Many of us welcome the holiday season as a time of good tidings and giving to those most in need. It is also a time when many people make adjustments to their investments, including Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), before the next year’s tax season. Congress now has an opportunity to make it much easier for people who want to transfer money out of their IRAs to support worthy charities, but it must act soon.
Since it was passed in 2006, the Pension Protection Act has been a popular way for people to support charities with their IRA funds without paying taxes. Locally, donors this year alone have given more than $70,000 from their IRA funds to The Community Foundation to improve local schools and support food banks, animal shelters, health care services and environmental programs.
However, the current version of the act is set to expire at the end of this year. Congress should act now to preserve this valuable means for giving back to our community.
Extending the IRA charitable rollover will substantially benefit local philanthropy at a time when demand for its services has never been greater. In our community these contributions have helped close the academic achievement gap between kids from low-income families and their peers, while providing crucial operating support to some of our area’s most effective nonprofit programs. Extending the rollover will help ensure that even modest gifts — which are especially important for small community foundations, where funds are often limited — assist the many worthy causes in our communities.
This giving season, let’s tell Congress to make it easier for us to give to charity by extending the Public Good IRA Rollover provision.
Josie Heath, President
The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County