A charitable lead trust provides an advantageous method of making a substantial contribution to the Institute, while enabling you to transfer assets to your heirs, greatly reducing gift and estate taxes. The lead trust remains one of the very few ways to shelter property - and any future appreciation - from the generation-skipping transfer tax, and thus provide for your grandchildren.

Under such a trust, cash or securities are transferred irrevocably to a trustee, usually for a period of 10 to 20 years. The trustee pays an annual fixed percentage to the Institute for the term of the trust, with the residuary going to your children and grandchildren.

Any increase in the value of the trust is free of gift and estate taxes. As a result, it is frequently possible to pass on to your grandchildren a larger estate than would have been possible otherwise. Furthermore, the gift tax due the year the trust is created is reduced by a deduction equal to the present value of the income stream to the Institute.

A minimum gift of $100,000 is needed to establish a lead trust at the Institute.

If you would like to discuss how a charitable lead trust might work for you please use our Planned Giving Calculator and contact:

Peggy Jackson
Planned Giving Officer
Institute for Advanced Study
Einstein Drive
Princeton, NJ 08540
Telephone: 609.951.4612
email: