Planned Giving Insights and Information

Trust Matters: Life Income Gifts and Revocable Living Trusts

In our work with planned giving professionals, we receive questions from time to time about donors using trusts in conjunction with life-income gift arrangements. The most common question is whether charitable gift annuity (CGA) payments – or beneficiary payments from charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) – can be issued to trusts rather than directly to the annuitants or trust beneficiaries. But there is a second question that comes up as well – whether a trust can be the donor or grantor of a gift annuity or CRT.

When Your Donor Should Consider a QCD for a CGA . . . and When They Shouldn’t!

Since January 1, 2023, it has been possible for a donor to make a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from an IRA of up to $50,000 to fund a gift annuity. This new giving opportunity has sparked a lot of interest among gift planners. Some have already helped donors complete this type of gift. Many limitations apply to the QCD for CGA arrangement in addition to the $50,000 maximum: the donor can make this type of gift in one year only and must be at least 70 ½ years old, only the donor and the donor’s spouse can be annuitants, the gift is not deductible, the donor cannot defer the annuity payments, and all annuity payments are fully taxable as ordinary income. On the positive side, the distribution from the IRA is not taxable and counts toward the donor’s required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year. Which raises the question: Under what circumstances, if any, does funding a gift annuity with a QCD make financial sense?

Pitfalls to Avoid When You’re New to Your Planned Giving Office

If you’re new to your role in planned giving, either because you’re covering for someone on leave, you’ve had planned giving added to your major gift responsibilities, or you’re new to the field - welcome aboard! PG Calc is invested in your success, and we’ve gathered a list of planned giving pitfalls that could get you in hot water with donors, auditors, or the IRS that we hope to help you avoid.

BDQ #2: I Don’t Have an RMD, So Why Would I Want a QCD?

The BDQ (Big Dumb Question) We’ve all been there: at some point during a presentation someone says, “This may be a dumb question, but…” and the presenter (hopefully in a gracious tone of voice) says, “There’s no such thing as a dumb question,” before providing the obvious answer. But sometimes, just to yourself, you have to admit you were wondering about the same thing. That’s the idea behind this occasional series we’re calling “The Big Dumb Question” (or BDQ). Our aim is to provide easy to understand answers to basic gift planning questions – the kinds of questions you may be reluctant to ask. We’ve got a list of topics in mind (see below). I Don’t Have an RMD, So Why Would I Want a QCD? “I prefer the large confusion to the small certainty,” said poet John Ciardi. That’s a healthy approach when thinking about Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) and Required Minimum Distributions (RMD). There is a large confusing array of initials – RMDs and QCDs, QRPs and IRAs, to name a...