Donating shares to the Trust

Donating shares is one of the most tax-efficient ways to support our work. Your gift will help us expand opportunities for young people at William Ellis School while potentially providing valuable tax benefits for you.

Whether supporting educational projects, enrichment activities, staff innovation, or capital projects, gifts of shares can make a lasting difference to the lives of our pupils.

Why donate shares?

Donating listed shares or certain securities to a registered charity can be highly tax efficient. Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to:

  • Claim tax relief on the market value of qualifying shares or securities donated to charity, together with any incidental costs of making the gift.

  • Avoid paying Capital Gains Tax on any increase in the value of the shares since you acquired them

  • Make a larger gift than you might otherwise be able to through a cash donation

As a registered charity, the William Ellis Trust is exempt from Capital Gains Tax and can therefore benefit from the full value of shares sold. It is important to note that the William Ellis Trust is a working name of Birkbeck and William Ellis Schools Trust (registered charity 1102334.)

Management of our investment portfolio:

We are fortunate to have an investment fund managed on a pro bono basis by Canaccord Genuity. Donations of shares can be transferred into this fund, helping to generate long-term income that supports our charitable work. We may also sell these shares immediately, and use the income to fund the expansion of our current work and priorities. We are open to how you would like us to make best use of your gift.


How to donate shares:

The best first step is always to contact us directly to start a conversation about donating any shares. You can contact our Director, Will Durham, at wdurham@williamellis.camden.sch.uk who will be pleased to discuss this with you.

There are two main ways you can donate shares:

You can transfer shares directly to us using a stock transfer form. The registrar's details can usually be found on your share certificate. Once completed, you should make a copy and send the original to us along with the share certificate.

Our full name and postal address is:

Birkbeck and William Ellis Schools Trust
Highgate Road
London
NW5 1RN

Alternatively it is possible to sell shares and donate the full proceeds while still benefitting from the tax respite your charitable donations offers. For this to be valid it is important to create a paper trail of your charitable intent from the start. The first step of which would be to write to us to inform you intend to donate shares to the charity. We would then ask if you would be happy to sell the shares on our behalf and donate the proceeds, and once you have confirmed this intent the transaction should be covered.

Charitable giving benefits from generous tax benefits which you can read more about here. It is important to note that we cannot give financial or taxation advice, and the support of your own financial or tax advisor should always be sought prior to any action being taken.


We are always grateful for support provided to us to expand our work,.

You can read more about our work in the 2025/26 financial year here for further insights into the type of work we do, and follow our news, blogs and LinkedIn for updates on current and future plans and priorities.