Elon Musk Has a Giant Charity. Its Money Stays Close to Home.

Among the donations the Musk Foundation has made, there was $55 million to assist a serious SpaceX buyer meet a charitable pledge. There had been the hundreds of thousands that went to Cameron County, Texas, after the rocket blew up. And there have been donations to 2 faculties intently tied to his companies: one walled off inside a SpaceX compound, the opposite situated subsequent to a brand new subdivision for Musk’s staff.

“The really striking thing about Musk is the disjuncture between his outsized public persona, and his very, very minimal philanthropic presence,” mentioned Benjamin Soskis, who research philanthropy on the Urban Institute. Where different billionaires have aimed for a broad influence on society, Mr. Soskis mentioned Mr. Musk’s basis lacks “any direction or any real focus, outside his business ventures.”

Mr. Musk didn’t reply to requests for remark.

A college for his kids

Mr. Musk and his youthful brother, Kimbal, began the Musk Foundation in 2001, a yr earlier than the sale of PayPal, the net funds firm he co-founded, to eBay for $1.5 billion. He made greater than $175 million within the sale, and would seed his namesake basis with about $2 million price of eBay shares.

The Musk Foundation’s web site initially included slick animations, that includes photos of satellite tv for pc dishes and youngsters in school rooms, whereas encouraging folks to use for grants. By 2005, nevertheless, it was cleaned, changed by plain black textual content stating that the inspiration was keen on “science education, pediatric health and clean energy.”

It listed no contact info. It nonetheless doesn’t.

By September 2014, Forbes estimated that Mr. Musk’s internet price was greater than $10 billion, pushed up by the worth of his holdings of Tesla inventory. But he gave little to his personal charity. That yr, tax filings present, his basis had $40,121 within the financial institution.