“My goal was to be able to make gifts to multiple nonprofit organizations, and the Community Foundation helped me draft the fund agreement and develop a strategy that would carry out my wishes exactly as I had envisioned,” says Mary Kabacinski of Appleton, who initiated a transfer from her IRA to the Community Foundation a few weeks ago.

Did you know the Community Foundation can help you make charitable gifts directly from your IRA?

For donors 70.5 years or older, giving directly from an IRA to a qualified charity like the Community Foundation can reduce the impact on your taxes and also help worthwhile causes and organizations through a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD. Changes in the tax law in 2018 have made utilizing a QCD from an IRA even more attractive for donors. Check out this FACT SHEET about giving from an IRA.

Michelle Lippart Hardwick

“The Foundation is a community partner here to assist donors to make the maximum impact on the charitable causes they care about and ensure they receive the greatest tax advantages,” says Michelle Lippart Hardwick, director of gift planning for the Community Foundation.

Lippart Hardwick explains that while QCDs cannot be contributed to donor advised funds, they can go into designated funds, which provide grants to specific charitable organizations, field of interest funds (which provide grants to broad charitable causes), scholarship funds, or the Foundation’s Friends of the Foundation Fund, which helps support the Foundation’s mission.

It’s easy to establish or contribute to an existing fund at the Community Foundation utilizing a distribution from an IRA. For Mary Kabacinski of Appleton, the IRA transfer option came at just the right time for her to take advantage of the current tax benefits to make an impact in the community.

Earlier this month, she initiated a transfer from her IRA to the Community Foundation and Lippart Hardwick helped create a simple fund agreement which established the Mary M. Kabacinski Designated Fund within the Community Foundation.

“My goal was to be able to make gifts to multiple nonprofit organizations, and the Community Foundation helped me draft the fund agreement and develop a strategy that would carry out my wishes exactly as I had envisioned,” says Mary. “The Community Foundation helped me create a strategy that would carry out my wishes exactly as I had envisioned.”

 As a donor advised fund owner and former board chair, Mary was already familiar with the Community Foundation’s capabilities.

“Working with the Community Foundation was a very simple process. I’m grateful that they were able to do the research and set up a vehicle that would meet the conditions of today’s tax laws.” Mary says.

Mary’s fund will support specific charitable organizations that have special significance to her, focused on education, basic needs and health and fitness.

“Our staff is happy to discuss fund options in more detail and how we may work with you to establish an easy plan to accomplish your charitable intentions for IRA funds,,” says Lippart Hardwick.

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