How to Turn Assets into Income While Supporting Dartmouth

I often hear from alumni who are looking for a way to support Dartmouth while retaining income for themselves or someone they love. For these individuals, I encourage them to learn about the benefits of establishing a charitable remainder unitrust, or CRUT.

The principal attraction of a CRUT is that it can help donors make a larger charitable commitment while accomplishing financial goals such as diversifying assets in a tax-free manner. This will create a stream of income for donors, other family members, or other designees. As an added bonus, a CRUT is a powerful financial planning tool that enables donors to use illiquid assets to fund a trust, meaning property such as real estate or artwork can provide years of income.

David Mulliken ’65 TU’66 recently established a CRUT to benefit the Tuck School of Business. After Dartmouth, David served in the Navy, earned a degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, and joined Latham & Wadkins, becoming a senior partner. Although David practiced law for his entire career, he credits much of his success to his Tuck education. 

David became familiar with CRUTs while co-chairing a UVA Law campaign. In recent years, as he and his wife Noreen considered how they might structure their estate, they thought about establishing a family foundation. However, they chose an approach that will enable them to support organizations that have been meaningful in their lives, such as Dartmouth, while also providing their sons with capital to distribute. 

 “There are organizations that over the course of our lives have been important to us, and we wanted to make sure we support them. The question was how to do this without depleting all our assets,” says David. “This is where the concept of a CRUT became so attractive. It’s an irrevocable gift, so the institution knows it will receive our gift. And we’re not divesting ourselves of significant parts of our investment portfolio that we may need in the future. We have the comfort of knowing that if we live 10 years, 15 years, or more, we won’t have to worry.