#159 Give Away Your Company Before You Sell It | Phoenix Hafen, UI Charitable

Background: Phoenix Hafen is the director of advisor solutions at UI Charitable. He is an expert in charitable planning and spends a lot of time working with financial advisors and high net worth families to maximize the tax efficiency and outcomes of their charitable giving.

Description: On the Alt Funds podcast, Skyler Steinke speaks with Phoenix Haven, Director of Advisor Solutions at UI Charitable, about helping financial advisors and high-net-worth families align charitable outcomes with tax efficiency.

Haven explains why donating cash is typically the least tax-efficient approach and highlights donating appreciated or “problem” assets such as public securities, real estate, private business interests, cryptocurrency, and other alternatives to avoid capital gains. He offers a framework for evaluating charities based on measurable outcomes rather than expense ratios and explains how donor-advised funds (DAFs) work, how they compare to private foundations, and when each is appropriate.

The conversation also covers donating business interests before an exit, appraisal and timing considerations, UBIT issues for S corps, DAFs as potential LP capital for fund managers, and custody solutions including multi-sig Bitcoin wallets.