It’s usually young children who measure their age in half birthdays, but if you’ve turned 70 ½ years,  your half birthday can be a big deal too. Starting at 70 ½, owners of traditional IRAs must take a required minimum distribution (RMD). But what if you don’t want that distribution added to your taxable income? Some IRA owners choose to take their RMD as a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) instead. That means instead of taking the required distribution as personal income, they are making all (or a portion of) that distribution to the qualified charity of their choice directly from their IRA account. This strategy maximizes the impact of that money on the charity because it is not taxed, so the full distribution can be utilized by the charity for their good work. The donor doesn’t pay taxes on the money either since it is distributed right from the IRA to the charity. “We’re seeing more and more savvy donors take advantage of the qualified charitable distribu...