Friends and alumni seize opportunity to make tax-smart gifts

You can count board member Phil Weigand and his wife, Judy, among that group.

"Here's a ‘no-brainer' for anyone 701/2 or older-if you're that age, you are required to withdraw money from your IRA each year. This money is commonly called the required minimum distribution (RMD), and you pay income tax on that amount. But there is no income tax on the RMD when donated to a charity like Saint Martin's University," Phil says. "The RMD amount is figured by adding the total value of all of your IRAs, divided by your life expectancy."

Phil and his wife, Judy, have taken advantage of this limited-time opportunity. In fact, Phil persuaded fellow board member, Ken Berchtold '59, to follow his lead last December.

Ken was interested in making a donation because, as chairman on the finance committee, he reviewed the University's endowment.

"I saw that we needed to build the endowment. I talked to my colleagues about it and then figured that if I was making noise about the endowment, I needed to do it myself," Ken says. "I recognized the need to participate."

About that time, Phil told Ken that the laws had changed for IRA distribution. There was a window of time to contribute from the IRA directly to the University. Ken, and his wife Mary Anne, decided to use money from his retirement funding to make a tax-deductible donation to support scholarships for business students. He worked with Schwab to send the funds from his retirement account directly to Saint Martin's University, rather than himself, so that it did not count as personal income.

This IRA provision was allowed in 2011 and 2012, and it's also applicable for 2013.

A group effort
Several other friends of the University have taken advantage of this opportunity, including Dr. Larry and Gail Larson, and past board member Rick Panowicz and his wife Pam. We hope you will consider joining them and making Saint Martin's part of your estate planning.