A Charitable Remainder Trust is a special irrevocable trust created from a donated amount that is held in trust and set up to pay income back to the donor and/or to family members during the term of the trust.  At the end of the term, or upon death of the donor, the assets remaining in the trust are distributed to charities specified by the donor. 

The donor chooses what the income distributions will be, who will receive the income from the trust, and what charities will receive the assets when the trust ends. These trusts achieve several significant financial and tax goals including:

• Bypassing capital gains taxes on assets contributed to the trust
• Increased income over the lifetime of the donor or other family members
• A charitable deduction on income tax at the time of contribution