The Musk Foundation gives away a record sum

The Musk Foundation gave away a record of roughly $474 million in 2024, its largest annual total, continuing a steady increase in Musk's documented charitable giving. Grants spanned scientific research, pediatric care, renewable-energy and STEM education, and clean-tech.

Its most visible single commitment is the $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal — the largest incentive prize in history — which in 2025 paid out tens of millions to winners like Mati Carbon, a startup using crushed rock to pull CO₂ from the air while improving farm soils in the developing world. Prize-based philanthropy of this kind funds results rather than promises.

Musk signed the Giving Pledge in 2012, committing to give away the majority of his wealth, and has said he intends to direct the bulk of his fortune toward making humanity multiplanetary and solving existential risks. Critics fairly debate the pace and structure of his giving, but the documented totals have grown into the hundreds of millions a year.