SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell and her husband, Robert F. Shotwell, will donate more than 2 million shares of SpaceX stock to the Trump Accounts of roughly 2 million American children, with the first shares expected to reach accounts in December.
Shotwell set out the terms of the gift in a post on X on October 30. The first round goes to children ages 11 to 17 who live in ZIP codes where the median family income is $57,000 or less. A second gift is still being finalized, and the program is also expected to reach children in foster care and military families stationed overseas.
The gift is a personal one from the Shotwells — not a corporate donation from SpaceX. The couple first announced it in July, when the pledge was valued at roughly $325 million. The shares are being moved into escrow ahead of distribution.
The gift is possible because of new Treasury rules. Temporary regulations published September 30 let donors route shares of publicly traded U.S. companies directly into Trump Accounts — the tax-advantaged investment accounts for children that launched July 4 — provided the stock passes through a qualifying charity. There is no tax deduction for giving stock to a Trump Account, and because the transfer is not a sale, no capital-gains tax is due. The shares cannot be sold before the earlier of five years after the contribution or the end of the year the child turns 17.
Shotwell appears to be the first major donor to actually use the new pathway. The announcement follows a wave of billionaire equity pledges: Elon Musk said he would donate one share of SpaceX stock to every child in the U.S. next year, which could amount to more than $10 billion in equity, and Anthropic pledged 5 percent of its shares to a public benefit fund — potentially $100 billion at a $2 trillion valuation ahead of a possible public offering.
Whether Shotwell's gift becomes a template for other wealthy donors or stays a one-off will depend on how the rules hold up — and whether others follow her into the accounts before the tax year closes.
