VINE’s funding comes from a variety of sources including government and private grants, fundraisers, rental fees, income earned from services provided, VINE Adult Community Center memberships, and proceeds from the VINE Home Thrift Store. Click here to view VINE’s Annual Report>

Your contribution is essential to the organization’s ability to continue to make a positive impact in the Minnesota River Valley. VINE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and contributions are tax-deductible. We will provide you with a receipt for tax purposes.

There are a variety of ways to help VINE grow; some of which are listed below. If you have questions, please consult with your tax advisor or call Pam Determan, VINE Executive Director or Lisa Kopischke, VINE Fiscal Manager, at (507) 387-1666.

After years of contributing to tax-deferred 401(k)s and IRAs, it can be a bit of a shock when income tax is due on that money when you must take withdrawals in retirement. Annual withdrawals from traditional retirement accounts are required after age 70 1/2, and the penalty for skipping a required minimum distribution is 50 percent of the amount that should have been withdrawn. However, if you are in the fortunate position of not needing all of your distribution for living expenses and are charitably inclined, you can avoid income tax on your required withdrawal by donating it directly to a qualifying charity. An IRA charitable contribution satisfies the annual minimum distribution requirement for your IRA. Here’s how a qualified charitable distribution from your IRA can be used to help others and reduce your tax bill:

Meet the requirements. IRA owners must be age 70 1/2 or older to make a tax-free charitable contribution. Those who meet the age requirement can transfer up to $100,000 per year directly to an eligible charity without paying income tax on the transaction. If you file a joint tax return, your spouse can also make a charitable contribution of up to $100,000, meaning couples can exclude a maximum of $200,000 of their retirement savings from income tax if they donate it to charity. Qualified charitable contributions must be made by December 31 each year in order to exclude that amount from taxable income.

Note: Charitable contributions can only be made from IRAs, not 401(k)s or similar types of retirement accounts. If you want to make tax-free charitable contributions part of your retirement plan, you might need to roll funds over from a 401(k) to an IRA. You don’t need to itemize your taxes in order to make an IRA charitable distribution; however, if you itemize you cannot additionally claim a charitable contribution tax deduction on a charitable distribution from your IRA. Why? You are not getting taxed on this money, so you don’t get to count it as a charitable deduction as an additional tax benefit.

Satisfy mandatory distributions. You can donate part of your required distribution to charity and withdraw the rest of it as retirement income as long as you meet the minimum distribution requirement by the end of the calendar year. Yes, if you have met your Required Distribution for this year you can still give! Even after taking your RMD, the IRS allows individuals to gift from their IRA an additional amount of as much as $100,000, with no additional taxes. A lot of people already do give, so why not give from your IRA with funds you have to take out anyway?