Donating to charitable gift annuities can provide you with tax breaks now and income later. Here’s what you need to know. If you like the idea of guaranteed income in retirement, you may want to give charitable gift annuities a look. A charitable gift annuity is a contract between you and a charity, often your alma mater’s foundation. You can donate cash, securities or other assets to the charity and get a charitable tax deduction up front. The institution invests the money and returns some of i