Shotwell's $330M SpaceX Pledge Opens New Path for Billionaire Giving

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has pledged SpaceX stock worth about $330 million to Trump Accounts for more than 2 million American children, the first major donation to flow through new Treasury rules that let the ultrawealthy give away shares of their own companies.

The Sept. 30 regulation allows wealthy donors to move publicly traded U.S. equities into the children's investment program through charities and private foundations. Shotwell announced her gift in July, before the rules were complete.

"For a founder sitting on billions of dollars of appreciated stock, this could be an extraordinarily attractive way to give," Kevin Gentry, founder and CEO of nonprofit fundraising consultancy TenX Strategies, said.

Shotwell and her husband, Robert, said in July they would "gift a share of our SpaceX stock to a Trump Account for each of more than 2 million children across our great nation," she wrote on X. The gift targets kids ages 11 to 17 in lower-income areas, with extra weight given to those near the couple's central Texas home. President Donald Trump valued the pledge at $325 million in July; at current share prices it has risen to about $330 million.

How did the rules change?

The Treasury rules took effect Sept. 30, three months after Trump Accounts themselves launched on July 4. As of Oct. 1, Treasury had opened an account for nearly every eligible child under 18 — about 60 million kids, per the agency.

Before Sept. 30, Trump Accounts held only low-cost index funds, spreading money across hundreds or thousands of companies. The new carve-out permits donors to place single-company shares inside the accounts, betting that direct ownership builds long-term loyalty. Treasury acknowledged in its rules that donors hope a five-year holding period "may lead recipients and their families to feel that they have a stake in the fate of the corporation."

Shotwell remains the only donor to publicly announce a major stock gift, the Wall Street Journal reported. Treasury notes indicate other wealthy individuals have expressed interest.

Where do the tax savings come from?

Donors get no upfront deduction for moving stock or cash into a Trump Account, wealth managers say. The benefit runs through the private foundation step.

"There is no tax deduction for giving either stock or money to Trump Accounts," Scott Hanson, cofounder of Allworth Financial, said. "The tax play is the stock they transfer to a foundation prior to gifting to a kid's Trump Account."

A donor who gives a private foundation publicly traded stock held more than a year can generally deduct its full market value, up to 20% of adjusted gross income annually, with the rest carried forward for five years, according to IRS Publication 526. Because the gift isn't a sale, "there is no taxable gain to tax," said Sherman Standberry, a CPA and CEO at My CPA Coach.

Gentry sketched the math. A founder who paid $1 million for stock now worth $100 million would realize $99 million in gains on a sale and owe significant taxes. "Why sell an appreciated asset, pay the tax, and give what's left when the tax code may allow you to give the asset itself?" he asked.

What do donors and kids get?

The strategy creates a new class of shareholders for founders who rarely part with their own paper. Treasury cited that benefit in its rules. The same rules warn that children "will bear some additional risk in the form of increased portfolio concentration" when donations arrive as single-company stock rather than cash.

Families cannot pick the donated company and cannot refuse it for now. Shares generally must be held for five years, or until the end of the year a child turns 17.

The setup raises fiduciary questions for foundations handing out a donor's own stock. "The important question is whether the philanthropic purpose is driving the transaction," Gentry said.

The Treasury Department declined to comment. SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.

Whether Elon Musk — the world's first trillionaire and SpaceX's largest individual shareholder — follows Shotwell's lead is the open question hanging over the program. He has faulted other mega-donors such as MacKenzie Scott and signaled an openness to giving his wealth away, but he has not committed to a Trump Account donation.