IRA Charitable Distribution

Qualified Charitable Distribution from an IRA

You can support Tufts with a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from an IRA, if you are least 70 ½ years old when you make your gift. Your gift may satisfy your required minimum distribution and reduce your taxable income. You can make a gift that Tufts can use today, or you can make a QCD to establish a gift that provides you with an income for life and a future gift for Tufts.

Make a Gift to Support Tufts Today

You can make a QCD, up to $105,000 in 2024, directly to Tufts. The annual limit is indexed for inflation each year. Your gift can be directed to the Tufts Fund or an area of Tufts that is important to you, can be made in honor of your reunion, or can be used to make a pledge payment.  

Receive an Income Today and Support Tufts’ Tomorrow

You make a one-time QCD, up to $53,000 in 2024, to fund a charitable gift annuity to benefit yourself and/or a spouse. You will receive fixed payments for life, and at your passing, the residue of the charitable gift annuity will be used as you designated at Tufts. You can establish a charitable remainder trust with a QCD, but some limitations may apply. Contact the Gift Planning Office for more information.

How to Make a QCD

To make a QCD to support Tufts today, please contact your IRA custodian to request a QCD and instruct them to:

• Make the check payable to 'Trustees of Tufts College.’ You may need the university’s tax ID number which is 04-2103634
• Send your gift to:

        Tufts University

        P.O. Box 3306

        Boston, MA 02241-3306

• Include information on the check that identifies you as the donor.

Please contact the Gift Planning Office if you would like your gift to fund a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust, as there may be different instructions for such a gift.

Important Details:

• The gift must be sent directly from your IRA administrator to Tufts.
• You will not qualify for a charitable income tax deduction, but you may exclude the amount of your QCD from your gross income for federal income tax purposes.  The amount donated will not be included in your taxable income.
• Once you turn 73 years old, a QCD can fulfill all or part of your required minimum distribution for the year.
• Gifts must be made to a charity or charities qualified under Sections 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A). They cannot be made to a donor-advised fund.
• You must be age 70½ or older on the date the IRA charitable distribution is made.
• The amount donated annually in 2024 from one or more IRAs cannot exceed $105,000 per individual. You can use up to $53,000 of your annual QCD to establish a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust (subject to gift minimums).  
• Gifts from a traditional or Roth IRA qualify, but not gifts from a 401(k), 403(b), SEP, and other retirement plans.
• State tax benefits vary with such gifts.

Giving at Year End

To qualify as a gift in this calendar year, it must be delivered to Tufts by your IRA administrator on or before December 31 (if sent by mail, the postmark will determine the delivery date; if sent electronically, this is the date the gift reaches Tufts' account).*

*Please Note: If you have check-writing privileges on your IRA account, please allow sufficient time for Tufts to receive and process your intended gift, especially at calendar year end. If you have IRA check-writing privileges, we recommend that you mail your check no later than December 20.