Smart Strategies for Giving to Charity

For years, Ann Gerhart of Shaker Heights, Ohio, was a shoebox saver. She documented every donation, no matter how small: Extra change dropped in a church basket. Dollars tossed into a hat at a charity event. A small contribution given to the public library. And now, with all four children grown, Ann and her husband, Peter, feel ready to give more to charity, including supporting the 10 different schools that her family has attended, plus other religious and cultural causes close to their hearts, such as the local museum and orchestra. "It's always been important to us to make charitable gifts," she says.

But the Gerharts don't have Bill Gates kind of money to give away, and Ann feels a little bit "devastated" over the new tax law, which caps the couple's state and local tax deduction at $10,000 and makes it unlikely they'll itemize. Instead, for 2018, Ann, 71, and Peter, 73, will opt for the higher standard deduction--$26,600 for married couples, which includes $1,300 extra per person for married filers age 65 and older. (For singles 65 and older, the standard deduction totals $13,600.) But that means the Gerharts won't get a financial benefit from their donations, which usually total about $13,000.

So Ann and Peter are trying a different approach. They are tapping their IRAs to transfer money to the charities they support. Using the qualified charitable