With charitable remainder trusts, your gift assets are used to create a trust that makes regular payments to you. These payments can be made for your lifetime, for a fixed term of up to 20 years, or a combination. At the end of the trust, the remainder benefits charity. You receive a charitable deduction for a portion of the gift. With gifts of appreciated securities and real estate, you can bypass capital gains.
With a unitrust, you can make multiple gifts using a combination of assets and in return receive regular payments. The gift minimum is $100,000 for cash or publicly traded securities, and $200,000 for real estate or closely held stock. The Foundation also offers charitable remainder annuity trusts.
Payments
The variable payment amount of the unitrust is calculated annually, based on a percent of the trust’s assets and the trust’s investment performance. The annuity trust payment is a fixed dollar amount. The income may be paid to you, a relative or a friend, and is taxable. There may be tax consequences if someone other than the donor or the donor’s spouse is named as an income beneficiary.Timing
Unitrust donors are typically 50 or older for a lifetime trust. They may be younger for a term-of-years trust. Additional gifts can be made to the unitrust.One Donor's Story
The Donors
A husband and wife living in Ohio, ages 73 and 69, already had a family fund at the Foundation started with a gift of charitable life insurance.Their Gift
- They wanted to reduce the burden of managing an apartment building.
- They wanted to benefit some charities and provide for their children.
- They transferred the title of the building to a unitrust with the Foundation as trustee. The building was appraised at $265,000 and had a cost basis of $30,000.
- The Foundation sold the building tax free.*
*Payout rates, charitable deductions and other benefits vary based on a number of factors.
