Yes. You can elect instead to receive a fixed income, in which case the trust would be called a charitable remainder annuity trust. This means that, regardless of the trust’s performance, your income will not change.

This option is usually a good choice at older ages. It doesn’t provide protection against inflation like the unitrust does, but some people like the security of being able to count on a definite amount of income each year. It’s best to use cash or readily marketable assets to fund an annuity trust.

In either (unitrust or annuity trust), the IRS requires that the payout rate stated in the trust cannot be less than 5% or more than 50% of the initial fair market value of the trust’s assets.