The charitable remainder trust is a trust that allows you to make a charitable gift, receive a charitable tax deduction, receive income payments throughout your lifetime, and avoid the imposition of taxes. The Foundation will handle all the legal and fiduciary responsibilities for you, but you retain a beneficial interest in the income from the property.
Cash always works well.
To obtain maximum tax advantage, however, property that is appreciated in value is ideal to transfer to a charitable remainder trust. By funding a properly created charitable remainder trust with appreciated properties, federal law allows the trust to sell the appreciated property without the up-front imposition of capital gains tax. The trustee will handle this for you. As beneficiary, you receive payments based on a fixed percentage agreed upon between you and the Foundation, multiplied by the fair market value of the trust assets. You can make certain choices that will give you a constant payment amount or will provide you with a payment amount that will be recalculated annually and provide a hedge against inflation.