The Super-Rich Are Stockpiling Wealth in Black-Box Charities
This article makes my head hurt, as do so many discussions of charitable giving.  The only reason to give to charity is to benefit that charity.<p>Yes, donors get a deduction for charitable giving.  But they are <i>ALWAYS</i> better off (in terms of money received in their bank account) by <i>NOT GIVING TO CHARITY</i>.  There is no way to give money to charity in such a way that you end up with more money than if you had not given to charity.<p>The article points out that there can be some hedging; the assets donated can be managed and management fees paid to a manager before liquidation.  And the particulars of the valuations mean that they can sometimes get a larger deduction than if they sold the asset and then donated the proceeds to charity.  And there are loopholes that allow them to claim a larger deduction than the maximum deduction allowed in the tax code.<p>But no matter what, if they just sold the damn asset and kept the money, they would have more money at the end of the day than they would having gone through this rigmarole.