A trustee, selected by the donor(s), manages the assets of the trust, provides tax statements to the IRS and the beneficiaries, and issues payments to the income beneficiaries on a periodic basis. The board of the designated Masonic charity may serve as trustee of a charitable remainder trust provided it is a majority remainder beneficiary of the trust, the minimum investment in the trust is $100,000 and the minimum age of a one person income beneficiary is 40 years (or 50 years if there are two income beneficiaries).

There are two general types of charitable remainder trusts: the charitable remainder unitrust and the charitable remainder annuity trust.