Starting at 70 ½ or older, you can make a difference through a tax-saving opportunity to support The Legal Aid Society.

You can use your Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD), up to $111,000 per person in 2026. And if you’re 73 or older, you can take your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) to support Legal Aid’s ongoing work.

Why Consider This Gift?

• Your gift can make a difference today. Not only will your gift enable Legal Aid continue its work for all New Yorkers, but it helps us with our budget projections as well.
• By making a gift to Legal Aid through your IRA, you pay no income tax nor generate any income. So you’ll benefit even if you don’t itemize.
• Impact on Required Minimum Distribution (RMD): If you are 73 or older, your gift may count towards your RMD for the year in which your check is issued, and is excluded from your taxable income.
• Possible Financial Planning Benefits: By making an IRA distribution to a charity, it won’t count as income, and it could lower your Medicare premiums and decrease the amount of Social Security subject to taxation.
• No matter your age, you can always designate the Legal Aid Society as a partial or full beneficiary of your IRA or other retirement accounts.

To arrange a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) or RMD from your IRA, follow these 3 easy steps:

• Contact the financial institution where your IRA is held and instruct them to send all or a portion of your Required Minimum Distribution to The Legal Aid Society, federal tax #: 13-5562265.
• Ask that they send the check directly to LAS: 199 Water St, New York, NY 10038, federal tax ID # 13-5562265. It only counts as a QCD or RMD if the check goes from the financial institution directly to a charity.
• Let us know, so we can properly acknowledge your gift. Email Ayesha Marra at legacygiving@legal-aid.org, or call us at 646-531-1969.

Tip: It is important to notify us if you decide to leave an IRA gift, as some retirement plan administrators assume no responsibility for notifying charities of your wishes. We would love to hear from you about your intentions so we can ensure that they are followed, and to thank you for your generosity.

Even if you decide not to make a distribution this year, you can always designate the Legal Aid Society as the beneficiary of all or a percentage of your IRA and it will pass to the Legal Aid Society tax-free after your lifetime.