Elon Musk's $7Billion charity has no employees and has failed to give away enough money to qualify for tax breaks putting it a risk of massive IRS fines

The giant charity established by tech titan Elon Musk could land him with a multi-million dollar fine because it has donated so little of its vast wealth.

The world's second-richest man has escaped billions in tax by gifting Tesla stock to the Musk Foundation which he set up in 2001.

But it gave away less than half of what it needed to for Musk to qualify for the tax break in 2022, and much of that went to employees, businesses and projects that he is personally associated with.

The billionaire SpaceX boss is one of just three people who run the foundation, one of whom reports devoting just six minutes a week to the task.

'The really striking thing about Musk is the disjuncture between his outsized public persona, and his very, very minimal philanthropic presence,' charity expert Benjamin Soskis told the New York Times.

Elon Musk on a visit to Flint, Michigan, where he donated $1.25 million in 2019 to decontaminate the water supply to local schools 

Five of Musk's children were among the first 14 pupils of the ultra-exclusive Ad Astra school his charity has supported 

Donations to Cameron County in Texas began minutes after this SpaceX rocket blew up over the area after blasting off from Boca Chica launch site in March 2021

Musk has created one of the world's largest charities with more than $7 billion in donations since 2020 alone.

But charities are required to give away at least five per cent of their assets each year to qualify for tax exemptions, but Musk's foundation barely managed two per cent in 2022, the last year for which records are available.

One of its favorite causes is Musk's non-profit school project called Ad Astra which he founded in Bel-Air Los Angeles in 2014, with five of his own children among the first 14 pupils.

Now centered on the SpaceX campus in Boca Chica, Texas, it caters to 250 students, but former SpaceX executives told the paper it is nearly impossible for lower-ranking employees to gain admission for their children.

The South African-born billionaire has done little to promote his charity and has insisted that it is his for-profit firms such as Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X which will do most to change the world for the better.

'Tesla has done more to help the environment than all other companies combined,' he said last year.

'As a leader of the company, I've done more for the environment than any single human on earth.'

Musk donated $55 million to Pennsylvania billionaire Jared Isaacman (third from left) who promise to raise $200 million for St Jude's Children's Research Hospital by raffling off a seat alongside him on a SpaceX rocket flight

The first Ad Astra was registered at this Musk property in Bel-Air Los Angeles before moving to SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California

But he has made a series of high-profile charitable interventions since he made his billions, notably in Flint, Michigan, where he donated $1.25 million in 2019 to decontaminate the water supply to local schools.

He originally promised to 'fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination above FDA levels', and open a manufacturing plant in the city.

Those promises did not materialize but mayor Karen Williams Weaver said she was still grateful for his help: 'He didn't have to do anything.'

The charity ballooned in size in 2022 after a stock option gave Musk around $25 billion worth of Tesla shares.

Musk complained that he faced an $11 billion tax bill and hunted around for a charitable cause that would entitle him to a tax deduction.

He offered $6 billion to the World Food Program if it would satisfy his questions on how it would be spent, but eventually handed $5.7 billion of stock to his own foundation – saving him $2 billion in tax.

Musk's family office manager Jared Birchall is one of just three people running the charity

But he did donate $5 million to a UN program promoting internet access for schools in remote areas, eventually signing up two of the countries involved to his Starlink satellite service.

Donations to Cameron County in Texas began minutes after a SpaceX rocket blew up over the area after blasting off from Boca Chica launch site in March 2021.

'Am donating $20M to Cameron County schools & $10M to City of Brownsville for downtown revitalization,' Musk tweeted that morning.

'He's given to every organization that exists here in Brownsville, from our homeless shelters to the city of Brownsville to our school children — almost anything I can ever think of,' said city commission member Jessica Tetreau.

And many of the donations have been close to home, including $100 million to OpenAI the one-time non-profit on whose board he sat.

More than $100 million has gone to Texas startup educational charity The Foundation, run by Musk's family office manager Jared Birchall, who also co-manages the Musk Foundation.

The start-up has bought land outside Bastrop, Texas, just two minutes from a housing project for staff at Musk firm the Boring Company, and it is running recruitment adverts for a new Ad Astra school at the site.

And his largest donation of 2021 went to Pennsylvania billionaire Jared Isaacman who promise to raise $200 million for St Jude's Children's Research Hospital by raffling off a seat alongside him on a SpaceX rocket flight.

When Isaacman announced he had missed his target, Musk tweeted back: 'Count me in for $50M,' eventually donating $55 million through his charity.

Council on Foundations president Kathleen Enright accused Musk of abusing his position in the supposedly independent charity he established.

Musk at the Boca Chica site of his SpaceX headquarters in South Texas 

The site is SpaceX's fourth active launch facility, and its first private facility, with over 2,100 full-time employees

'It's not his checkbook,' she said, 'It's not a private, family-owned company. It's a charitable organization.'

The charity fell $234 million short of the donations required by tax law between 2021 and 2022, leaving it liable to a fine amounting to 30 percent of that total, if it has not made up the shortfall in the meantime.

'It tells you it's not yet ready for prime time,' said Professor Brian Galle who studies nonprofit law at Georgetown University.

'It's not yet a professional organization.'