Water Equation

Yes, AWWA’s Water Equation Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, which means that all gifts are tax-exempt to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Certainly, you can donate on our website or you can call 303.347.6187. Please have your credit card ready – we accept all major credit cards (VISA, AMEX, MasterCard, Discover).

Yes, an easy and convenient monthly, quarterly, or annual recurring gift is a wonderful way to support programming funded by AWWA’s WE. To get started please visit our website and select Monthly when you make a gift.

Year-end gifts can be made at the end of each calendar year. Credit card donations must be processed through our website by 11:59pm CST on December 31. Checks must be both dated and postmarked by December 31 in order to be processed as a year-end gift.

Please write your check to AWWA and note Water Equation on the memo line. You can also indicate how you would like to have your gift designated — Scholarship, Leadership or Community Engineering Corps —  so that we can distribute your donation accordingly. We are unable to process checks written to other organizations.

AWWA’s WE online donation form is operated by Classy.org, a respected industry leader in online donations. When you enter your credit or debit card information onto our secure (SSL) website, your information is encrypted and is unreadable to anyone outside the transaction process.

100% of your gift is designated to our programming. AWWA pays all administrative costs for the philanthropy.

You can apply your donations to different programs by marking your gifts as unrestricted or restricted.

• Unrestricted gifts are among the most valuable because they allow us to allocate the funds wherever the need is greatest.
• Restricted gifts allow you to designate your gift to a specific program, grant, scholarship, or endowment. When you designate your gift, you enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting a program that is personally meaningful to you.

Please use 13-5660277 for your tax needs.

An IRA Charitable Rollover is a provision giving certain donors the opportunity to exclude transfers of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) assets from their taxable income when transferring gifts directly to public charities.

In December 2015, Congress passed the IRA Charitable Rollover, allowing those over age 70½ to transfer up to $100,000 per year from their IRA accounts to charities like the AWWA WE without first having to recognize the distribution as income. More recently, two newer changes in legislation may affect your charitable giving: the SECURE Act and the CARES Act.

Share the IRA custodial letter with your IRA custodian to share your intent to make a charitable rollover gift. Your custodian will work directly with the foundation to distribute your gift. Please also contact Water Equation at we@awwa.org to share your intent. We want to ensure your gift is designated correctly and confirm how you would like to be recognized.

A qualified charitable contribution would be:

• Made from a donor age 70 ½ or older.
• Transferred directly from an IRA to a public charity, such as the AWWA Water Equation.
• Completed within the applicable tax year.

The only benefit a donor receives from making an IRA Charitable Rollover gift is not having to recognize the distribution as income. There is no tax deduction for this type of gift. A qualifying rollover gift can help satisfy your required minimum distribution for the year. However, a donor’s charitable gifts made by an IRA rollover cannot exceed $100,000 in one tax year.

This might be a good option for you if:

• You have significant assets in an IRA.
• You are making large gifts in relation to your income.
• You have so few deductions that you choose not to itemize.

An IRA Charitable Rollover gift is a great option for donors who qualify; however, there are other tax-advantaged charitable planning vehicles that may provide additional benefits. While the AWWA staff cannot provide legal or tax advice, we can visit with you about options available to meet your charitable and financial goals.

To complete a required minimum distribution for the current year, transfers must be complete by December 31. To count towards a required minimum distribution for next year, transfers may be made from January 1 to December 31. Contact your IRA administrator for more information.

The SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act changed the age requirements for required minimum distributions (RMDs): if you reached the age of 70 ½ in 2019, you were required to take your first RMD by April 1, 2020. If you reach age 70 ½ in 2020 or later you must take your first RMD by April 1 of the year after you reach 72. The CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act suspends the requirements for RMDs for the 2020 tax year.

Yes, naming AWWA as a beneficiary of your IRA is a simple way to honor our sisterhood in your estate plans, regardless of your decision to make an IRA rollover gift. Doing so will also make you a member of the AWWA’s Planned Giving Society.