This Volunteer Makes Charitable Giving Simple

"My goal is to help seniors look at their planning options," says Starr.

Starr Wheeler, 70, of Brick, has been many things — a software designer, a financial consultant, a trustee of Ocean Medical Center Foundation, and most recently, an appointed member of Meridian Health Affiliated Foundation’s Planned Giving Advisory Council. She is proud of this new position, and she sees herself as an advocate for educating seniors on how charitable giving can help them lower income taxes.

A Long-Last ing Relationship
In 1994, Starr was introduced to Ocean Medical Center, then known as the Medical Center of Ocean County, when she relocated to be closer to her job and to her family. "I had just moved to the Brick area and received a solicitation in the mail from Medical Center of Ocean County," she recalls. "I decided to donate."

After supporting the hospital for several years, the Foundation contacted Starr to thank her for her generosity. "They asked if I would like to come in for a tour of the hospital. It was the perfect opportunity, because I was still pretty new to the area and Ocean Medical Center was my new community hospital."

That phone call marked the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship. Starr was appointed as a trustee of the Ocean Medical Center Foundation in 2002, and two years later she established a Charitable Gift Annuity to benefit Ocean Medical Center’s services and programs. A Charitable Gift Annuity enables donors to make a donation to a charity of their choice and receive income for the rest of their lives while benefiting from a substantial tax deduction.

The Next Step
Starr’s next step in her support of Ocean Medical Center will be to set up an individual retirement account (IRA) charitable rollover with the Ocean Medical Center Foundation. An IRA charitable rollover permits taxpayers age 70½ and older to make tax-free charitable gifts totaling up to $100,000 per year from traditional and Roth IRAs. Taxpayers age 70½ and older are required to make annual distributions from their retirement accounts, and these distributions are included in the taxpayers’ adjusted gross income. Therefore, taxpayers must pay taxes on them. Currently, the IRA rollover for seniors is available only through the end of 2007.

The IRA charitable rollover is different — it permits taxpayers to make donations directly from their IRAs to charitable organizations without counting the donations as part of their adjusted gross income and, consequently, without paying taxes on them.

Starr is eager to let seniors know about this creative way to support their hospital while avoiding excessive income tax. "Most seniors my age are unaware of what an IRA charitable rollover is and how it can help their situation. My goal is to help them look at their options." Starr’s enthusiasm for educating seniors about charitable giving will be an invaluable resource, both for the community and for Meridian Health’s medical centers.

– Kathleen Laffan