iTrust Gifting
Structured Philanthropy and Family Giving
Key Features of iTrust Giving
iTrust Giving is designed for individuals and families who want to make charitable giving part of their long-term legacy. It creates a professionally administered discretionary trust through which suitable assets can be managed and applied for qualifying charities and, where appropriate, selected family beneficiaries.
Benefits
Structured giving over time
Make genuine lifetime gifts into a continuing trust from which the Trustees can support charitable causes through one-off or recurring appointments.
Multiple charities and causes
Record the charities, communities and causes you would like the Trustees to consider without locking the structure permanently to one organisation.
Family and philanthropy together
Where appropriate, selected family beneficiaries can sit alongside qualifying charities within the same discretionary planning framework.
Professional Trustee oversight
The Trustees manage the fund, maintain records and undertake appropriate checks before material charitable appointments.
A legacy that can continue
Trust-held assets remain under Trustee administration following incapacity or death, allowing your philanthropic objectives to continue beyond your lifetime.
Flexible future funding
Cash, suitable investments and other approved assets can be added over time once the required legal transfer and Trustee acceptance have been completed.
Guidance without rigidity
Your Letter of Wishes and Giving & Philanthropy record can explain the values, causes and priorities you want the Trustees to consider while preserving the legal discretion required by the trust.
Tax-aware charitable administration
The trust is administered within the tax rules applying to discretionary trusts. Actual appointments to qualifying charities can receive favourable Inheritance Tax treatment where the statutory conditions are satisfied.
How It Works
You make a genuine gift to the Trustees. The Trustees then hold and administer the trust fund under the deed.
Qualifying charities form part of the discretionary beneficiary class and selected family beneficiaries may also be included where appropriate.
Your Giving & Philanthropy record guides the Trustees on the causes and organisations you would like them to consider, but it does not create fixed entitlements or allow you to reclaim gifted assets.
Additional Features
Professionally administered
iTrust121 Pro provides continuing Trustee oversight, record keeping and governance around gifts, investments and charitable appointments, including appropriate recipient verification for material donations.
Verified charitable giving
Before a material charitable appointment, the Trustees can verify the proposed recipient and consider charitable status, restrictions, tax, regulatory, anti-money-laundering and sanctions issues where relevant.
Dedicated philanthropy allocation
The Trustees can record an amount or investment holding as an administrative Giving Allocation for future charitable support. It remains part of the discretionary Trust Fund until an actual appointment is made.
Create future philanthropic capital
Where suitable, a life assurance or other underwritten policy can be placed into the structure so that qualifying proceeds received by the Trustees can enlarge the fund available for family and charitable purposes.
Private, professionally administered planning
Trustee decisions and family guidance are not public testamentary directions, while the trust remains subject to applicable tax registration, reporting, regulatory and disclosure requirements.
Build a family giving legacy
Your Letter of Wishes and Giving & Philanthropy record can explain the values, causes and approach to giving you would like future Trustees and family members to understand.
Flexible funding
Cash, deposits, suitable investments and, where appropriate, underwritten policy benefits can be used to build the Giving Trust over time. More complex assets require separate review and legal transfer.
International causes can be considered, subject to appropriate review
Overseas organisations may require additional legal, tax, regulatory and sanctions checks and should not automatically be assumed to receive the same UK tax treatment as a qualifying UK charity.
Structured Giving, Not a Registered Charity
iTrust Giving is a discretionary lifetime trust designed to combine structured philanthropy with, where appropriate, family provision.
It is not itself a registered charity, charitable foundation or exclusively charitable trust merely because charities may benefit.
Tax treatment therefore depends on what is transferred into the trust and what the Trustees later do with the trust property.
Where the intention is for all assets to be held permanently and exclusively for charity, we will consider whether a dedicated charitable trust, foundation or other specialist charitable vehicle is more appropriate than iTrust Giving.
Build a Giving Legacy That Can Continue
Create a professionally administered fund for charitable giving over time, with the flexibility to support qualifying charities, selected family beneficiaries and the causes that matter to you.
Your charitable priorities can evolve. You can update your non-binding Giving & Philanthropy record or Letter of Wishes to reflect the causes and qualifying charities you would like the Trustees to consider.
The Trustees retain the legal discretion required by the trust.
Getting Started
Speak with an iTrust Adviser about the causes, charities and family objectives you would like your long-term planning to support.
Contact UsFrequently Asked Questions
Is iTrust Giving itself a charity?
No.
The Giving Trust is not itself a registered charity or an exclusively charitable trust merely because charities may benefit.
It is a discretionary lifetime trust in which qualifying charities form part of the beneficiary framework and selected family beneficiaries may also be included where appropriate.
Can I support more than one charity?
Yes, within the trust framework.
Your Giving & Philanthropy record can identify the charities, communities and causes you would like the Trustees to consider without locking the structure permanently to one organisation.
A named organisation does not obtain a fixed entitlement simply because it appears in your guidance.
Can family members benefit as well as charities?
Where appropriate, selected family beneficiaries can sit alongside qualifying charities within the same discretionary planning framework.
No discretionary beneficiary has an automatic entitlement unless a separate legally effective appointment creates one.
Can I change the charities or causes I would like supported?
Your charitable priorities can evolve.
You can update your non-binding Giving & Philanthropy record or Letter of Wishes to reflect the causes and qualifying charities you would like the Trustees to consider.
The Trustees retain the legal discretion required by the trust.
Is everything I put into iTrust Giving automatically exempt from Inheritance Tax?
No.
iTrust Giving is normally a discretionary relevant-property trust. A lifetime transfer into it is generally a chargeable lifetime transfer, so the value gifted, previous transfers, available allowances and the tax rules applying at the time must be considered.
Charitable appointments can receive favourable Inheritance Tax treatment when the Trustees actually transfer relevant trust property to a qualifying charity and the statutory conditions are satisfied.
Does Gift Aid automatically apply?
No.
Gift Aid and other donor-level tax reliefs depend on the legal nature of the payment, the donor and the recipient and are considered separately where relevant.
What assets can be used to fund iTrust Giving?
Cash, deposits, suitable investments and, where appropriate, underwritten policy benefits can be used to build the Giving Trust over time.
More complex assets require separate review and legal transfer.
Can a life policy form part of the planning?
Where suitable, a life assurance or other underwritten policy can be placed into the structure so that qualifying proceeds received by the Trustees can enlarge the fund available for family and charitable purposes.
The policy rights must be validly assigned or otherwise constituted in favour of the Trustees.
What happens to the trust after I die?
Assets already legally held by the Trustees can continue to be administered under the trust after the Settlor's death.
Assets which remain personally owned may still require probate or estate administration.
Can iTrust Giving support an overseas charity or cause?
International causes can be considered, subject to appropriate review.
Overseas organisations may require additional legal, tax, regulatory and sanctions checks and should not automatically be assumed to receive the same UK tax treatment as a qualifying UK charity.
Can I still control the assets after I have gifted them?
Your Giving & Philanthropy record and Letter of Wishes can provide guidance, but they do not allow you to direct the Trustees or create fixed entitlements.
Once a genuine gift has been legally transferred into the trust, the Trustees must administer it under the trust deed and their legal duties.
Important information
The Giving Trust is not itself a registered charity or an exclusively charitable trust merely because charities may benefit. Lifetime transfers into a discretionary trust are generally chargeable lifetime transfers for Inheritance Tax purposes and can be subject to the relevant-property regime. Gift Aid and other tax reliefs are not automatic. Actual legal and tax outcomes depend on the assets, recipients, implementation and law applying at the relevant time. Trustee decisions remain subject to the trust deed and their legal duties. Specialist advice may be required.
The benefits described are general illustrations of how the relevant iTrust may operate when appropriately structured and funded. Actual legal, tax and asset-protection outcomes depend on individual circumstances, the assets involved, the terms of the trust and any supplemental instruments, effective implementation and applicable law at the relevant time.
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