The main takeaway is that a structured gift is not necessarily a structure set in stone. In fact, there are ways to speed up a gift of the “remainder” interest in a structured gift. In a certain tongue-in-cheek way the article explains from the point of view of the charity:
… presidents and CEOs of charities generally prefer current gifts as opposed to planned gifts. All presidents and CEOs have many goals and projects that require current funding. Therefore, the gift planner will be very favorably received if he or she understands the different methods for converting a planned gift into a current gift.
Then again, there are just as many reasons to speed up a structured gift when you are the giver.
For instance, if you are receiving a current income stream that you no longer need later in life, then you can accelerate the gift of the remainder interest generating that income and accelerate the charitable deduction to the current year. This deduction may be helpful if you are taking Required Minimum Distributions from your IRA.
Timing is everything, and knowing what can be undone gives you that much more flexibility.
