Give thought to making a donation of shares, bonds, warrants or other securities traded on a prescribed stock exchange, rather than cash. Here's why: Capital gains arising on the donation of these securities will be just 37.5-per-cent taxable instead of the usual 75 per cent. If, for example, you own securities worth $20,000 that you originally paid $5,000 for (hence a $15,000 accrued gain) and you want to give $20,000 to charity, you'd be better off giving the securities themselves than liquidating the securities and donating cash.

Further, the donation credit will save you between 42 and 54 per cent of the donated amount (between $8,400 and $10,800 in our example) depending on your province and income level. By the way, this tax break is a trial measure good until the end of 2001, at which time the taxman will contemplate whether to renew it – so take advantage of this while you can.