Charitable Lead Trusts

A charitable lead trust provides a current stream of income to the Conservancy while helping you pass significant assets to children or grandchildren thereby minimizing or eliminating gift and estate taxes. It enables you to make a substantial gift to Central Park Conservancy over a period of years. These trusts, usually funded with an income-producing asset that is expected to appreciate, pay an income to the charity. At the end of the term, the assets can either revert back to you or pass to those you designate, typically your children or grandchildren. A minimum gift of $100,000 is recommended.

Please note that appreciating assets such as stocks, real estate, and cash, are the best for funding a charitable lead trust because the assets pass to your heirs with the appreciation and without additional tax.

For Example
Mr. Hill runs around the Reservoir in Central Park every morning. He enjoys the improvements to the track and the plantings that now grow there. Mr. Hill wants to create an endowment to help with the revitalization and upkeep of this area. He is also considering how to transfer part of the family business to his son who is still quite young. By establishing a charitable lead trust he can:

• Provide a stream of income to the Conservancy for a number of years
• Claim a gift tax charitable deduction that will help to offset, if not eliminate entirely, the tax on the gift of the property to his son. Even if the value of the property appreciates significantly, there will be no additional tax when his son receives the property at the end of the trust term. Additionally, his son does not take on the burden of business decisions until he is older
• Remove the property from his taxable estate
  Have the pleasure of seeing his endowment created and know he is providing meaningful support for the Conservancy's work in Central Park.

For more information, call the Office of Planned Giving at 212-310-6645 or
e-mail .