Act Now! Legislative Initiative Would Make Gift Giving from IRAs Easier and Allow Younger Donors

An important bill that could mean additional current revenue to your organization has been introduced by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The Public Good IRA Rollover Act of 2011 (S. 557) would extend the IRA charitable rollover beyond 2011, lift the $100,000 cap on distributions, and allow planned gifts beginning at age 59½, which is currently limited to age 70½ . Hundreds of millions of dollars have passed from IRA funds to charitable organizations in the past few years under similar legislation. The new law, if enacted, would also allow IRA charitable rollovers to be made to donor-advised funds, supporting organizations, and private foundations, which is currently prohibited. Representatives from charitable organizations are encouraged to contact their Senators and ask them to support the charitable sector by co-sponsoring S. 557.

To see more information go to the Legislative Update section of the Partners for Philanthropic Planning website. To find your Senators’ contact information go to http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katherine Swank, J.D.

Katherine has over 30 years of experience in the fundraising industry as a consultant, development officer and advancement team manager. As a member of Blackbaud’s analytics consulting team for over a decade, she facilitates strategic, client-facing content for Blackbaud’s custom modeling, wealth screening, and prospect research solutions to enhance clients’ development efforts with data-driven strategies.  Before assuming this role, she served as the national director of gift planning at
the National Multiple Sclerosis Society home office. Katherine has raised over $200 million during her career. She is a past president of the Colorado Planned Giving Roundtable, a former lawyer and also served as an affiliation faculty member at Regis University where she taught development-related courses at the master’s level for more than 10 years. She is a frequent speaker at BBCON, NACGP, Apra, AFP and other industry conferences.