The Benefits of Donating Appreciated Stock

Opportunity may be knocking louder and harder than ever before for committed nonprofit organizations and the generous donors who are their lifeblood. Since bottoming out at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic on March 23, 2020, U.S. markets have staged a relentless rebound, with the S&P 500 ripping off a one-year advance of 76 percent, and the NASDAQ soaring a stunning 95 percent over the same period. For investors, that has resulted in hundreds of billions of dollars in as-yet-unrealized capital gains. Now, a substantial increase in the capital gains tax rate for top earners appears likely to happen. 

How Pride Month Helps Me Feel Seen

I vividly remember my first Pride march. It was my first summer in New York, and I really did not know what to expect. Through friends, I had gathered together a group of fellow queer folks, and we decided to attend a full weekend of activities planned by the official NYC Pride. To this day, that weekend ranks as one of my favorite and most special weekends.

A Nonprofit’s Quick Guide to Mobile Giving Campaigns

There’s no doubt that we live in a mobile-obsessed era. About 81% of Americans own a smartphone of some kind, and studies show that American adults spend about 3.5 hours per day on their phones.

To nonprofit fundraising professionals, these numbers mean one thing: without a strategy for mobile giving, you’re missing out on a major fundraising opportunity. By pursuing mobile-giving campaigns, you can boost your visibility and your funding by providing supporters with a highly convenient donation channel on a device they use all the time. 

Analyzing MacKenzie Scott's Giving: Observations and Hopes

Six billion dollars. 

In and out of philanthropic circles, MacKenzie Scott’s $6 billion gift in 2020 has caused quite a stir — and that’s putting it mildly. Divided among a reported 500 organizations, the novelist and philanthropist’s generosity in 2020 was directed to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), tribal and community colleges, as well as organizations committed to social and human services, equity, climate change, and democracy. 

Meet the Team: My Nonprofit Journey - Tyler Stahl

Welcome to our Meet The Team series, where each month we will introduce a member of the Charity Navigator team to our readers. Millions of visitors come to

Charity Navigator annually, and they may be surprised to learn that we're a staff of 24! We often proudly state that we are a "small yet mighty team"-- achieving a lot with the resources we have, while staying focused on our mission. We are extremely honored to be a part of the nonprofit community where our footprint (and our ratings!) have expanded, and we are incredibly appreciative of the support received from our donors and users, nonprofits, and funders. We hope this series will be enlightening and entertaining. Click here for other profiles.

My name is Tyler Stahl, and I am a Front End Web Developer at Charity Navigator.  In tech jargon, “front end” refers to everything viewable by you, the user of Charity Navigator’s web services, while “back end” refers to the databases, rating calculations and infrastructure that power the front end. This means that I manage our website, from star rating pages, to the Giving Basket, to charity search results. Over the past year, I am proud to have helped bring the vision of the new Encompass Rating System to your screens, extending ratings to tens of thousands of previously unrated organizations.

Planning NOW for the Estate Tax Overhaul

The recently proposed “For the 99.5% Act” would bring dramatic changes to gift and estate taxes while proposals in both houses of Congress and the White House would impose immediate income taxation on gifted and inherited gains.