I’ve been inspired to write this by the common response to one of my tweets that got way more attention than I expected it to. I tweeted a simple fact: that Elon Musk made one of the largest donations to charity in history. It seemed to trigger a lot of people and the common response is that he’s giving that money to himself via the Musk Foundation.
The response, in my opinion, shows the common lack of education on how nonprofits work. Also, it was accompanied by the common statement that Elon Musk only donated to avoid paying $11 billion in taxes. The donation of Tesla shares was in addition to the $11 billion in taxes. And at this moment, we don’t know what charity received those shares. It could have been the Musk Foundation. It could have been the World Food Program. It could have been several.
However, had it had been the Musk Foundation, it should be noted that this is a common legal practice. Many wealthy individuals donate to their own foundations. That said, I’d like to run down a list of some of the charities and organizations the Musk Foundation has recently supported. And personally, I’d rather millions go toward these charities than billions in taxes going toward war.
Charities & Organizations The Musk Foundation Supports
XPRIZE
The Musk Foundation donated $100 million to the XPRIZE carbon removal competition.
The money is funding a four-year-old global competition that invites innovators and teams from anywhere on the planet to create and demonstrate solutions that can pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or oceans, sequester it durably and sustainably.
You can learn more about the program here and stay up to date on the current winners and ongoing competition here.
Flint Schools: Clean Water, & Laptops For Students
The Flint water crisis is still ongoing yet the mainstream media has all but forgotten about it. In 2019, Elon Musk was asked by a student in Flint, Michigan to help and he did. He not only visited the school and promised to help the school have clean water, but he gave Flint Students a donation of laptop computers to middle school students.
The Musk Foundation gave around $424,000 for a project to help seventh and eighth-grade students. In addition to that, The Musk Foundation gave another $480,000 for water filtration. And very recently, it was announced that for the first time in years, students at Flint Schools will be able to drink clean water from school water fountains thanks to the Musk Foundation. At a ceremony celebrating the new filters, Superintendent Kevelin Jones said,
“This means a lot. Water should not be something that we have to pay for — water is a necessity of life. It should not be something we have to fight for.”
Read more here.
St. Jude’s Children’s Research.
Elon Musk donated $50 million to St. Jude’s Children’s Research but altogether the Inspiration4 launch raised a total of $243 million for the cancer research hospital.
Feeding Texas
The Musk Foundation donated $1 million to Feeding Texas according to the Dallas Morning News. Feeding Texas operates over 20 food banks across the state and feeds more than 5 million Texans annually.
Helping The Homeless In Brownsville, TX
This one really moved me because there was a time when I was once homeless and dependent on soup kitchens, churches, and whatever I found in a dumpster for food. I’ve been there.
The Musk Foundation donated $200,000 to The Good Neighbor Settlement, a soup kitchen in Brownsville, TX to help fund their expansion. The money went to set up a new dining hall, kitchen, new closet where homeless residents can get access to clothing, hygiene items, and even a clinic.
Now, before you say, “why don’t they just get a job?” you need to realize that homelessness is a multilevel problem that getting a job just won’t solve. Trust me — I’ve worked two jobs while living on the streets before. The main causes of homelessness are trauma and the responses to trauma which include drug addiction, escaping abusive situations, and even mental illness although the latter can be caused by trauma in other cases isn’t caused by trauma. Not to mention today’s inflation, high cost of living, and the government’s refusal to do anything about it.
Unicef
In February 2021, Michael Nyenhuis, CEO of Unicef USA tweeted a thank you to the Musk Foundation for its donation to help bring Giga Connect to life.
Giga Connect is an initiative aimed at connecting the world’s schools to the internet. Unicef is partnering with the United Nations’ ITU to ensure that every student has access to information and the internet. The initiative was born as a solution to the problem caused by the Covid-19 pandemic that forced schools to close down around the world. Over 91% of students’ education was interrupted and this exposed the widening educational inequalities. You can learn more here.
$5M Coronavirus Research
In 2020, the Boston Globe Metro reported that Elon Musk donated $5 million for coronavirus research in Boston.
The money went to two Boston researchers who helped create a vaccine and diagnostic tool for the coronavirus. Dr. Dan Barouch is the director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Galit Alter is a professor of medicine at the Ragon Institute.
$20Million For Cameron County Schools And $10 Million For The City Of Brownsville, TX.
Elon Musk announced that he would donate $20 million to Cameron County schools and $10 million to the city of Brownsville for revitalizing the city’s downtown area in 2021. And just recently, the Musk Foundation began donating a portion of that sum to multiple school districts in the Rio Grande Valley.
Jessica Tetreau, the City of Brownsville District 2 Commission also recently tweeted that she woke up to the news that Elon Musk donated over $2 million to her city’s students. You can read more here.
Khan Academy
In January 2021, the Musk Foundation donated $5 million to Khan Academy. Founder, Salman Khan shared a heartfelt video and said that the funds would enable the organization to accelerate all sorts of content for its 120 million users around the world. Khan Academy, founded in 2008, provides personalized online educational resources in 36 languages.
Hurricane Laura Recovery
I live in Baton Rouge, which was not impacted by hurricane Laura. However, the southwestern part of my state was and unfortunately, as soon as the storm passed, the mainstream media forgot about us. If you’ve never been through a hurricane, I can share what it’s like.
When Ida hit us last year, my city was without power for weeks. I was one of the lucky ones. I lost power for about a week. Communications were down for me for a couple of days. Imagine not being able to make a phone call. In addition to this, there was no power, no access to clean water in many parts of the state, and it was incredibly hot.
In 2020, hurricane Laura impacted Lake Charles and the surrounding areas and during the time the people needed the most help, the media ignored Louisiana.
I took to Twitter along with several other locals and we just started tweeting nonstop. I replied to several of Elon’s tweets and written articles for CleanTechnica — trying to help raise awareness. Elon heard us and helped.
The Musk Foundation donated to several Louisiana charities and they are:
-SWLA Community Foundation and BR Area Foundation
Helping Severely Underpaid Teachers
Teaching is one of the most important professions there is yet it’s one of the most underpaid. In many cases, teachers have to go into their own pockets to provide for their students.
The Musk Foundation helps teachers by funding projects through DonorsChoose., a nonprofit funding site that helps US public school teachers get access to learning materials and resources they need.
Final Thoughts
It should be noted that these are more recent donations that the Musk Foundation has made. And these are not all of the donations. However, it gives us a glimpse as to what Elon Musk cares about and its humanity. He cares about education but also helps with emergencies especially those affected by natural disasters and poverty.
For those who think that Elon is just paying himself by donating to his foundation (we don’t yet know if the Tesla shares went to the foundation yet many critics believe it has), you’re wrong.
The Musk Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which means that the IRS holds it accountable as it does with all nonprofits.
Elon isn’t pocketing the money. I’m sure that if he wanted to pocket the money, he would just cash out all of his investments — so clearly this isn’t the motivation behind the donations. And as for taxes, well this donation was in addition to the payment of $11 billion.
Let’s remember not to let our opinions of people blind us to their actions. You can hate Elon all day but that doesn’t change the fact that he is doing a lot of good for humanity.
