
Charitable Remainder Trusts
If you are interesting in supporting Northwestern with a significant gift and receiving income for life, consider a charitable remainder trust. This gift arrangement enables you to make a gift to Northwestern and receive income payments for either your lifetime or a period of years. Charitable remainder trusts can be funded with cash, securities, and, in some cases, illiquid assets such as real estate.
Benefits of a charitable remainder trust include:
- Potential for a partial charitable income tax deduction
- Potential for increased income
- Up-front capital gains tax avoidance
There are two ways to receive payments with charitable remainder trusts:
The annuity trust pays you, each year, the same dollar amount you choose at the start. Your payments stay the same, regardless of fluctuations in trust investments.
The unitrust pays you, each year, a variable amount based on a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust assets. The amount of your payments is redetermined annually. If the value of the trust increases, so do your payments. If the value decreases, however, so will your payments.
In both cases, at the end of the trust, the remaining assets go to Northwestern.
Celebrate Your Love of Northwestern
When Boris Meditch ’42 followed his older sister, the late Janet Meditch Rommel ’38, to Northwestern University, he never imagined that they were beginning a three-generation Meditch legacy and enduring connection to the University.
Boris met his late wife, Marian Young Meditch ’42, when they served as junior prom representatives for their respective fraternity and sorority. “School politics brought us together,” Boris says. The dance was a success, raising enough money to get Benny Goodman, “the King of Swing,” to perform.
Learn How to Fund It
You can use the following assets to fund a charitable remainder trust:
Calculate Your Benefits
Submit a few details and see how a charitable remainder trust can benefit you.
Information contained herein was accurate at the time of posting. The information on this website is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor. Figures cited in any examples are for illustrative purposes only. References to tax rates include federal taxes only and are subject to change. State law may further impact your individual results. California residents: Annuities are subject to regulation by the State of California. Payments under such agreements, however, are not protected or otherwise guaranteed by any government agency or the California Life and Health Insurance Guarantee Association. Oklahoma residents: A charitable gift annuity is not regulated by the Oklahoma Insurance Department and is not protected by a guaranty association affiliated with the Oklahoma Insurance Department. South Dakota residents: Charitable gift annuities are not regulated by and are not under the jurisdiction of the South Dakota Division of Insurance.
Northwestern does not offer charitable gift annuities in all states, so please contact us to determine eligibility.