Griffin’s pledge, and when a gift becomes deductible

The distinction the Griffin item turns on is the same one Canadian tax law draws. A pledge is worth nothing on a T1 or a T2 until it is funded: the donation credit (personally) or deduction (corporately) arises in the year the gift is made. Announcing is not giving, for the donor as much as for the recipient.

The part worth filing away for later: donating publicly traded securities in kind to a registered charity eliminates the capital gains inclusion on those securities, and where a corporation does it, the untaxed portion credits the capital dividend account, which can then be paid out to shareholders tax-free. That is a decision made before a sale, not after one — which is why it belongs in a plan now rather than in the week of a liquidity event.