A charitable trust enjoys varying degrees of tax benefits in most countries and also generates goodwill.
[8] Furthermore, it is deemed unacceptable for charitable trusts to engage in campaigns for political or legal change.
Instead, the beneficiaries are represented by the Attorney General for England and Wales in their capacity as parens patriae, appearing on behalf of The Crown.
[10] The jurisdiction over charitable disputes is equally shared between the High Court of Justice and the Charity Commission.
This includes their removal, the appointment of new trustees, or even temporarily assuming control of the trust property to prevent harm.
[13] In the United States, many individuals use charitable trusts to leave all or a portion of their estate to charity when they die, both for philanthropic purposes and for certain tax benefits.
Additionally, there is an Optimized Charitable Lead Annuity Trust (OCLAT) designed to maximize the tax and economic benefits for the contributor.
[16] Charitable remainder unitrusts provide flexibility in the distribution of income and may be helpful in retirement planning, while charitable remainder annuity trusts paying a fixed dollar amount are more rigid and typically appeal to much older donors unconcerned about inflation's impact on income distributions, and who are using cash or marketable securities to fund the trust.
[17] In some situations, the less complicated pooled income fund may be more suitable than the charitable remainder trusts.