After you have held stock for more than one year and its price has risen, at the time of the donation you get a tax deduction equal to the fair market value of the stock (i.e. not your lower purchase price, technically known as the cost basis). I received stocks as gifts decades ago from my grandfather, and have transferred them to a donor advised fund (i.e. a charitable donation). Turbo Tax keeps asking me for a purchase price and date acquired, neither of which I have (my grandfather is dead and I have no way to get those records), but neither of which I should need.
