Why create a perpetual charitable trust?
A perpetual charitable trust with the University as trustee will finance in perpetuity the purpose specified by the donor.
A donor may decide to create a perpetual charitable trust of which the University is the trustee because the donor wishes in perpetuity to:
- benefit others, for example needy students, or research to find a cure for a disease, etc;
- specify at the time of making the gift the purpose for which the trust is established; or
- memorialise the donor or another person by requesting that the University name the trust in honour of that individual.
Where a donor wishes by a gift to create a perpetual charitable trust (which the University then records in a publicly accessible trust instrument), the University requests that such a gift have a minimum value of $20,000. Below that amount, it is more practical for the gift to be expended under the direction of the relevant unit of the University, with the approval of the donor.
See value of gifts.