A series of blockbuster US IPOs is expected to mint a new crop of the ultra-wealthy, and non-profits are scrambling to figure out how they can share in the bonanza.
US university fundraising departments are making lists of potential major donors, and philanthropy executives are preparing for a once-in-a-generation windfall that could create hundreds of billions of dollars in new donations.
The founders of OpenAI and Anthropic – both expected to be among the largest IPOs of all time – have deep links to effective altruism, a philanthropic philosophy that seeks to maximize the impact of giving.
Randy Fox, founder of Two Hawks, a US family office consulting firm, notes that one of the only ways to eliminate capital gains taxes is by using charitable vehicles.
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With advisers also having an incentive to collect the fees for setting up charitable trusts and foundations, they could see an annual infusion of more than $100 billion, according to some estimates.
Giving money away is a common maneuver to avoid taxes: up to $0.74 of every dollar donated to charity would have been paid as taxes, according to the Institute for Policy Studies in the US.
In California, where both OpenAI and Anthropic are based, and where SpaceX has thousands of employees, some new billionaires may also be in a rush to reduce their net worth before the state Legislature aims to levy a one-time 5 per cent excise tax on billionaires.
Jon Feldhammer, a partner at US law firm Baker Botts, said a client with $300 million worth of stock options at a leading artificial intelligence company set to go public in 2026 was thinking of moving out of the state.
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Nan Ransohoff, head of public goods at payment processor Stripe, argues that the recipients of windfalls are likely to be interested in expanding beyond traditional philanthropic organisations.
Stripe recently launched a $500 million fund alongside the OpenAI Foundation, Anthropic, Bill Gates, and others, aimed at backing efforts that prevent respiratory infections like the flu and common cold.
The US non-profit sector could see a significant increase in donations.