If you (and/or your spouse) own one or more IRAs, and if you are over the age of 70 1/2, you may be eligible to make a “Qualified Charitable Distribution” or QCD, from your IRA to support the Community Foundation through any fund held with us. You may also be able to establish a new fund with your donation as well.
A QCD permits individuals to transfer up to $111,000 each year (2026 limit) from an IRA (or multiple IRAs) to a qualified charity, such as the Iosco County Community Improvement Fund at the Community Foundation. So, married couples may be eligible to direct up to a total of $222,000 per year (2026 limit) to charity from your IRAs. QCDs may reduce your overall tax liability, leading to significant tax savings.
And, if you’ve reached an age when you are required by the IRS to take a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD), making a Qualified Charitable Distribution using a portion, or all of your RMD can help you avoid the income tax hit on those dollars.
Additionally, the IRS allows a one-time QCD of up to $55,000 from an IRA to be moved into a split-interest vehicle, such as a Charitable Gift Annuity Fund. With this type of gift, you can start your charitable giving, make a planned gift, and set yourself up to receive income for yourself or another beneficiary.
To make a Qualified Charitable Distribution from an IRA to the Community Foundation you will need to provide your financial investment firm with the following information:
- Check payable to: Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan (ICCF is an affiliate of the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan.)
- Our Tax ID#: 23-738482
- Ask your advisor to include correspondence or notation that includes which fund you would like your QCD to support.
- Ensure that the check or correspondence will clearly indicate your name as the donor.
- Mail to: Community Foundation, P.O. Box 495, Alpena, MI 49707
*Please note, if you would like to establish a new fund using a QCD, please contact our office first.
Consider using your IRA in planned giving
In addition to QCDs during your lifetime, you can name the Community Foundation (including a particular fund or funds held with us) as the beneficiary to receive all or a portion of the remaining assets in your IRA following your death through a beneficiary designation. This type of bequest avoids estate tax and the income tax on IRA proceeds that your children or other heirs would have to pay if you left the IRA assets to them.
Five of the most-asked questions about Qualified Charitable Distributions
Qualified Charitable Distributions, or "QCDs," are becoming a very popular financial and charitable planning tool. At the same time, QCDs are growing as the source of more and more confusion.
Here are answers to the questions we've been asked most frequently by both advisors and donors:
Is an IRA the only eligible source for Qualified Charitable Distributions?
Short answer: Almost.
Long answer: An individual can make a Qualified Charitable Distribution directly to an eligible charity from a traditional IRA or an inherited IRA. If the individual's employer is no longer contributing to a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) plan or a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRA, the individual may use those accounts as well. In theory, a Roth IRA could be used to make a QCD, but it is rarely advantageous to do that because Roth IRA distributions are already tax-free.
What is the difference between a QCD and an RMD?
Short answer: Quite a bit! But a QCD can count toward an RMD.
Long answer: Everyone must start taking Required Minimum Distributions ("RMDs") from their qualified retirement plans, including IRAs, when they reach the age of 73. RMDs are taxable income. The Qualified Charitable Distribution, by contrast, is a distribution directly from certain types of qualified retirement plans (such as IRAs) to certain types of charities. When a taxpayer follows the rules, a QCD can count toward the taxpayer's RMD for that year. And because the QCD goes directly to charity, the taxpayer is not taxed on that distribution.
Can I make a Qualified Charitable Distribution even if I am not yet required to take Required Minimum Distributions?
Short answer: Yes – within a very narrow age window.
Long answer: RMDs and QCDs are both distributions that impact retirement-age taxpayers, and it would seem logical that the age thresholds would be the same. However, under the SECURE Act (and subsequently the SECURE 2.0 Act), the required date for starting RMDs was shifted from 70 ½ to 73 (which is better for taxpayers who want to delay taxable income). A corresponding shift was not made to the eligible age for executing QCDs; that age is still 70 ½ (which benefits taxpayers who wish to access IRA funds to make charitable gifts even before they are required to take RMDs). The IRS's rules for QCDs are captured in Internal Revenue Code Section 408 and summarized on pages 14 and 15 in Publication 590-B in its FAQs publication.
Can I direct a QCD to a fund at the community foundation?
Short answer: Yes, but not to a donor-advised fund.
Long answer: While donor-advised funds are not eligible recipients of Qualified Charitable Distributions, other types of funds at the Community Foundation can receive QCDs. These funds include designated funds, unrestricted funds, field-of-interest funds, and scholarship funds. You can use your QCD to establish a new charitable fund, or to contribute to an existing fund.
How much can I give through a QCD?
Short answer: $111,000 per year.
Long answer: A Qualified Charitable Distribution permits you (and your spouse from your spouse's own IRA or IRAs) to transfer up to $111,000 each year from an IRA (or multiple IRAs) to a qualified charity. So, as a married couple, you and your spouse may be eligible to direct up to a total of $222,000 per year to charity from your IRAs and avoid significant income tax liability.