The Musk Foundation is the private grantmaking foundation of technology entrepreneur and political activist Elon Musk, who seeded it with more than $8.2 billion of stock in his companies. ^{1 2} The foundation’s grants originally had a left-of-center lean, but since 2020 have focused largely on topics that intersect with Musk’s business ventures, as well as local charities in areas where his companies do business. ³

The Musk Foundation also supports a donor-advised fund at Fidelity Charitable through which Musk directs anonymous grants to nonprofit organizations. ¹

Organizational Overview

Legally, there have been two Musk Foundations. The first, with taxpayer identification number 77-0587507, was founded in 2002 in Palo Alto, California by Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal, who were the foundation’s sole officers. ⁴ Kimbal Musk left the foundation board in 2018 and was replaced by Jared Birchall, who manages Elon Musk’s family office. ^{5 4} The foundation now has a third board member, Matilda Simon-Ferrigno, who reportedly also works in the Musk family office. ¹

The original Musk foundation ceased operations in 2021 by transferring its assets and merging into a new Musk Foundation with taxpayer identification number 85-2133087 which was incorporated in Austin, Texas around the time that Musk was moving his residence and the headquarters of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and other companies to Texas. ⁶

The Musk Foundation does not appear to employ any paid staff members or contract with outside philanthropic advisors to operate its giving. ^{1 2} In 2024, the New York Times reported that the Musk Foundation had failed to meet Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements to disburse at least 5 percent of its assets per year for three years in a row, and questioned whether that was in part due to the foundation’s unusually lean operational structure. ²

According to its website, the Musk Foundation makes grants in support of five areas, some of which intersect with Musk’s business ventures: weather-dependent energy research and advocacy, human space exploration research and advocacy, pediatric research, science and engineering education, and the development of safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity. ⁷ In terms of dollar amounts, education has become the largest area of Musk Foundation giving. ^{1 4}  

Funding

Also see Elon Musk

Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter) entrepreneur Elon Musk is the sole funder of the Musk Foundation, and has donated more than $8 billion worth of stock to it over its existence. ²

In 2016, Musk donated 1.2 million shares of Tesla stock, worth $254,614,000 at the time, to the Foundation. ⁸ Drew Millard of The Outline wrote in 2018 that the timing of the donation allowed Musk to avoid taxes and to avoid ceding shares to his ex-wife, Talulah Riley, who filed for divorce in spring 2016. ⁹

Elon Musk’s donations to the Musk Foundation include $2,245,989,389 in 2022; $5,703,165,040 in 2021; $4,103,605 in 2019; $254,614,000 in 2015; $600,000 in 2014; $1,300,000 in 2013; $650,000 in 2012; and $600,000 in 2011. ^{1 4}  

Grant Recipients

Donor-Advised Fund

The Musk Foundation funds a donor-advised fund at Fidelity Charitable, which effectively allows Musk to make donations to nonprofits without having his connection to the ultimate recipient publicized in tax return documents. The Musk Foundation’s donations to the Fidelity Charitable fund include $1,364,300 in 2021; $20,701,689 in 2020; $12,431,640 in 2018; and $37,798,322 in 2017. ^{1 4}  

Non-Advocacy Contributions

The Foundation has donated to non-political causes, including $480,000 in grants for water filtration in Flint, Michigan and $424,000 to supply laptop computers to Flint middle-schools. ¹⁰

Other recipients of Musk Foundation grants include international aid nonprofits such as Doctors Without Borders, which was given $100,000 in 2012; healthcare organizations such as World Spine Care; and the co-educational Mirman School for Gifted Children. ¹⁰

The Musk Foundation has donated to center-left World Central Kitchen to support the food nonprofit’s work with Ukrainian refugees, including $500,000 in 2023 and $1.28 million in 2022. ¹¹

It has made notable donations to Khan Academy, the free online educational service, including $500,000 in 2023; $7,000,000 in 2022; and $5,000,000 in 2020. ^{1 4}

Artists for Peace and Justice, which helps disadvantaged people internationally through education, and Haitian Relief Organization, which helped with recovery in Haiti after an earthquake and tsunami struck that nation, received funding from the Musk Foundation in 2011. Artists for Peace and Justice received $129,708. Haitian Relief Organization received $61,370. ⁴

In 2025, the Musk Foundation announced a $50 million grant to Indian company Mati Carbon, which won the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition to develop a technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. ¹²

In 2020, the Musk Foundation gave $1 million to the Wikimedia Foundation, which publishes Wikipedia. ⁴  

The X Foundation

The Musk Foundation’s largest contributions, totaling more than $200,000,000, have been to The Foundation, also known as The X Foundation, which Musk reportedly created ⁴ to build and operate schools in Texas, beginning with K-12 and expanding over time to operate a university. ^{13 14 15} Musk Foundation board member and Musk family officer manager Jared Burchall is The X Foundation’s president. ^{5 13}

The Musk Foundation made donations of $99,941,380 in 2022 and $137,075,943 in 2023 to The X Foundation. ⁴

Advocacy Contributions

The Musk Foundation has supported advocacy organizations with both left-of-center and right-of-center missions. While its giving had a more notable left-of-center bias in the foundation’s earlier years, its donations to explicitly left-of-center causes decreased notably over time. Global Green has received multiple donations, including one worth $45,980 in 2007. The Sierra Club Foundation received $250,000 in 2014. ⁴ Other left-of-center recipients of Musk Foundation grants include the National Wildlife Federation; the funding and fiscal sponsorship group New Venture Fund; the Energy Foundation; Oxfam America; Oceana; the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation; the Tides Center; and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). ^{1 4}

In 2018, the Musk Foundation gave $200,000 to the United Nations Foundation “for climate change.” ⁴   

Other left-wing organizations that have received funding are the William J. Clinton Foundation, People for the American Way Foundation, and Transgender Law Center. All received funding in 2011 totaling $19,200, $7,200, and $2,500, respectively. ⁴  

The Musk Foundation has made small contributions to a handful of right-of-center nonprofits. The libertarian think tank Cato Institute received $5,000 in 2007.¹⁰ In 2005, Citizens Against Government Waste received a $10,000 grant; and the National Taxpayers Union received $2,500 in the same year. ⁴  

In 2020, the free-market Mercatus Center at George Mason University received $1,000,000 for COVID-19 scientific research. ⁴ In 2023, the right-of-center Libertas Institute received $100,000. ¹  

Texas Grantmaking

Since its move to Texas, the Musk Foundation has made significant donations to charities, schools, and public projects in communities where Musk’s companies operate, especially in the Brownsville, Tex. region. ^{1 3} In 2023, the Musk Foundation’s giving in Texas included $1,750,000 to the Brownsville Independent School District; $125,000 to the Brownsville Wellness Coalition; $60,900 to the Brownsville Ryss Academy; $500,000 to Basis Texas Charter Schools; $10,000 to the Children’s Museum of Brownsville; $997,088 to the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District in Harlingen, Texas; $92,625 to Harmony Public Schools in Houston; $848,902 to IDEA Public Schools in Weslaco, Texas; $425,556 to Jubilee Academic Center in San Antonio; $2,215,110 to Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District in Los Fresnos, Texas; $100,00 to the Point Isabel Independent School District in Port Isabel, Texas; $21,000 to Responsive Education Solutions in Lewisville, Texas; $125,000 to the Rio Hondo Independent School District in Rio Hondo, Texas; $11,000 to the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville; $388,438 to the San Benito Consolidated Independent School District in San Benito, Texas; $34,000 to the Santa Maria Independent School District in Santa Maria, Texas; $61,128 to South Texas Educational Technologies in Weslaco; $166,500 to the South Texas Independent School District in Mercedes, Texas; $20,000 to Steamspace Education Outreach in Austin; and $18,273 to Valere Public Schools in Austin. ¹  

Grant Controversies

The left-leaning The Guardian conducted a thorough examination of the Musk Foundation’s donations in a January 2019 profile. ¹⁶ Its investigation found that the Foundation frequently donated to charities in which Musk’s family or his companies have financial and other interests. The article clarified that none of the payments were illegal, and cited charity experts who said that many were within charitable norms. ¹⁶

Between 2021 and 2024, the Musk Foundation gave $4.9 million to a United Nations (UN) program that funds Internet access programs in low-income countries. ¹⁷ In Rwanda and Kazakhstan, at lease some of the funding those nations received from the UN Giga program was reported to have been spent on purchasing Starlink Internet access from Musk’s company SpaceX. ¹⁸ However, UNICEF’s Giga website claims that Starlink “has never been contracted as a vendor.” ¹⁷

A 2024 New York Times story about the Musk Foundation’s philanthropy in Texas implied that the foundation’s giving in South Texas was sparked by the March 2021 in-flight explosion of a Space X rocket that resulted in debris falling across the area. ³ The morning of the explosion, Musk posted to Twitter: “Am donating $20M to Cameron County schools & $10M to City of Brownsville for downtown revitalization. Details to follow next week.” ¹⁹

1. “Musk Foundation.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/852133087.
2. Schleifer, Theodore, and David A. Fahrenthold. “Musk’s Foundation Gave Away Less Money than Required in 2023.” The New York Times, December 12, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/us/politics/musk-foundation-taxes-donations.html.
3. Mac, Ryan, and David A. Fahrenthold. “Elon Musk Has a Giant Charity. Its Money Stays Close to Home. (Published 2024).” The New York Times, March 10, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/10/us/elon-musk-charity.html.
4. “Musk Foundation .” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/770587507.
5. Bursztynsky, Jessica. “What to Know about Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s Right-Hand Man.” Fast Company, April 18, 2025. https://www.fastcompany.com/91319028/what-to-know-about-jared-birchall-elon-musks-right-hand-man.
6. Goodman, J. David. “As Elon Musk Moved to the Right, His Businesses Moved to Texas.” The New York Times, November 19, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/us/texas-elon-musk.html.
7. Musk Foundation. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.muskfoundation.org/.
8. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Musk Foundation (2015). Musk Foundation, 2015 990, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5684176-2015-990.html
9. Drew Millard. “Why did Elon Musk stash a quarter-billion dollars of Tesla stock in a non-profit back in 2016?” The Outline. August 5, 2018. Accessed February 21, 2019. https://theoutline.com/post/5707/elon-musk-has-a-quarter-billion-dollars-of-tesla-shares-parked-in-a-non-profit
10.  The Associated Press,. “Flint students getting laptops thanks to Musk Foundation,.” December 21, 2018. Accessed February 20, 2019. https://www.apnews.com/0375b52ee079460d8f1bb29799545a8d
11. ^[1] “Musk Foundation.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/852133087.
12. Croucher, Shane. “Winner of $50M Prize Funded by Elon Musk Foundation Revealed.” Newsweek, April 23, 2025. https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-foundation-awards-50m-prize-2062994.
13. “The Foundation.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/920742101.
14. Kay, Grace. “Elon Musk Plans to Launch His Own University in Texas, Report Says.” Business Insider, December 13, 2023. https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-new-university-texas-report-2023-12.
15. Kavate, Michael. “Elon Musk Sent Most of His Charitable Dollars in 2022 to a Brand-New Nonprofit: His New School.” Inside Philanthropy, February 2, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2024-2-2-elon-musk-sent-most-of-his-charitable-dollars-in-2022-to-a-brand-new-nonprofit-his-new-school.
16. Mark Harris. “How Elon Musk’s secretive foundation hands out his billions.” The Guardian. January 23, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/23/how-elon-musks-secretive-foundation-benefits-his-own-family
17. “Giga.” UNICEF, October 10, 2024. https://giga.global/giga-connects-millions-of-young-people-to-the-internet-heres-how-it-works/.
18. Cantor, Alan. “The ‘Charity’ of Elon Musk.” Alan Cantor Consulting, 2024. https://www.alancantorconsulting.com/2024/03/the-charity-of-elon-musk/.
19. Musk, Elon. “Am Donating $20M to Cameron County Schools & $10M to City of Brownsville for Downtown Revitalization. Details to Follow next Week.” X (Formerly Twitter), March 30, 2021. https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1376903913564160002.