Use Your IRA for Charitable Giving

Guest post by Barbara Connolly, PT, DPT, EdD, FAPTA

I first learned about the Foundation for Physical Therapy Research as a young professional. Early in my career I supported the Foundation through annual donations and through purchasing items from the Foundation’s Silent Auctions. Eventually. I even named the Foundation as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy.

The Foundation is the premier nonprofit in physical therapy research. It is creating a pipeline for future researchers and sowing the seeds for new research to come. This is why I continue to give.

Recently, I named the Foundation as the beneficiary of my individual retirement account (IRA). This smart, tax-saving gift is an easy way for people 70½ or older to make a big difference for less. It helps you avoid being pushed into higher income tax brackets. It also provides an opportunity to support the Foundation at a level that you may not have been able to in previous years. The amount donated through your IRA can also change from year to year, depending on life circumstances.

By giving to the Foundation through your IRA, you can make an annual gift of greater impact. This high reward, low stake gift will promote growth in the physical therapy profession. Doing so will foster new research and the next generation of physical therapist researchers.

Learn more and consider joining me in giving through your IRA.

Barbara Connolly PT, DPT, EdD, FAPTA, served nine years as a Foundation Trustee from 2008 to 2015, the last two as President. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Connolly is the recipient of several distinguished awards, including the Bud DeHaven Leadership Award and the Jeanne Fischer Distinguished Mentorship Award.