Many people make charitable donations for purely altruistic reasons.
However, in making charitable donations, donors do not necessarily have to relinquish all benefits or control of the donated property in order to obtain the tax deductions related to the donations. Donors can actually retain certain benefits or control of the donated property if the donations are made in accordance with properly structured tax exempt arrangements recognized by U.S. tax laws. Two popular forms of tax exempt arrangements are the charitable remainder trust and the private foundation. Charitable remainder trusts and private foundations should be considered in designing an overall estate plan because these arrangements can provide donors with significant tax advantages while still achieving their charitable intent. A charitable remainder trust is a trust held for the benefit of at least one non-charitable beneficiary during the term of the trust.