Michigan resident Rose Berberian, Ph.D., uses a simple and easily-available method to fulfill her philanthropic goals for her beloved Armenian Church. Read below to learn how you might join her.
Allocating the required minimum distributions from your IRA account during your lifetime can be an effective option for providing a source of revenue to sustain the mission and operations of the Eastern Diocese.
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Rose Berberian’s memories of growing up in one of only three Armenian families in a predominately Jewish/Catholic South Shore neighborhood of Chicago are still vivid. The daughter of first-generation Armenian Genocide survivors, Rose’s connection to the Armenian church began through her mother.
“She was a churchgoer who was active in the South Side Ladies Auxiliary (Women’s Guild) of St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church, the only parish in the vicinity at that time,” Rose recalls. “We didn’t own a car, so she took the one-hour bus ride at night to attend meetings. She was truly dedicated to the church.”
After earning an undergraduate degree in Group Work Education, Rose relocated to Detroit, MI, to earn a master’s degree in education from Wayne State University, while simultaneously working as the local YMCA’s first female professional Youth Director. She would later earn a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Throughout her 35-year career, Rose progressed through several chairs before retiring from the position of President of the Metropolitan Detroit YMCA. “There’s no doubt that my career in a non-profit organization significantly contributed to my knowledge and advocacy of the importance of charitable giving,” she said. “I was blessed with leadership and financial mentors who encouraged me to start saving at the very beginning of my career.”
One of those opportunities was to invest in an Individual Retirement Fund (IRA). It began as a plan to encourage individuals to have private savings in addition to Social Security, with an incentive of a tax-free investment deductible on annual income tax filings.
Today, Rose is able to fulfill and witness firsthand her charitable giving goals during her lifetime by allocating the required minimum distributions for charity from her IRA account. Realizing the importance of enlisting the assistance of a professional who is well-versed in the nuances of charitable giving, Rose consulted with an attorney and a financial advisor to plan and execute her philanthropic contributions. The result is twofold: she accomplishes her annual charitable giving goals while employing a tax strategy for minimizing her tax liability during retirement.
“Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) used to have a starting age of 70.5 years of age, so that was what the IRS set the Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) age to originally,” she explains. “The IRS has since raised the RMD age to 73 years of age, but has not changed the QCD age, which remains at 70.5. One has to begin taking required minimum distributions (RMD) which are taxable,” she added. “The one exception is if those funds go directly to a charitable organization, they are not taxable to the individual receiving them. So, for me, that’s the preferred method of managing my charitable donations.”
Rose has a list of many charities that include the Eastern Diocese Bishop’s Annual Appeal, her home parish and several other Armenian charities, all of which reflect her altruism and concern for the longevity of the Armenian cause.
As a parishioner of St. John Church in Southfield, MI, for the past 63 years, Rose’s volunteerism has included serving on the committee that built a new recreation center, chairing the Board of the AGBU Alex and Marie Manoogian School which became one of the first Charter Schools, conducting a two-year study of the effectiveness and setting future directions needed in serving parishioners and assimilating newly-arrived immigrant families. She continues to serve on the Armenian Apostolic Board, which manages all the real estate improvements at the St. John parish.
Rose offers advice to those wishing to fulfill their philanthropic goals and effect positive change for the Armenian community. “To young people, I suggest they start saving as early as they can. Every dollar compounds and grows without your needing to do anything further.”
She also has a broader message to Armenians of all ages: “If we don’t give to our Diocese and other Armenian charities, who will? Our future and Armenian ethnicity will not survive as we become more blended, assimilated, and our identity becomes lost. Those who survived the Armenian Genocide deserve our respect, remembrance and gratitude through our contributions to our Armenian charities. Our Diocese, our Church, our Armenian charities and our culture are one!”
Click here to learn more about Planned Giving to the Eastern Diocese.
By Stephan S. Nigohosian