Many of our friends and donors find it convenient and rewarding to support our work with gifts from their IRAs. Giving retirement-plan assets to charitable organizations such as ours offers benefits to the donor as well as to those we serve. Below are three popular and easy ways to make such a gift to further our mission.

Create a Life-Income Plan
It is possible to make a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from an IRA without diminishing future retirement income. Thanks to legislation that became effective in 2023, donors can make a one-time QCD, not exceeding $54,000 in 2025 (annually adjusted for inflation), for a life-income plan. The donor and/or spouse would receive payments for life, and then whatever remains of the contribution would be used to help fund our important work.

The payments would be fixed for life or variable, based on the life-income plan selected. As with QCDs for an outright gift, the donor must have reached the age of 70½. QCDs for a life-income plan, like those for an outright gift, are not included in taxable income. Payments are taxable just like personal distributions from an IRA.

The big advantage of a life-income plan is having the satisfaction of making a gift while sustaining, and possibly even increasing, retirement income. We can provide a financial illustration showing the payments one would receive based on the amount contributed and the age(s) of the donor and/or spouse.

Make an Outright Gift
IRA administrators can be authorized to transfer funds to our organization, and those funds can be used currently for whatever purpose the donor has specified. The maximum QCD allowed in 2025 is $108,000 (also indexed for inflation).

For donors aged 70½ or older, QCDs within this limit will not be included in taxable income—as they would be if the donor made a personal withdrawal. Because they are not included in taxable income, they are equivalent to a charitable deduction and thus may save taxes even when donors don’t itemize. Furthermore, when donors reach the age when required minimum distributions (RMDs) begin (currently 73), the QCDs, subject to the yearly limit, count towards those RMDs.

The advantage of an outright gift is that it can be used now to support our mission. The disadvantage is that it will reduce future IRA funds available for retirement, but that may not be a concern if income from various sources exceeds what one will need for living expenses.

Name Our Organization as Beneficiary of an IRA
Many of our donors do not make QCDs from their IRAs during their lifetimes because they want to retain access to their entire IRA. However, they arrange for a gift of all or a percentage of whatever funds might remain in their IRA at the end of their life. This is accomplished by completing a change-of-beneficiary form provided by their IRA administrator. If their circumstances should subsequently change, they can alter the beneficiary designation.

If you, like many of our donors, own both an IRA and securities in a brokerage account and you want to make end-of-life gifts both to children (or other loved ones) and to us, it could be advantageous from a tax standpoint to make your family gifts with appreciated securities in your brokerage account and your charitable gift to us with IRA funds.

When children are named as beneficiaries of IRA funds (other than funds in a Roth IRA), they will pay income tax on the IRA distributions. However, if children receive appreciated securities, their basis will be stepped-up to the securities’ date-of-death value—resulting in no tax on any gain accruing prior to the death of the giver. Neither IRA funds nor appreciated securities given to us would be subject to tax because we are tax-exempt.

It is also possible to use remaining IRA funds to provide income to heirs for life or for a term of years before the funds become available for our mission. That can be done with a beneficiary arrangement that causes IRA funds to be used to establish a life-income gift that makes payments to heirs first with the remainder coming to us.

As you can see, the three ways to make an IRA gift can accommodate a variety of circumstances. We would be pleased to discuss what might be appropriate for your situation.