Community members, friends, and family of Andrea Mead Lawrence gathered at Mammoth Mountain’s Parallax Restaurant on May 3 to present Los Angeles community leader Elsa Lopez with the 2019 Andrea Lawrence Award.

Current and former Mono Lake Committee staff with Quentin Lawrence and 2019 award recipient Elsa Lopez (second and third from left). Photo by Andrew Youssef.

Elsa is a pioneering educator and activist committed to strengthening the link between Los Angeles and Mono Lake. Beginning in the 1980s, Elsa engaged her organization, Mothers of East Los Angeles–Santa Isabel, in the successful implementation of LA’s ultra-low-flush toilet retrofit program, creating effective water conservation solutions in her community. (more…)

If these acronyms don’t look like a jumble of alphabet soup, then this post is for you! We have recently had several members call with questions about making donations directly from an IRA to support the Mono Lake Committee. Here is a little more information if this is something that interests you.

The charitable IRA rollover, or qualified charitable distribution (QCD), is a special provision allowing particular donors of age 70½ or older to exclude from taxable income—and count toward their required minimum distribution (RMD)—certain transfers of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) assets that are made directly to public charities, including the Mono Lake Committee.

Since it was first made available in the tax year 2006, many donors have used this option to support charities of their choice with tax-wise gifts ranging from $100 to $100,000.

If you would like more information about making a gift to the Mono Lake Committee from your IRA, please email me or give me a call at (760) 647-6595 x112.