[HenryKissinger]

I've always wondered about the logistics of 8+ figure donations. Does Buffett call his personal wealth manager and tell him to transfer X BRKa.N shares to Charity LLC? Does the wealth manager then call Charity LLC to ask them their routing numbers, types a few strokes on a keyboard, and that's it? How many layers of approval do operations of this magnitude go through? Also, what software do they use to (1) store these shares in the first place as Buffett's, (2) transfer them over the Internet?

[jkulubya]

The answer to question 1 is a combination of the DTCC and his broker, or the relevant company registry for non-traded shares.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depository_Trust_%26_Clearing_...

[smileysteve]

I attended a meetup with a presentation from the engineers at https://www.charityvest.org/ you might find their product interesting for your question

[mathdev]

I imagine the process is quite involved for tax optimization reasons.

[RhysU]

My guess is that it isn't too involved on the tax front. Someone please correct me if the following is bogus...

Donate your lowest cost basis stock and write off at current market value. Donate stock directly to avoid taxes incurred by selling. Lowest cost basis because that removes the largest unrealized capital gains from your personal portfolio. Maybe do so over some number of days to cost average if you are donating oodles like Buffet.

[voisin]

There are a lot of nuances missing here. Estate freezes, transfers, nested partnerships, different HoldCos, etc. Buffett seems proud of his simplicity, so I doubt his structure is too convoluted (bad for his brand to be trying to avoid taxes this way), for people with a small percentage of his wealth all the way up to other billionaires with his wealth have extremely complicated structures that boggle the mind and keep PwC, EY, and similar employed.

[ghaff]

The process itself probably doesn't have to be that complicated (or at least it's well understood) but at least the timing is presumably taking tax effects into account.

Even for much much smaller amounts, donations (of various kinds) of appreciated assets can use tax law to considerable advantage.

[kome]

this, but with a lot of lawyers more :)

it's also kinda cute the idea that shares are stored like computer files. But it's not a stupid question at all. Their existence is regulated by a complicated regulatory complex.