Two unique ways to give, two useful ways you can benefit
Option 1
Make a gift directly from your IRA to the Indiana University Foundation with two significant benefits:
- No tax is due on the distribution (up to the annual aggregate limit of $108,000 in 2025).
- The gift counts toward your required minimum distribution (RMD) if one is due—generally, beginning at age 73.
Your gift will not qualify for an income tax deduction, but it will make an immediate impact at IU, and you can make this type of gift every year if you choose.
Option 2
Make a one-time distribution that counts toward your RMD and creates a new income stream for retirement. Benefits include:
- No tax is due on the distribution (up to $54,000 in 2025) to create a new charitable gift annuity (CGA) or charitable remainder trust (CRT), either of which will provide you with steady income payments for life.
- The distribution counts toward your RMD if one is due.
- Spouses may contribute up to $54,000 from their own IRAs into a single CRT or a joint-life CGA.
- Income payments may only go to the IRA owner and the owner’s spouse and are taxed at ordinary income tax rates.
Learn more about these life income options: charitable gift annuities or charitable remainder trusts. Keep in mind that some of the rules and requirements differ if you fund the CGA or CRT from your IRA.
See it in action
Option 1
Pat, age 75, is required to take a taxable IRA distribution of $15,000 this year. Pat wants to support IU and decides to make a qualified charitable distribution (QCD), transferring $15,000 directly from the IRA to IU. The transfer counts toward Pat’s RMD, satisfying the distribution requirement, but no tax is due on the distribution. The full amount of the transfer supports education, transforms lives, and fuels progress in Indiana and beyond—nothing is lost to taxes!
Option 2
This year, Sam, age 75, makes a one-time, tax-free QCD of $54,000 to fund a charitable gift annuity with IU—an easy way to make a powerful difference. Sam will receive an annual payment of $3,780 for life, and these payments are taxable each year. If Sam had decided to personally receive the $54,000 distribution this year instead of using it for a QCD, the full amount would have been currently taxable.
Example is for illustrative purposes only and uses a 5.4% applicable federal rate.
You choose how to give
When you give from your IRA, you can:
- Make an immediate impact on IU and gain tax advantages for yourself.
- Make a gift and create a lifetime income stream for retirement.
- Make an easy, flexible future gift by naming the IU Foundation the sole or partial beneficiary of your IRA.
Giving retirement assets to IU makes good sense
IRA assets can be highly taxed upon your death—possibly taxed once in your estate and then again as income to your children or other named beneficiaries. To minimize the income tax burden on heirs, consider donating the IRA assets and leaving heirs stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or real estate instead—assets that are not subject to income tax when they are passed down (and may even receive a step-up in basis).
Let us help
The Office of Gift Planning Services is happy to answer your questions and provide more information.
If you’ve already made a gift to IU from your IRA, let us know. You might qualify for Arbutus Society membership!
