New Delhi: The world’s richest man has a complicated relationship with charity. Elon Musk has called philanthropy “bullshit”, attacked billionaire donors, and argued that his businesses do more for humanity than conventional charitable giving. But what complicates this position is that Musk runs one of America’s largest private charitable foundations, with $14.7 billion in assets.
A recent investigation by The Economist, which examined the Musk Foundation’s tax filings from July 2020 to the end of 2024, found an organisation that gives away money slowly, discloses little about its activities, and directs much of its funding toward entities linked to the billionaire himself.
The Musk Foundation is the fifth largest charitable private foundation in the US, with assets comparable to those of major philanthropic institutions. Yet its website offers just 33 words describing the causes it supports, including renewable energy, space exploration, and AI safety. Its leadership comprises Musk, the head of his family office Jared Birchall, and another family-office employee, Matilda Simon.
The filings also raise questions about the tax advantages Musk receives from his donations. His largest contributions, around $8 billion worth of Tesla shares, went to the foundation in 2021 and 2022, when he acquired billions of dollars in shares and faced substantial tax liabilities.
Such donations can offer wealthy individuals a double benefit: they can avoid capital-gains tax on the shares while claiming a charitable deduction based on their market value. By the end of 2024, the Tesla stock held by the Musk Foundation had a book value of about $5.7 million, against an estimated market value of $14 billion, The Economist reported.
The bigger question is how much of this wealth reaches charitable causes. Under US law, private foundations that primarily make grants are generally required to distribute roughly 5 per cent of their investment assets annually. According to The Economist, the Musk Foundation repeatedly relied on a one-year grace period to meet its distribution obligations. By the end of 2024, it had an estimated $400 million in outstanding distribution requirements, according to Foundation Mark, a data provider.
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‘One bucket to another’
Of the roughly $1 billion the foundation distributed between 2020 and 2024, almost a tenth went to Fidelity Charitable, which operates donor-advised funds. These accounts allow donors to set aside money for charitable purposes without requiring immediate distribution to end recipients. Such transfers are legal, but expert Brian Mittendorf told The Economist that they ran against the spirit of the rules, amounting to moving money “from one bucket to another bucket”.
More than 58 per cent of the foundation’s grants went to The Foundation, a charity led by Birchall that shares the Musk Foundation’s address. It says it aims to build schools focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. However, its activities and use of funds remain unclear.
Musk previously funded Ad Astra, a private school near SpaceX’s former California headquarters that enrolled fewer than 50 students, including his children. The school was wound down around the Covid-19 pandemic, while its website says a new school in Texas is in development.
Other donations appear connected to Musk’s business interests. A $55 million contribution to a children’s hospital in 2021 helped fellow billionaire Jared Isaacman meet a fundraising target for a SpaceX mission organised as a charitable endeavour. The foundation also made donations to non-profit groups in southern Texas following a SpaceX rocket explosion that scattered debris across the area.
Its remaining grants span disparate causes, from sea-lion conservation to spinal medicine, without an obvious overarching strategy. Meanwhile, Musk has shown greater enthusiasm for political giving, donating at least $275 million dollars to Republicans ahead of America’s midterm elections.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)