Charitable gifts of appreciated stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other securities can give you an extra bonus in terms of tax savings (as compared to a donation of cash.) If you have owned publicly traded securities for more than one year- which makes it a "long term capital gain" asset- you can claim a tax deduction for the full fair market value of the securities and never have to pay capital gains taxes on the appreciation.
In other words, you can donate the same gift value (or larger) at a lower "out of pocket" cost. If you really like a particular stock, you can donate the stock and then use the cash you would have otherwise used to make a charitable gift to buy more of the same stock. This gives you a higher cost basis in the stock, which saves you tax if you eventually sell the stock.
This is intended for information use only. Please always consult a tax advisor before engaging in any transaction.