Case Study
Janet returned to Smith for her 70th reunion bearing a special gift: she decided to give Smith the principal of her charitable remainder trust now, rather than after her death. The trust, which Janet and her late husband funded in the '70s, had been generating annual income payments for Janet over the past quarter century, and she found that she didn't need that income anymore.

In giving up her remaining life interest in the trust, Janet was able to see the principal, which had appreciated handsomely over the years, put to work at Smith during a time of particular programmatic and intellectual excitement. As a bonus, Janet received an additional income tax deduction for this accelerated gift.