A worked example

The giving you were doing anyway

Ruth and Sam, 76 and 74, married. $1.9M still in traditional IRAs, $62,000 of Social Security between them, and they give to their church and two charities every year out of current income.

“We give anyway. Does it matter whether the money comes out of the IRA first or goes to the charity directly?”

What the projection shows

It changes the tax return, not the gift. Taking the required distribution and donating the cash puts the income on the return no matter what happens next, and since they take the standard deduction, the donation earns no deduction at all. Sending it straight from the IRA works as an exclusion instead. It satisfies the same RMD requirement and the income never shows up, so far less of their Social Security is taxable and lifetime tax falls by $219,474. Same money, same charities. What it doesn't do is make them richer. They end up poorer either way because they gave the money away. The projection shows both sides, and whether to give at all isn't a tax question.