Donate all or part of a Required Minimum Distribution from an IRA Account

If you are subject to a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from your traditional, rollover or inherited IRA account, donating directly from your IRA to Ten Friends is a great option. Such a donation is called a Qualified Charitable Distribution or QCD.  Effectively you can support our work by allowing your dollars to go further. 

In case you are wondering, a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) is a Federal Tax Law requirement that when you turn a certain age (currently 73) you must take a required minimum distribution from your traditional, rollover or inherited IRA accounts. The required minimum distribution is the minimum amount you must withdraw from these IRA accounts each year.  The amount of the RMD will be determined by the IRA Administrator(s) of the IRA(s) according to a formula based on the relevant tax law.

How RMD donations work:

In making a QCD to Ten Friends you may avoid some of the income tax that would be required to be paid from a standard withdrawal.  The IRS allows individuals who take annual Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) to donate up to $105,000 annually (for 2024)  without paying income tax on the transaction by excluding the amount of the QCD from the individual's Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). Couples filing jointly can exclude up to $210,000.  The provisions essentially allow you to meet your charitable goals and to satisfy all or part of your annual RMD requirements. The QCD limit is tied to inflation and you should check online to see the amount for future years.

What are the IRA charitable rules?

  • You must be 70-1/2 or older at the time of gifting from your IRA to charity.
  • At age 73 (as of 2024) RMDs are required to be taken.
  • You may distribute an amount, up to the QCD limit, in a calendar year so long as it is completed by December 31 of that year.
  • Your IRA administrator must make the distribution check out directly to the charity (Not to you) or you may write a check to the charity from your IRA checkbook if the IRA Administrator has provided such a checkbook.
  • Qualified Charitable Distributions count toward your required minimum distribution for the year. 
  • Note that a QCD can exceed the amount of the RMD, but it gets a bit complicated. Talk to a financial professional!

(Please note that this information is provided as general advice and doesn't cover all of the fine points of RMD's and QCD's. We suggest you contact your tax accountant, financial advisor or financial professional or perform your own research to determine how the donation will work for you.) 

The steps to make an IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution to Ten Friends

  • Contact your IRA administrator (e,g., Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, etc.) and tell them you wish to make a QCD to Ten Friends.
  • Follow the procedure that the IRA Administrator requires. The transaction may be over the phone, online or via a mail-in form. 
  • Make sure that your IRA Administrator will make the check payable to "Ten Friends" and identify you as the donor by name and address.
  • If you want to donate to a specific Ten Friends project, please also state the project name on your submission if you are mailing the check to Ten Friends or by notifying Ten Friends if the check is being sent directly to Ten Friends by the IRA Administrator.
  • Depending on the IRA Administrator's procedures the check will be sent to you or directly to Ten Friends. If it is sent to you, make a copy of the check and any accompanying paperwork for your tax records, and then mail it to Ten Friends at the address below.
  • Notify Ten Friends that you will need a tax letter for the donation showing that no goods or services were received.
  • DO NOT take your QCD as a tax deduction on your federal income tax return. You get your tax break by excluding the QCD from your taxable income. Check with your state income tax office to see how the state treats a QCD.

Ten Friends

PO Box 868

Sisters, Oregon 97759 


We thank you for considering making a RMD donation to Ten Friends 

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