SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell announced she would donate to the Trump Accounts program on Monday, joining a growing list of companies and billionaires pledging to support the investment accounts for American children under 18.
The gift, which includes shares of Shotwell’s and her husband’s SpaceX stock, will go to around 2 million Trump accounts, with a “bit more emphasis” on children who live close to their home in central Texas, Shotwell wrote in a post on X.
“We have been fortunate in our careers and hope this gift encourages the next generation to continue the journey of enabling humanity to live and fly amongst the stars,” Shotwell wrote.
Shotwell, who is also SpaceX’s chief operating officer, is one of its largest individual shareholders, with a stake worth roughly $2.4 billion following its record-breaking IPO last month.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen that he thought SpaceX CEO Elon Musk would donate company stock to the program.
The tax-deferred 530A accounts officially launched on July 4 and include a $1,000 initial deposit from the U.S. Treasury Department for babies born between 2025 and 2028.
Throughout its rollout, notable tech names like Intel, Robinhood and Micron have thrown in their own investments, offering to match the government’s $1,000 contribution for certain eligible children of their employees.
In a funding announcement last week, Micron also pledged a one-time, $250 million seed deposit for children’s accounts in communities where the company operates.
Michael and Susan Dell committed $6.25 billion to the program back in December, aimed at supporting children age 10 or under in ZIP codes with a median income of $150,000 or less.
Brad Gerstner, the founder of Altimeter Capital who helped spearhead the Trump Accounts program, called Shotwell’s donation an “extraordinary gift.”
“It shows the flexibility of this platform,” Gerstner said. “This is not a program, this is a platform. It is the largest unlock of direct philanthropy in the history of the country.”
