This Final Four season, use your IRA to score a big win for charity

March 31, 2026

By Elisa Pasche, Senior Director, Planned Giving

If you’re over a certain age and have a traditional IRA, you’re probably familiar with three little letters that inspire equal parts confusion and mild annoyance: RMD — Required Minimum Distribution. In this basketball-focused time of year, think of the RMD as the government’s shot clock. You can’t just hold on to the ball all game, you have to take a shot at some point. But even as the clock runs down, there’s a way to up your game. It’s called a QCD – a Qualified Charitable Distribution; a way to turn that required withdrawal into something that feels a lot less like a tax event and a lot more like a game winning jump shot.

Here’s how it plays out. Normally when you take your RMD from a traditional IRA, the amount of the distribution counts as taxable income. In other words: the IRS gets a hand on the ball. But with a QCD, you can redirect that pass to charity before taxes. The IRS never gets to count the distribution as income. Even if you normally take the standard deduction and don’t itemize, a QCD can still reduce your taxable income.

The Rules of the QCD Game:

  • You generally must be age 70½ or older
  • The donation must go directly from the IRA to the charity (no double dribbling!)
  • It must go to a qualified nonprofit organization
  • There are annual limits on how much you can transfer via QCD
  • The IRS specifically does not allow QCDs to be made to certain types of charitable vehicles, including:
    • Donor-Advised Fund (DAFs)
    • Private foundations
    • Supporting organizations 

What does this mean for your Boston Foundation gameplan?

While you cannot use your RMD to contribute to a DAF, there are many other funds at TBF you can contribute to, such as:

In addition, many donors create designated or field of interest funds at TBF using their RMDs, which support their favorite nonprofit organizations or areas of interest through reliable annual grants and alleviates the administrative work. Instead of rewriting the playbookevery year (with multiple QCDs), you create a system that delivers consistent support to the causes you care about, season after season.

And lastly, don't forget that a charity can be named as the death beneficiary of your IRA. In many cases it’s one of the most tax-efficient assets to donate at death.

Here’s why.

When your heirs inherit an IRA, withdrawals are typically taxed as ordinary income. And under the SECURE Act of 2019, most non-spouse beneficiaries must withdraw the entire account within 10 years.

That can create a heavy tax hit. But if that same IRA goes to a charity? The charity can receive the entire amount with no income tax.

Thoughts at the Buzzer

Let’s be honest: most tax strategies don’t make you feel particularly warm and fuzzy. They’re usually about spreadsheets, deductions, and muttering things like “adjusted gross income.”

Using RMDs and QCDs effectively is a championship-caliber strategy: smart plays, good timing, and a gameplan that benefits everyone on the court. And any day you can make smart tax decisions with your money and help a good cause is a win worth celebrating.

Interested in learning more about leveraging your IRA for charitable purposes? Reach out to Elisa at elisa.pasche@tbf.org.