Charitable Giving: Donating Shares to Non-profits
Betterment plans to launch philanthropic initiative on Giving Tuesday.
Robo-advisor, Betterment, will expand its offerings to include a charitable giving service available to its 300k customers on Giving Tuesday. The initiative will allow Betterment customers to donate shares from their portfolios to charities including UNICEF and Feeding America while simultaneously increasing their tax savings by avoiding capital gains fees. This offering and overall strategy comes at a good time considering markets are at an all-time high and levies on investments can be lofty as a result.
The philanthropic initiative is certainly well-intentioned. However, charitable giving for tax benefits is something widely practiced by generally older and wealthier investors, not the average Betterment customer who skews to be a younger Millennial investor.
Nevertheless, as Betterment expands its service offerings and tries to stay ahead of the competition, there’s a big opportunity for the robo to step in to educate young investors on how long-term returns may be impacted by taxes and how routinely donating can help save on taxes.
Robo-advisors and digital investment platforms all seem to provide some type of educational component as part of their suite of services. But the opportunity to educate on complicated tax topics and encourage customers to donate presents a unique opportunity as the average Betterment customer is starting to age and generate more wealth.
Despite, the undertaking of adding a charitable component to the platform, Betterment is continuing to distinguish itself from the sea of robos by refreshing their offerings every few months.
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