Each year, retirees receive a notice from their IRA custodian: it’s time to take a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD). Whether the funds are needed or not, the withdrawal is mandatory and taxable.

For some, it feels like an obligation. For others, it has become an opportunity.

A growing number of supporters of JSL are using a strategy called Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) to turn required withdrawals into meaningful impact while reducing taxes.

This year, 2026, beginning at age 73, individuals may direct up to $110,000 annually from their IRA to a qualified charity such as the JSL Foundation. When structured properly:

• The gift counts toward the Required Minimum Distribution
• The amount is excluded from taxable income
• Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) does not increase

If you are 73 or older and have an IRA, a conversation with your financial advisor or IRA custodian may reveal that your annual distribution can accomplish more than you imagined (please consult your legal or tax advisor before making any decisions).

The funds must be transferred directly from the IRA custodian to the charity. When they do, the donor never pays income tax on that portion of the withdrawal.

For retirees who take the standard deduction, this approach is often more beneficial than withdrawing funds and then writing a check. But beyond tax efficiency lies something far more meaningful: the ability to witness generosity at work.

One member of our community shared that when his RMDs began, he was required to withdraw far more than he needed for living expenses.

“I didn’t like paying taxes on money I wasn’t using,” he explained.

At his advisor’s suggestion, he directed a portion of his RMD to the JSL Foundation as a QCD. That gift satisfied part of his requirement while preventing those dollars from being added to his taxable income helping him avoid higher Medicare premiums and preserve more of his Social Security benefits.

What moved him most, however, was visiting Edward & Norma Jean Meer Apartments, located on the Eugene & Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus, and seeing residents enjoying Jewish history lectures and performances from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

“Instead of sending that money to the IRS,” he said, “I watched it become joy.”

Another retired couple in our community had long supported JSL with modest annual gifts. After retirement, they worried their philanthropy might shrink. Instead, it grew. When RMDs began, they chose to give directly from their IRA. Had they withdrawn the funds first and then donated, the additional income could have increased their AGI, raised Medicare premiums, and affected the taxation of Social Security benefits.

By giving through a Qualified Charitable Distribution, the funds never appeared as taxable income.

“We realized we could give more and feel it less,” they shared.

Their gift now supports live music, creative arts, holiday celebrations, transportation, and enrichment programs that reduce isolation and affirm dignity.

There is also a quiet estate planning insight many donors discover: traditional IRAs are often among the least tax-efficient assets to leave to children, since heirs must pay income tax on inherited distributions. Charities, however, pay no income tax at all.

One JSL resident explained it simply: “My children will inherit other assets more efficiently. The IRA is the best asset to give away.”

By using QCDs during her lifetime, she sees her philanthropy in action today.

IRA gifts to the JSL Foundation often support what might be called the “heart layer” of care. Medicare and insurance fund clinical services. Philanthropy funds the rest, like cultural programming, religious observances, enrichment activities, transportation, technology, and special events.

These are not luxuries. They are dignity.

For people who helped build Jewish Detroit, these programs affirm that they remain cherished members of our community. For donors, directing IRA funds to JSL is more than tax planning, it’s continuity.

It allows donors to say, simply: “If I must take it, let it matter.”

And at Jewish Senior Life, it truly does.

Shabbat Shalom