With the surge in Nvidia Corp.’s share price, the charitable foundation of Jensen Huang faces a new challenge: as the stock value rises, so does the amount of money it must give away.
The assets of the Jen-Hsun & Lori Huang Foundation, mainly consisting of Nvidia shares, skyrocketed to $3.4 billion by the end of 2023, as per its recent tax filing. To accommodate this growth, the foundation will need to distribute at least $120 million this year, doubling the amount from last year.
According to John Seitz, the founder of FoundationMark, a firm monitoring foundations’ investment performance, “They need to be putting more money out the door.”
In 2023, the foundation, named after the Nvidia co-founder and his spouse, donated $59.7 million, a decrease from $66.3 million in 2022. The majority of the funds went to another charitable fund managed by Huang and his wife, with $10 million given to his former school, Oregon State University. The next largest donation of $900,000 supported the American Friends of Magen David Adom to aid Israel’s version of the Red Cross.
“The Huang Foundation supports higher education, public health, and STEM initiatives in the US, as well as local community organizations in the San Francisco Bay area,” a spokesperson for the Huangs stated. “By adopting a long-term strategy, the foundation ensures that its resources will continue to back important causes in the future, maximizing its charitable impact over time.”
The IRS mandates that private foundations must distribute a minimum of 5% of their assets annually, which becomes challenging for charities holding fast-growing stocks. The Huangs’ foundation met this requirement in 2023 as per the 2022 tax filing, records indicate.
As Nvidia’s stock has surged nearly 200% this year, Huang’s foundation is expected to see a significant increase in required giving in 2025, leading to an expansion of both assets and Huang’s personal wealth.
Given the 68.5 million shares held by the foundation at the end of 2023, now totaling around $10 billion in assets post-stock split, the foundation won’t disclose its 2024 financials until November 2025 due to IRS reporting guidelines.
The Huang Foundation is operated very efficiently, with Huang and his spouse as the sole employees. They each log just one hour of work weekly without receiving any compensation.
For more details, visit: Nvidia CEO Huang Has Billions at Foundation Where He Logs 1-Hour Weeks
The bulk of their donations flow into a donor-advised fund, a common strategy among billionaires’ foundations to meet annual distribution requirements. Unlike foundations, these accounts can invest indefinitely as they are considered public charities and are not bound by IRS distribution rules.
Records reveal that Schwab Charitable manages $4 billion in Nvidia shares for the Huangs’ GeForce Fund, with a stock grant of $46.5 million given to the fund in 2023, in addition to $125 million in previous years.
