Qualified Charitable Donations

If you’re 70-1/2 or older, you can donate up to $100,000 per tax year directly from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to charities like Bethany Theological Seminary.

Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD), otherwise known as IRA charitable rollovers or IRA gifts, are a great way to support our mission by allowing your dollars to go further: QCDs may be excluded from your taxable income and qualify towards your required minimum distribution (RMD).

What are the IRA charitable rollover rules?

Here’s how a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) works:

– You must be 70-1/2 or older at the time of gifting your IRA to charity.

– You may distribute an amount, up to $100,000 in a calendar year, to one or more public charities, so long as it is completed by December 31 of that year.

– Your IRA administrator must make the distribution directly to the charity, or you may write a check to the charity from your IRA checkbook (becoming increasingly rare). Funds that are withdrawn by you and then contributed do not qualify.

Benefits of making an IRA gift

QCDs count toward your required minimum distribution for the year. If you have to take your required minimum distribution but you don’t want or need the funds, QCDs are a good way to distribute the amount out of the IRA. As an added benefit, you’ll avoid paying income tax on your gross income up to $100,000.

Are there any QCD restrictions?

Per IRS regulations, QCDs cannot be made to a donor advised fund (DAF), charitable remainder trust, or charitable gift annuity.

How to make an IRA qualified charitable distribution

Here are the steps to take to make a gift from your IRA:

– Contact your IRA administrator and instruct that person to transfer funds to the charity you designate. Your IRA administrator will generally need to execute the transaction.

– Help us credit your gift and thank you by having your IRA administrator include your full name and mailing address on the gift. Also, have your administrator note that the transfer is an IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution. Include details about any desired project designations (i.e. Nigeria, student scholarships, etc.)

– If you’d like to make a QCD gift, your financial institution should make the check out to “Bethany Theological Seminary” and identify you as the donor by name and address.

They can mail the check to:

Bethany Theological Seminary

615 West National Road

Richmond, IN 47374