Make a Tax-Smart Gift Now –
From Your IRA 

If you support our compassionate mission to end hunger here, and are 70½ or older, did you know that you can use your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to make current gifts to The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB)—and receive tax savings, regardless of whether you itemize?

A qualified charitable distribution from your IRA to GBFB will help power a distribution network that provides 90 million nutritious meals annually to our neighbors across Eastern Massachusetts.

It’s important to know that:

  • These gifts are formally known as Individual Retirement Account Qualified Charitable Distributions (IRA QCDs). Informally, they may be referred to as IRA charitable rollovers.
  • You must be at least 70½ at the time you make your gift.
  • This opportunity is available for IRAs, not other types of retirement plans such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s.
  • The amount you designate as a gift transfers fully, and tax-free, to the charitable organization you choose, and is not counted as income to you. Therefore, you are not taxed on your gift, as you likely would be if you took the same amount as a distribution for yourself.
  • If you are required to take minimum distributions from your IRA, you may use these gifts to satisfy all or part of that requirement.
  • Gifts of any amount, up to an aggregate maximum of $108,000 per IRA account owner to all charitable organizations this calendar year, may be made this way.
  • If you would like your gift to be completed by December 31, we encourage you to initiate it by December 1.

If you would like to make an IRA QCD gift to GBFB, the general steps are as follows:

  1. Contact your IRA custodian to learn their process.
  2. Instruct them to send a check in an amount you choose to:
    • The Greater Boston Food Bank
      70 South Bay Avenue
    • Boston, MA 02118
    • Fed. Tax ID:  04-2717782
    • For wire instructions, please contact us.
  3. Kindly let us know that your gift is on its way.

If you have any questions or are interested in additional information, please feel free to reach out to us.

Gift Planning is pleased to provide charitable gift information, but does not provide official financial, legal, or tax advice. 

We encourage you to consult your advisors for applicability to your own situation.

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