Qualified Charitable Distributions
Donate up to $100,000 per tax year directly from an IRA.
If you’re 70-1/2 or older, you can donate up to $100,000 per tax year directly from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to charities like Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD), otherwise known as IRA charitable rollovers or IRA gifts, are a great way to support our lifesaving work by allowing your dollars to go further: QCDs may be excluded from your taxable income and qualify towards your required minimum distribution (RMD).
What are the IRA charitable rollover rules?
Here's how a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) works:
- You must be 70-1/2 or older at the time of gifting your IRA to charity.
- You may distribute an amount, up to $100,000 in a calendar year, to one or more public charities, so long as it is completed by December 31 of that year.
- Your IRA administrator must make the distribution directly to the charity, or you may write a check to the charity from your IRA checkbook. Funds that are withdrawn by you and then contributed do not qualify.
Benefits of making an IRA gift
QCDs count toward your required minimum distribution for the year. If you have to take your required minimum distribution but you don't want or need the funds, QCDs are a good way to distribute the amount out of the IRA. As an added benefit, you'll avoid paying income tax on your gross income up to $100,000.
Are there any QCD restrictions?
Per IRS regulations, QCDs cannot be made to a donor advised fund (DAF), charitable remainder trust, or charitable gift annuity. A QCD can be made to your sponsoring 501(c)(3) organization if there are programs that you can fund outside of your DAF. Such purposes include general support for the charity or for other programs they may maintain outside of their role as a DAF sponsor.
For additional information on QCDs and DAFs, please contact your charitable sponsor.
How to make an IRA qualified charitable distribution
Here are the steps to take to make a gift from your IRA:
- Contact your IRA administrator and instruct that person to transfer funds to the charity you designate.
- Help us credit your gift and thank you by having your IRA administrator include your full name and mailing address on the gift. Also, have your administrator note that the transfer is an IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution. We do not encourage restricted gifts.
If you'd like to make a QCD gift, your financial institution should make the check out to "Doctors Without Borders" and identify you as the donor by name and address.
They can mail the check to:
Doctors Without Borders USA
P.O. Box 5030
Hagerstown, MD 21741-5030
How will the charitable gift from my IRA be used?
To learn more about how your Qualified Charitable Distributions will support the initiatives of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF):
- Check out MSF’s principle of accountability.
- Read more about MSF's history.
- View MSF's financial information, including our latest financial statements and 501(c)(3) information.
What are other ways I can make a contribution?
For other ways to give and support the lifesaving efforts of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF):
- Consider participating in the Multiyear Initiative program.
- Learn how to include MSF in your will, estate plans, retirement account beneficiaries, or give other planned gifts.
- Give a gift through donor-advised funds.
- Donate appreciated stock and securities.
- Ask your employer if they participate in a matching gifts program.
Any other questions?
If you have any additional questions about gifting Qualified Charitable Distributions, please contact Donor Services at 212.763.5779 or donations@newyork.msf.org.