The courts have been flooded with litigation involving donors attempting to enforce charitable gift restrictions, leading them to impose new rules and new enforcement remedies on charitable organizations. The opinion issued March 6, 2008, in the case involving Fisk University and the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation, illustrates the issues. This article teaches both for-profit and nonprofit gift planners the new rules that govern restricted gifts. The gift planner learns how to help people structure restricted gifts, strategies that avoid litigation, and the strategies that prevail in litigation if this is the unfortunate result.

Using a charitable lead annuity trust, donors can transfer significant assets to charities and heirs, and in doing so, can "zero out" gift and estate taxes.

Multiple-entity donors are a new reality for charities working with sophisticated philanthropists. The Pension Protection Act is forcing even more donors to create multiple charitable entities to achieve their goals. This article reviews the entities, including donor funds, supporting organizations, private foundations, and various planned gift vehicles, and focuses on how a charity can help the donor select the best entity for a gift. In addition, certain types of gifts must not be made from certain entities, and this article describes the gifts that charities and donors must avoid.

In Rev. Rul. 2026-12, the Service announced the Section 7520 rate for July will rise to 5.2% from 5.0. The average rate for 2025 was 4.95%, while the average rate for 2026 is 4.83%.