About the Podcast

The Alt Funds podcast, hosted by Skyler Steinke, digs into the world of alternative investments, the strategies and structures that fund managers, financial advisors, and high-net-worth investors use to raise capital and manage wealth. Charitable planning fits naturally into that conversation, since the same appreciated and illiquid assets that make up alt portfolios are often the best assets to donate.

Episode Highlights

In this episode, Phoenix discussed:

• Why cash is the least tax-efficient way to give. UI Charitable's core message: don't donate cash. Appreciated assets, public stock, real estate, private business interests, even a pallet of silver bars, let donors avoid capital gains tax while giving the full fair-market value to charity.

• How Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) work and how they compare to private foundations. A DAF separates the tax event from the giving decision: donors get their deduction when assets go into the fund, then decide when and where to grant later. Compared to a private foundation, a DAF is faster to set up, has no required annual payout, and costs less to run, which is why Phoenix said it's the right fit for the vast majority of UI Charitable's clients.

• Donating founder equity before an exit. Founders who give business interests before a sale, rather than cash after, can take a deduction on the full pre-tax value instead of funding their giving with what's left after taxes. The gift and the sale need to be clearly separate events, with an independent appraisal (done anywhere from 60 days before the gift through tax filing) establishing the value.

• DAFs as a source of LP capital. Fund managers raising a new fund can accept DAF dollars as LP investments, something not every DAF provider allows. Phoenix noted this can help convert fence-sitting prospects who are hesitant to commit personal capital but have charitable assets sitting idle.

• Unusual assets UI Charitable has handled. Beyond public securities and crypto, examples included a pallet of silver bars, four greenhouses on rural land, and venture fund LP interests donated for their appraised (rather than actual resale) value.

• Bitcoin custody and security. For crypto donors who want extra security, UI Charitable partners with Unchained on multisig wallets, a three-key setup split between the donor, UI Charitable, and Unchained, so no single point of failure controls the asset.

• Evaluating charities beyond the expense ratio. Phoenix pushed back on using overhead percentage as the main measure of a nonprofit's quality, arguing that outcomes, what actually changed for the people a charity serves, matter more than how much of the budget goes to staff.

• Creative, mission-driven uses of a DAF. Two standout examples: a donor buying an abandoned school building to convert into a community center, and a donor funding a virtual-employment center in Tonga to support economic opportunity in the South Pacific, both done through a DAF because the donor didn't need the investment returns to come back to them personally.

Key Takeaways

• If you're planning a liquidity event, loop in your DAF provider and CPA before signing sale documents, donating equity after a sale means you've already paid the tax.

• Complex and "problem" assets (illiquid real estate, LP interests, closely held business interests) are often good candidates for donation, not obstacles to work around.

• When evaluating a charity, ask what outcomes they're achieving for the people they serve, not just how their expense ratio looks on paper.

• A donor-advised fund isn't limited to writing grant checks; used well, it can also hold LP investments, fund a building purchase, or back an economic development project.

Why It Matters

The examples Phoenix shared, greenhouses, LP fund interests, a school building, an employment center in Tonga, all point to the same idea UI Charitable operates from: charitable planning works best when it flexes around what a donor actually wants to accomplish, rather than forcing them into a one-size-fits-all process. That's the "philanthropic back office" role Phoenix described at the top of the conversation, and it's the same approach UI Charitable brings to every donor and advisor relationship.

Listen and Learn More

• Listen to the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oko-ZLQ1YY

• Learn more about the Alt Funds podcast: https://altfunds.io/

• Learn more about UI Charitable: uicharitable.org/learnmore