asset allocation isn't public?<br><br>(It's possible the rest of the community isn't long as much as you think it is.)", "timestamp": "1525439961"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940123772302", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940123772302", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;My understanding is that GV is effectively not just long, but extremely long FB, because Moskowitz can't diversify without losing the 10x super-voting power of his FB shares.", "timestamp": "1525442124"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940125174492", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940125174492", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;oh right, I forgot that.", "timestamp": "1525442544"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940125189462", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940125189462", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Short FB!", "timestamp": "1525442561"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940125249342", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940125249342", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;I dunno, there's a lot of factors though. It's complicated.", "timestamp": "1525442593"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940125324192", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940125324192", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Does you shorting Facebook hurt the price in a way that's negative for GV? I would guess no, but dunno really.", "timestamp": "1525442626"}, {"author": "Chris", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940129381062", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940129381062", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;I was thinking more like a future: an agreement to buy something at a specific price in the future (Alice wants to buy the full value of Bob's account at a specific price on a future date)... Obviously Alice would not need the full value, in cash, on payout day since only the difference needs change hands. If it earns more than agreed on then the difference goes to Alice, if it earns less than agreed on then the difference goes to Bob.<br><br>The fact that you're dealing with an individual rather than an organization does increase your risk either way...I'm a boring investor, so there may in fact be existing instruments that would work for you the way I describe: I'm just not personally interested in them.", "timestamp": "1525444064"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940130109602", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940130109602", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;I don't think that helps much, because the cases Jeff is worried about are when the difference is very very large. Like, I hope he would agree that the market would have to lose more than half its value before I'm a credit risk, with the numbers we have in mind.", "timestamp": "1525444473"}, {"author": "Ben", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940200044452", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940200044452", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;David: Shorting facebook does (slightly) reduce the current share price of facebook. Unlikely to be enough to make much impact.", "timestamp": "1525473119"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043198772&reply_comment_id=940210478542", "anchor": "fb-940043198772_940210478542", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Ben I thought about that, but here's my reasoning:<br><br>I'm a hardcore efficient markets ideologue, so I think there's some correct price for Facebook and that if the price is below that, professionals will go long Facebook until the price is the correct price. <br><br>Jeff doesn't change the fundamentals, so he can't affect the price except maybe in the very short term. <br><br>I don't *know* that that's right... But I feel like it mostly is.", "timestamp": "1525478449"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043393382", "anchor": "fb-940043393382", "service": "fb", "text": "I guess a short term CDS might be better than nothing.", "timestamp": "1525386738"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043393382&reply_comment_id=940048602942", "anchor": "fb-940043393382_940048602942", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;What features of CDS (credit default swap?) make it a good investment for this kind of thing?", "timestamp": "1525389369"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043393382&reply_comment_id=940051447242", "anchor": "fb-940043393382_940051447242", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Ross uh sorry that's embarrassing, I meant certificates of deposit.<br><br>In my defense: when I googled \"6 month cds\" I got stuff about certificates of deposit, not credit default swaps. So u<br>I guess Google knew what I meant, and so my error wasn't corrected until now.", "timestamp": "1525391308"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940043393382&reply_comment_id=940055114892", "anchor": "fb-940043393382_940055114892", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Great, no longer confused. (I probably would have correctly parsed \"CDs\", fwiw.)", "timestamp": "1525392887"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940048498152", "anchor": "fb-940048498152", "service": "fb", "text": "1. How likely do you think it is that you'll want to donate &gt;50% of your 2018 donations to a non-tax-deductible opportunity that's worth &gt;4% more on the margin than your best tax-deductible alternative?<br><br>(I'm leading towards \"contribute some fraction early in the year to a DAF; keep some other fraction as cash or invested as personal exposure, and bet that you won't want to make too many non-deductible donations\".)<br><br>2. How do you feel about donation trading? (Noting that this allows you to invest and make nontrivially more EA money available in total.) Do you have legibility concerns?<br><br>3. You didn't mention it, but I'd view the increased overhead of repeatedly re-evaluating donation decisions / the decreased depth of decisions made for the shorter time-scale to be a downside of donating as you go. It seems almost like the inverse of a donor lottery; instead of one Jeff making one Jeff-year of decisions, you're signing up for twelve Jeffs to each make one Jeff-month of decisions.<br><br>(Not having a \"buffer\" of for-donating money that you can deploy quickly also seems like a mistake, but donating as you go doesn't actually preclude that, so long as you don't donate *all* of it as you go.)", "timestamp": "1525389262"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940048498152&reply_comment_id=940050254632", "anchor": "fb-940048498152_940050254632", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Just as to the \"buffer\", if need be I can easily draw on some of the equity in our house", "timestamp": "1525390477"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940048498152&reply_comment_id=940050613912", "anchor": "fb-940048498152_940050613912", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;How easily? (I'd argue that it's unlikely to be correct for the first dollar of such buffer to be the first dollar of draw-on-house-equity, but my argument is different in the \"very easy\" and \"not actually that easily\" cases.)", "timestamp": "1525390786"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940048498152&reply_comment_id=940074715612", "anchor": "fb-940048498152_940074715612", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;It sits there and I can write checks against it; pretty easy", "timestamp": "1525401129"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940049511122", "anchor": "fb-940049511122", "service": "fb", "text": "I'm interpreting this dilemma and your end-of-2017 loan to both point towards nontrivial efficiency gains from setting one's commitment-for-legibility less aggressively than one's reasonably-expected predictions on ability to donate. (Of course, higher legible commitments have their own advantages.)<br><br>Jeff, does this seem like the right update to make, or did you think I'm misinterpreting something?", "timestamp": "1525390145"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940049511122&reply_comment_id=940076357322", "anchor": "fb-940049511122_940076357322", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;The thing that happened with 2017 was that I was doing a job with a substantial direct impact component but also a lower salary, so we were targeting 30%. Then halfway through the year I was laid off, and spent two months unemployed (about half of which I spent on EA related things) before going back to earning to give. At that point we needed to decide if we wanted a new donation target for the year. While we weren't going to make 50% in 2017 we were pretty close and we could do 50% over two years (a lot of this was how vesting worked on my new stock, with the first year's worth all vesting at once). Other considerations included wanting to keep a long streak of 50%, and tax efficiency of making the donations in 2017.", "timestamp": "1525401969"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940049511122&reply_comment_id=940076991052", "anchor": "fb-940049511122_940076991052", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;I'm not certain that that inside-view story argues against the outside-view perspective I'm trying to take here.", "timestamp": "1525402385"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940049511122&reply_comment_id=940077175682", "anchor": "fb-940049511122_940077175682", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Oh wait, I misunderstood your first sentence. I agree that history+[legibility concerns] might snap one year's target into a place with little slack, and if that's what happened, then my update was in fact misplaced.", "timestamp": "1525402483"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940049511122&reply_comment_id=940077579872", "anchor": "fb-940049511122_940077579872", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;One way to think about it is that stock compensation for September through December was 'delayed' into 2018, and that was enough on its own to cover the shortfall.", "timestamp": "1525402760"}, {"author": "Margot", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940062714662", "anchor": "fb-940062714662", "service": "fb", "text": "How different are the GiveWell recommendations from year to year? Is the variance high enough to justify the wait?", "timestamp": "1525395349"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940062714662&reply_comment_id=940062854382", "anchor": "fb-940062714662_940062854382", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;My impression was that Jeff's donation decisions were not well-modeled by GiveWell's recommendations, given that he mentions worrying about (when considering a DAF) not being able to donate to non-tax-deductible opportunities.", "timestamp": "1525395538"}, {"author": "Julia", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940062714662&reply_comment_id=940226321792", "anchor": "fb-940062714662_940226321792", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;We've never actually done any of our donation to something non tax deductible but would consider it.", "timestamp": "1525486505"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940063777532", "anchor": "fb-940063777532", "service": "fb", "text": "Your last bullet and some comments get at this, but: the thought can still come in large chunks even if the donations happen gradually.<br><br>Maybe it's nice if the thought and the donations both come when other people are going these things too, though.", "timestamp": "1525396086"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;German", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/111229345142780712481", "anchor": "gp-1525401763367", "service": "gp", "text": "EDIT: An earlier version of this post mentioned STCG tax, which is not relevant.  Whoops!\n<br>\n<br>\nOn holding periods of less than one year, I think Option 2 is strictly more tax advantageous than Option 1.  If the investment appreciates, they're equivalent: you deduct the cost basis, and the charity gets the gain.  If the investment depreciates, under Option 2 you still deduct the entire cost basis, whereas under Option 1 you only deduct the reduced value.  Option 1 will let you capture some benefit from the loss, either netted against other capital gains, or deducted against ordinary income over several years subject to the $3k annual limit, but neither of those is as good as a straight-up deduction.\n<br>\n<br>\nThis effect is probably less important than the PayPal 3%, especially if you don't plan to realize unrelated LTCG.\n<br>\n<br>\nI recommend the Schwab DAF if you don't already have one.  The paperwork for the Vanguard one is annoying.", "timestamp": 1525401763}, {"author": "David&nbsp;German", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/111229345142780712481", "anchor": "gp-1525436575370", "service": "gp", "text": "Also, I'm not sure I understand your original post.  Are you saying that you're willing to give less than $X to the ultimate charitable recipient due to market losses that occur in a DAF, but not due to the same market losses if they occur in a taxable account?", "timestamp": 1525436575}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1525437758915", "service": "gp", "text": "@David&nbsp;German\n I'm trying to give 50% of my taxable income.  Lets say this means $1 for 2018.  If I invest that $1 and it turns into $2, I'll donate $1 plus 50% of that gain, so $1.50.  If the invested $1 turns into $0 I still need to donate $1.\n<br>\n<br>\nOn the other hand, if I give the $1 to a DAF that invests it until I'm ready to decide where to donate it to, it later gaining or losing value doesn't change how much I'll be donating.", "timestamp": 1525437758}, {"author": "David&nbsp;German", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/111229345142780712481", "anchor": "gp-1525438235576", "service": "gp", "text": "Why treat those two cases so differently? ", "timestamp": 1525438235}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1525439194357", "service": "gp", "text": "@David&nbsp;German\n It's a consequence of deciding to make things simpler by setting a threshold based on how the IRS categorizes income", "timestamp": 1525439194}, {"author": "David&nbsp;German", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/111229345142780712481", "anchor": "gp-1525440336042", "service": "gp", "text": "Seems like the tail wagging the dog, but okay. Given those preferences, I would think option 1 is right out. If I were you I would go with cash (or CDs/TBills) - a riskless 3% from PayPal seems like a much better bet than holding stocks for a few months. ", "timestamp": 1525440336}, {"author": "Ben", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940200099342", "anchor": "fb-940200099342", "service": "fb", "text": "Why not buy X shares of an ETF, and then donate that? Let the charity take the market risk, not you. Also allows for better tax-loss harvesting.", "timestamp": "1525473186"}, {"author": "Ben", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940200099342&reply_comment_id=940200174192", "anchor": "fb-940200099342_940200174192", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;(This is not financial advise; I am not a financial advisor. Not the opinion of my firm)", "timestamp": "1525473211"}, {"author": "Avi", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940200099342&reply_comment_id=940259625052", "anchor": "fb-940200099342_940259625052", "service": "fb", "text": "&rarr;&nbsp;Jeff says he wants to donate 50% of his AGI for legibility reasons. Jeff and Julia get media attention sometimes.", "timestamp": "1525527842"}, {"author": "Avi", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940233667072", "anchor": "fb-940233667072", "service": "fb", "text": "I'd go with something like the Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury Fund: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot...<br><br>The risk of intermediate-term treasuries is low, and the risk has historically been roughly uncorrelated with stocks. (I'm guessing you have a large allocation to stocks in your personal long-term investments.)<br><br>The SEC yield of that fund is currently 2.57% which is a reasonable approximation of the expected annual return.<br><br>Interest on treasuries is also exempt from state sales tax. That's not much, but it's something.<br><br>If you happen to hold stocks in a taxable account that have large capital gains, you can avoid some taxes by donating those appreciated shares instead. You can then rebuy the stocks with the proceeds from your treasury fund to keep your asset allocation consistent.", "timestamp": "1525492065"}, {"author": "Avi", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/940015549182?comment_id=940262065162", "anchor": "fb-940262065162", "service": "fb", "text": "One other consideration is that if you invest some of your donation money in a stock index fund and you have realized capital losses, you can deduct up to $3,000 of those losses from your AGI in the current year, and reduce the amount you need to donate in that year by 50% of that (up to $1,500). You could also get a tax deduction on the remaining 50% of losses (up to $1,500).<br><br>You can then carry over future losses to subsequent years and reduce the amount you need to donate and pay taxes in those years.<br><br>This assumes you don't already have stocks in a taxable account. If you do, you might already hit the $3,000 limit in a bad year.", "timestamp": "1525529244"}, {"author": "Lucas", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/117844313637558297240", "anchor": "gp-1525544074234", "service": "gp", "text": "Of course, PayPal's 3% only works if the charity is happy to receive funds through their fund.  That's true for many high-profile options but may not always be true for everyone you want to give to.  I assume that extra layer of indirection also gets messy at best if you do anything vaguely complicated, e.g. earmarking a donation to a specific program of a larger organization.", "timestamp": 1525544074}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1525544458002", "service": "gp", "text": "@Lucas\n Yes, the PayPal 3% is really only for money to the AMF, since none of the other charities we've wanted to support have said it's a way they like to receive funds.", "timestamp": 1525544458}]}