Lifetime income for the donor and a future gift for the charity — that's the whole transaction. Bequest, charitable gift annuity (CGA), charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT), charitable remainder annuity trust (CRAT), or charitable lead trust (CLT). Each one prices income, deduction, capital-gain bypass, and residuum differently. This is the side-by-side a planned-giving conversation actually needs.
Defaults are typical for a planned-giving conversation: 72-year-old donor, $500K gift, appreciated long-term stock with $150K basis.
Each vehicle prices income, deduction, and residuum differently. The right choice depends on age, asset, and what the donor needs the gift to do during life.
CGA payout rates auto-fill from the ACGA suggested rate table by age. CRUT/CRAT payout rates are donor-chosen within IRS guardrails (5–50%, with deduction ≥ 10% of FMV).
After-tax cost of the gift depends on the donor's marginal rates and the asset chosen. Cash gifts deductible up to 60% of AGI; long-term appreciated property up to 30% of AGI; 5-year carryforward applies.
Planned gifts only land when the donor's broader estate plan is coherent — beneficiary designations updated, residuary language in the will, generational transfer strategy in place. The guides below cover the surrounding architecture: how a planned gift fits into a real family's plan, when CGA beats CRT, and how to coordinate with the donor's attorney and CPA without losing the gift to over-engineering.
Educational and informational purposes only. This calculator and any output it produces are intended solely for general educational and decision-support purposes. They do not constitute investment, tax, legal, accounting, actuarial, or any other professional advice, and they do not create a fiduciary, attorney-client, accountant-client, or advisor-client relationship of any kind.
Estimates based on simplified IRS-style methodology. Charitable-remainder, charitable-lead, and charitable-gift-annuity calculations require IRS Section 7520 mortality-table inputs, current-month 7520 rate, and donor-specific facts. The math here uses practitioner-approximation methods sufficient for donor conversation, not for tax return preparation. The binding charitable deduction for any donor's tax return must be calculated by qualified counsel using current IRS tables and software (PG Calc, Crescendo, NumberCruncher, or equivalent). ACGA suggested CGA rates change periodically — verify current rates at acga-web.org. Tax law, the 7520 rate, and ACGA rates can all change between the date of this illustration and the date of the gift.
Consult your own qualified professionals. Before acting on anything calculated here, the donor must consult their own attorney, CPA, and financial advisor. The receiving charity must run a final binding illustration through its planned-giving software and obtain board-level gift-acceptance approval per its written gift-acceptance policy. The Baratelli Institute is a publisher of practitioner reference material. It is not a registered investment adviser, law firm, accounting firm, actuarial firm, or planned-giving consultancy.
Co-branded versions: If a professional advisor's name and contact information appear on this tool, that advisor has elected to make the tool available to clients as a courtesy. Inclusion of an advisor's name does not constitute the advisor's endorsement of any specific result, nor does it transfer professional responsibility for the underlying methodology to that advisor. The disclaimer above applies regardless of co-branding.