Charitable gifts of cash and “cash equivalents” may be deducted in one year up to 50 percent of a giver’s adjusted gross income. The limit is generally 30 percent of adjusted gross income for gifts of long-term appreciated property.
Gift amounts in excess of these limits may be deducted in as many as five succeeding tax years. See Internal Revenue Code section 170(d)(1)(A).

Over the years, many individuals have established revocable living trusts as part of their overall estate planning. The benefits sought in creating such a trust may be to:

1. Bypass estate administration (“probate”), although estate administration is less costly and less time-consuming in some states than in others.
2. Preview a trustee’s performance.
3. Shift, without losing control over, investment decisions.
4. Provide a convenient way to manage assets in the event of incapacity.
5. Obtain privacy in regard to one’s estate plan, although the trust agreement generally will have to be recorded and will then become a matter of public record if the trust contains real estate.

For the charitably motivated individual who sets up a revocable living trust, giving to a favorite nonprofit organization through the trust can be a convenient way to provide for charitable interests.

Donations can be made from a revocable living trust during the settler*’s life or after death.

Gifts during the settlor’s life: If the settlor of a revocable living trust wishes to use assets held in the trust to make charitable gifts, a threshold question is whether the trustee is authorized to transfer the assets directly to charity.

Gifts made out of the revocable living trust at the settlor’s demise: Amounts left to charity from a revocable living trust at the settlor’s death generally qualify for the federal estate tax charitable deduction under IRC section 2055, because the amounts are included in the settlor’s gross estate and are considered to be transferred to charity by the settlor.

Note*: Settlor = grantor = trustor = refers to the same person.