'Rich' Tricks to Volunteer and Donate in Retirement

Volunteer pin on a jean jacket — (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Washington Post recently profiled a man from Baltimore County, Md., who spends his free time — actually, pretty much all of his time — retrieving illegally abandoned tires from stagnant creeks and mosquito-infested swamps.

Since 2013, Jon Merryman has dug up an estimated 15,000 tires and has set a goal of picking up tires in every county in the U.S. The average tire weighs 25 pounds, so he doesn’t need to go to the gym to stay in shape.

While most of us aren’t as driven as Merryman, just about everyone I know has expressed a desire to volunteer in retirement. Along with the recipients of their generosity, volunteers reap the rewards, too: Research has shown that older people who volunteer on a regular basis are less likely to suffer from age-related health problems and cognitive decline.

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The key is finding a good fit. In some cases, that may involve volunteering for an organization that will benefit from your professional skills.

A friend of mine who has a background in health care is a volunteer for the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, which helps Medicare beneficiaries navigate their benefits at no cost.

Another friend, a longtime journalist, is helping high school students publish a local newspaper.

Tax breaks for volunteers

The IRS doesn’t allow you to deduct the value of the time you spend volunteering. But if you itemize on your tax return, you can deduct some of the out-of-pocket costs associated with charitable work.

For example, if you transport dogs for a rescue organization, you can deduct the cost of gas, tolls and parking.

You can deduct either the IRS flat rate of 14 cents per mile or your actual costs. (Congress hasn’t adjusted the flat rate since 1998, so you’ll probably get a larger deduction by tracking actual expenses.)

If you travel on behalf of the charity, you can deduct air or train fare, lodging, and meals, as long as the trip is primarily for the organization.

Most retirees claim the standard deduction, so they can’t take those itemized deductions. But volunteering is a great way to determine whether an organization will make good use of any money you donate — and those contributions could lower your taxes even if you don’t itemize.

If you’re 70½ or older, you can transfer up to $108,000 for 2025 from your traditional IRA to a charity (or charities) of your choice by making a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). The contribution isn’t deductible, but it will be excluded from your adjusted gross income, which could shield you from certain taxes and surcharges tied to your AGI, such as extra charges that are added to your Medicare premium if your modified adjusted gross income exceeds a certain threshold. Once you turn 73, the QCD will count toward your required minimum distribution.

Another option is to use a donor-advised fund. These funds, offered by most major financial institutions, allow you to make a charitable contribution now, take the deduction on your 2025 tax return, and decide later which charities to support. Even if you don’t itemize, donating stocks or other assets that have increased in value will provide a tax break because you won’t have to pay taxes on capital gains (and the charity won’t, either).

I’m planning to take advantage of QCDs when I turn 70½. In the meantime, I’ve signed up to help the AARP Foundation’s Tax-Aide program, which provides free tax assistance to low- and moderate-income taxpayers.

I’ve written about taxes for more than 20 years and am all too familiar with how complex they can be, so this seems like a good way to give back. Plus, no mosquitoes.

Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.

Block joined Kiplinger in June 2012 from USA Today, where she was a reporter and personal finance columnist for more than 15 years. Prior to that, she worked for the Akron Beacon-Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. In 1993, she was a Knight-Bagehot fellow in economics and business journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She has a BA in communications from Bethany College in Bethany, W.Va.