Wealth Transfer Giving

Support Bentley Today. Preserve Wealth For Family.

A charitable lead trust can help you put meaningful resources to work for Bentley now while preserving a thoughtful plan for the people who matter most to you. During the trust term, Bentley receives annual support that can strengthen scholarships, student experiences, faculty innovation, and the university’s long-term momentum.

At the end of the trust term, the remaining assets pass to the beneficiaries you choose. For families with significant assets, this approach can bring generosity, wealth transfer, and Bentley impact into one thoughtful plan.

Why Consider a Charitable Lead Trust?

You may wish to explore a charitable lead trust if you:

• Want your philanthropy to benefit Bentley students during your lifetime.
• Are experiencing a liquidity event and would like to explore philanthropic strategy that may also offer tax planning benefits.
• Hope to provide for children, grandchildren, or other beneficiaries as part of a larger estate plan.
• Value a strategy that brings family priorities and charitable goals together.
• Want your success to create opportunities both for your family and for future Bentley Falcons.

How a Charitable Lead Trust Works

• You place selected assets—such as cash, securities, or real estate—into a trust.
• For the period you choose, the trust provides annual support to Bentley.
• Those payments can be directed to the Bentley priorities that reflect your values.
• At the end of the term, the remaining assets are distributed to your chosen beneficiaries.

A charitable lead trust can express a generous vision in real time: supporting Bentley and our students now while helping your family carry forward the values and opportunities that shaped your success.

Caring for Loved Ones While Creating a Lasting Bentley Legacy

A testamentary charitable remainder trust is created through your estate plan and begins after your lifetime. It allows you to provide income for family members or other loved ones before the remaining assets become a future gift to Bentley University.

For many alumni and friends, this approach reflects a personal balance: caring for those closest to them while investing in the future of Bentley and our students.

Why Alumni Choose a Testamentary Charitable Remainder Trust

A testamentary charitable remainder trust may be meaningful if you want to:

• Provide income for loved ones after your lifetime.
• Create a future gift that reflects your Bentley connection.
• Coordinate charitable giving with your broader estate plan.
• Use estate assets in a way that may benefit both family and charitable purposes.
• Leave a legacy rooted in education, opportunity, and purpose.

How the Trust Works

• Your will or revocable trust directs selected assets to fund the charitable remainder trust after your lifetime.
• The trust provides payments to the beneficiaries you name for life or for a period of years.
• Those payments may be structured in different ways, depending on your goals and the trust terms.
• When the trust ends, the remaining assets support Bentley and the priorities you choose to advance.

Funding a Testamentary Charitable Remainder Trust

Depending on your estate plan, this type of trust may be funded with assets such as:

• Retirement plan assets.
• Appreciated securities.
• Real estate.
• Closely held business interests.
• Other significant estate assets.

Some donors consider retirement assets for this purpose because those assets can carry different tax consequences for individual heirs than for charitable organizations. Your advisors can help determine whether this approach fits your family, financial, and philanthropic goals.