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Musk Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Musk Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$474M
Granted FY2024still arriving
51
Grants FY2024still arriving
20
States reached
$25M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$596MScience & Tech$147MHealth$76MPhilanthropy$63MPublic Safety & Disaster$13MInternational$10MHuman Services$10.0MHousing & Shelter$7.8MOther$0
02FY2024 · 51 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 51 grants below total $94,367,057, the rows itemized in this filing. The $474,325,312 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $379,958,255 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $25k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $1.2M
  • $250k+40 grants · $93M
$1,000,000
Median grant
20
States reached
$463M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FIDELITY CHARITABLE$25,000,000
BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE HEALTHCARE$7,157,000
X PRIZE FOUNDATION INC$5,450,000
AUSTIN HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$5,000,000
WINDWARD SCHOOL$5,000,000
THE SETON FUND$5,000,000
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN$3,250,000
DIGITAL HARBOR FOUNDATION$3,250,000
THE ST BERNARD PROJECT INC$2,400,000
CODEORG$2,130,000
SCROLL PRIZE INC$2,084,000
TEAM RUBICON$2,000,000
OPERATION BBQ RELIEF$1,975,000
HACK FOUNDATION$1,810,000
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$1,500,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY21–24, $4.9M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 60% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MORGAN'S INCLUSION INITIATIVE: $810k → 16%OPERATION BBQ RELIEF: $2.0M → 8%SENTINEL FOUNDATION: $156k → 10%MERCY CHEFS INC: $1.3M → 20%GOOD NEIGHBOR SETTLEMENT HOUSE INC: $503k → 23%GOOD NEIGHBOR SETTLEMENT HOUSE INC: $209k → 23%LOS ANGELES POLICE FOUNDATION: $10k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

NH
WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CA
UT
MO
VA
MD
AZ
TN
NC
DC
LA
AL
GA
TX
FL
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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$275M · 39 repeat orgs$137M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +23% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.

39 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2024, 24 since wound down; 34 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

39
37

Total granted

$275M
$95M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
+11%

Still filing today

59%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 39% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $42M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesPublic Safety & DisasterScience & TechPublic BenefitHealthOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • XP
    X PRIZE FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $121M · revenue +140% · 43% of their budget
  • TF
    THE FOUNDATION
    2× · 2022–2023 · $55M · revenue +309% · 35% of their budget
  • KA
    KHAN ACADEMY INC
    3× · 2020–2023 · $20M · revenue +48% · 26% of their budget

Funded once

  • ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $55M · revenue +74%
  • CREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $5.0M · revenue +40% · 33% of their budget
  • UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEFgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $5.0M · revenue +64%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its 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
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.

—
2
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
3
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
4
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
5
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
6
United States Telecom Association

See schedule oustelecom exists to ensure members can compete, grow and thrive to build a world where families, enterprises and communities are connected through the power of broadband.our member companies have committed a considerable…

—
7
Internet Society Foundation

At the internet society foundation, we focus on funding initiatives that strengthen the internet in function and reach so that it can effectively serve all people. our work advances the vision of the internet society (isoc): the internet…

International
8
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…

Science & Tech
9
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
10
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
11
Aacsb International - the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business

Aacsb international provides quality assurance of business school programs, the latest in business education intelligence, thought leadership, and learning and development services.

Education
12
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of America; the most unlike its peers is Cameron County Education Initiative. 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

78 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. 78 of the 115 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.

16
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
78/78
Grantees still filing
41/78
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

X PRIZE FOUNDATION INC: $121,450,000 · Public BenefitX PRIZE FOUNDATION INC+3 more: $200,000 · Public BenefitTHE FOUNDATION: $54,808,757 · EducationTHE FOUNDATIONKHAN ACADEMY INC: $19,500,000 · EducationKHAN ACADEMY INCWINDWARD SCHOOL: $5,100,000 · EducationCODEORG: $4,130,000 · Education+17 more: $15,729,673 · Education+17 moreTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN: $13,250,000 · OtherTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS A…BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE HEALTHCARE: $7,157,000 · OtherBAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE HEAL…BROWNSVILLE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT: $6,696,056 · OtherBROWNSVILLE INDEPENDENT S…AUSTIN HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $5,000,000 · OtherTHE SETON FUND: $5,000,000 · OtherCREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION: $5,000,000 · OtherSEA TURTLE INC: $4,164,530 · OtherGIVEDIRECTLY INC: $3,600,000 · OtherUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $5,000,000 · Other+63 more: $50,732,332 · Other+63 moreST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $55,000,000 · HealthST JUDE CHILDR…BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER INC: $5,000,000 · HealthBETH ISRAEL DE…+2 more: $1,690,000 · HealthFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $50,000,000 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVE…SIGNAL TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION: $2,000,000 · Community Improvement+1 more: $1,600,000 · Community ImprovementTHE HACK FOUNDATION D/B/A HACK CLUB: $9,290,000 · Science & TechFUTURE OF LIFE INSTITUTE: $4,000,000 · Science & TechInternational FIRST Committee Associatio co Toohey Law Group: $1,500,000 · Science & Tech+2 more: $395,000 · Science & TechTHE ST BERNARD PROJECT INC: $5,750,000 · Public Safety & DisasterTEAM RUBICON INC: $2,250,000 · Public Safety & DisasterAUSTIN DISASTER RELIEF NETWORK: $1,000,000 · Public Safety & DisasterINFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DISASTER RESOURCE CENTER INC: $506,000 · Public Safety & DisasterMINUTEMAN DISASTER RESPONSE FOUNDATION: $499,000 · Public Safety & Disaster+1 more: $75,000 · Public Safety & Disaster
Public Benefit$121,650,000Education$99,268,430Other$105,599,918Health$61,690,000Community Improvement$53,600,000Science & Tech$15,185,000Public Safety & Disaster$10,080,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetX PRIZE FOUNDATION INC: $121,450,000 over 4y, 43% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $55,000,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetTHE FOUNDATION: $54,808,757 over 2y, 35% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $50,000,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetKHAN ACADEMY INC: $19,500,000 over 3y, 26% of budgetTHE HACK FOUNDATION D/B/A HACK CLUB: $9,290,000 over 4y, 50% of budgetTHE ST BERNARD PROJECT INC: $5,750,000 over 3y, 8.9% of budgetWINDWARD SCHOOL: $5,100,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetCREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION: $5,000,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $5,000,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetAUSTIN HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $5,000,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetBETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER INC: $5,000,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSEA TURTLE INC: $4,164,530 over 1y, 64% of budgetCODEORG: $4,130,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetFUTURE OF LIFE INSTITUTE: $4,000,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetGIVEDIRECTLY INC: $3,600,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetDIGITAL HARBOR FOUNDATION: $3,250,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $3,060,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $3,000,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTEAM RUBICON INC: $2,250,000 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetCURIOUS CASES INC: $2,084,000 over 1y, 82% of budgetSIGNAL TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION: $2,000,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $2,000,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOPERATION BBQ RELIEF: $1,975,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetIDEA Public Schools: $1,790,421 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFEEDING TEXAS: $1,600,000 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $1,500,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInternational FIRST Committee Associatio co Toohey Law Group: $1,500,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetMERCY CHEFS INC: $1,260,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetFeeding America: $1,250,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGood Neighbor Settlement House Inc: $1,214,880 over 2y, 31% of budgetFOUNDERS PLEDGE INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetPROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetTHE 30 DAY FUND INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAUSTIN DISASTER RELIEF NETWORK: $1,000,000 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetHealthcare Ready: $1,000,000 over 1y, 56% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $945,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBABY2BABY: $930,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetMorgan's Inclusion Initiative FKA Morgan's Wonderland Inclusion Foundation: $810,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetUC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $795,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTHE DEFINITY PROJECT INC: $755,000 over 2y, 79% of budgetCAMERON COUNTY EDUCATION INITIATIVE: $715,500 over 2y, 82% of budgetPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $690,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetINFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DISASTER RESOURCE CENTER INC: $506,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $500,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBASIS TEXAS CHARTER SCHOOLS INC: $500,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMINUTEMAN DISASTER RESPONSE FOUNDATION: $499,000 over 1y, 25% 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.

Communities Foundatio…Rio Grande Valley Phi…Valley Baptist Legacy…Brownsville Foundatio…Serafy FoundationRaul Tijerina Jr Foun…Share Our StrengthThe Moody FoundationTexas Instruments Fou…Project Lead the Way …Rotary Club of Browns…Jules D Gosseaux Foun…
Communities Foundation of Texas IncTX20.5× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Communities Foundation of Texas Inc · Rio Grande Valley Philanthropic Foundation · Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation · Brownsville Foundation for Health and Education · Serafy Foundation · Raul Tijerina Jr Foundation · Share Our Strength · The Moody Foundation · Texas Instruments Foundation · Project Lead the Way Inc · Rotary Club of Brownsville Sunrise Texas USA Inc · Jules D Gosseaux Foundation Inc

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 · 20%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Digital Harbor Foundation: 2% of income from government
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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.
05Through 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 115 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 2024, released 2024. 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