Charitable Remainder Trusts

A charitable remainder trust is a separate tax-exempt account into which you transfer your gift. Harvard Management Company will serve as trustee and thus handle the investment of the trust assets as well as legal and accounting administrative matters.

Harvard can pay you a percentage of the trust’s value as income, typically 5%. As the value of the trust changes, so too does your income.

Alternatively, the trustee can pay you a fixed payment each year, based on a percentage, typically 5%, of the funding amount of the trust.

Benefits

Quarterly income for life; support for your spouse or other beneficiaries
Potential for growth of income over time
Investment diversification
No capital gains tax on gifts of appreciated assets
Charitable income tax deduction
Gift and estate tax savings
Investment management services provided by Harvard Management Company with no separate management fee
Significant future support for Harvard’s research and teaching

Trust Investment Options

Charitable remainder trusts can be invested with the Harvard endowment or in a manner geared to pay income taxed at lower rates.

Guidelines

Gift minimums are $100,000 for trusts with beneficiaries age 50 and older, and $250,000 for trusts with beneficiaries 45–49 years old.
You can donate a wide variety of assets to a unitrust—cash, publicly traded securities, closely held stock, real estate, art, antiques, collections, or intangible assets such as royalties.

Request a personal gift illustration

Please contact us at 1-800-446-1277 or use our electronic form.

Contact Us

Please contact our office for information on gift strategies that can help you support Harvard’s teaching and research and provide significant benefits to you and your family.

University Planned Giving

124 Mt. Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 800-446-1277 or 617-495-4647
Fax: 617-495-8130
Email: pgo@harvard.edu

David W. Scudder

“My experience at Harvard gave me a leg up in society, and I felt it was important to give back to support what I value and cherish. By establishing charitable remainder trusts, I was able to secure retirement income while making tax-efficient, significant gifts to Harvard. The value of the trusts has great potential to grow over time with the endowment, which is diversified in terms of geography and asset classes.”

-- David W. Scudder AB’57

Harvard Management Company

Jane Mendillo

Harvard Management Company (HMC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University, was founded in 1974 to manage the University's endowment, pension assets, working capital, and deferred giving accounts. HMC is governed by a board of directors that is appointed by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, known as the Corporation. Jane Mendillo is President and CEO of Harvard Management Company and Jennifer Pline is the managing director of Trusts and Gifts.

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