Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
Zakaah on investments varies according to the intention of
the owner.
If he invested in the company with the aim of benefiting from
the annual profit on the shares, and not with the intention of dealing in
them, then no zakaah is due on the shares themselves, rather he must pay
zakaah on the yield, at a rate of one quarter of one tenth after one full
hijri year has passed since he took possession of the yield.
But if the shareholder bought the shares with the intention
of dealing in them, then the zakaah is the same as zakaah on trade goods.
When the hijri year has passed since the shares came into his possession, he
must pay zakaah on their market value, at a rate of 2.5% of that value and
of the profit if the shares have made any profit.
End quote from Majallat Majma’ al-Fiqh al-Islami
(1/879).
Secondly:
If you bought shares with the aim of making profit only, and
you paid 2.5% of the profits with the intention of paying zakaah, and you
gave it to an organization to distribute it on your behalf, that is
sufficient, but you should make sure that this organization has paid the
zakaah. If you had taken the money and distributed your zakaah yourself,
that would have been better.
But if you bought shares with the intention of trading in
them, then you must work out their value at the end of the year and pay
zakaah on it at a rate of 2.5% of their value.
And Allaah knows best.