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Musk Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Musk Foundation

Its FY2021 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.7M
Granted FY2021
4
Grants FY2021
2
States reached
$1.4M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

88% of Musk Foundation’s FY2021 grant dollars went to Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2021 names 2 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

1
’17
8
’20
2
’21

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2021.

Philanthropy$60MScience & Tech$11MEducation$1.2MSocial Science$1.0MPublic Safety & Disaster$450k
02FY2021 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • $50k–250k3 grants · $300k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.4M
$100,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FIDELITY CHARITABLE$1,364,300
THE ST BERNARD PROJECT INC$100,000
CAJUN NAVY RELIEF INC$100,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA$100,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–21) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 4% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%YCORG: $10.0M → 8%WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $1.0M → 10%LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION: $250k → 14%AD ASTRA SCHOOL: $60k → 10%SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY: $50k → 9%VANGUARD CHARITABLE: $37.8M → 7%THE MERCATUS CENTER AT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: $1.0M → 7%THE ST BERNARD PROJECT INC: $100k → 23%WINDWARD SCHOOL: $25k → 14%HACK CLUB: $500k → 14%FRIENDS OF PLAYA VISTA SCHOOL: $3k → 14%CROSSROADS SCHOOL FOR ARTS AND SCIENCES: $25k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Uc Santa Barbara Foundation

The uc santa barbara foundation actively works to further the goals of the university of california, santa barbara. the foundation seeks to maintain and nurture the university's quality and distinction. on behalf of the campus, the…

Education
2
Silicon Schools Fund Inc

The mission of the silicon schools fund is to improve education through supporting the launch of excellent new schools, improving academic instruction in existing schools, and by funding some of the boldest innovations in education…

Education
3
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
4
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
5
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
6
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
7
Uc Riverside Foundation

To support educational, research and public functions and programs of the riverside campus of the university of california.

Education
8
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
9
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
10
National Association of Corporate Directors

We empower directors and transform boards to be future ready.

Public Benefit
11
Finreglab Inc

Finreglab is a d.c.-based research organization working at the intersection of financial innovation and public policy. our mission is to advance technology and data use to help people and small businesses manage their financial lives,…

Science & Tech
12
The Rand Corporation

Help improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wikimedia Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Yc Org. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

14 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 15 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/14
Grantees still filing
8/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM: $37,798,322 · PhilanthropyVANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAMYC ORG: $10,000,000 · PhilanthropyYC ORG+1 more: $100,000 · PhilanthropyFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $22,065,989 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GI…WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $1,000,000 · EducationSACRED HEART UNIVERSITY INCORPORATED: $50,000 · Education+2 more: $50,000 · EducationMercatus Center Inc: $1,000,000 · Social ScienceTHE HACK FOUNDATION D/B/A HACK CLUB: $500,000 · Science & TechLOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Public Safety & DisasterTHE ST BERNARD PROJECT INC: $100,000 · Public Safety & DisasterTHE CAJUN NAVY RELIEF INC: $100,000 · Public Safety & DisasterAD ASTRA SCHOOL: $60,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF PLAYA VISTA SCHOOL: $2,500 · Other
Philanthropy$47,898,322Community Improvement$22,065,989Education$1,100,000Social Science$1,000,000Science & Tech$500,000Public Safety & Disaster$450,000Other$62,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $22,065,989 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetYC ORG: $10,000,000 over 1y, 62% of budgetMercatus Center Inc: $1,000,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHE HACK FOUNDATION D/B/A HACK CLUB: $500,000 over 1y, 31% of budgetLOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA: $100,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE ST BERNARD PROJECT INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CAJUN NAVY RELIEF INC: $100,000 over 1y, 8.0% of budgetAD ASTRA SCHOOL: $60,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetSACRED HEART UNIVERSITY INCORPORATED: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWINDWARD SCHOOL: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCROSSROADS SCHOOL FOR ARTS AND SCIENCES: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO6.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Musk Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Musk Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Sacred Heart University Incorporated: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Musk Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Musk Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 15 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Musk’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home