Rivian reveals first $10M in grants for long-promised Rivian Foundation

Rivian has revealed the first $10 million worth of grants from the Rivian Foundation, three years after the EV maker vowed the philanthropy would receive 1% of its equity to make the "natural world" a "stakeholder in our success."

Rivian Foundation launched Monday a website that details 41 grantees who will collectively receive just north of $10 million in funding. The recipients are mostly in the United States, with a few falling outside the EV startup's home country.

The website lifts the hood on one of the more closely guarded promises made by Rivian around the time of its blockbuster IPO. And it comes at a time when Rivian's stock price has cratered from its post-IPO highs, meaning the hypothetical value of the 1% of equity the company contributed to the foundation has shrunk from $643 million to just $98 million.

Until now, it was unclear what the Rivian Foundation — and an adjacent entity called Forever by Rivian — would prioritize, where it would invest, and how its strategy might be affected by a diminished pool of capital.

The list of grantees begins to answer some of those questions, and shows a foundation focused on land preservation and conservation, agriculture, indigenous and urban communities, and renewable energy.

The largest grant of $2 million was made to The Nature Conservancy in August this year. Rivian says the gift will "help foster the collaborative efforts needed to ensure that critical California landscapes remain places where wildlife thrives, cultural resources are protected, and people are inspired for generations to come."

Rivian also gave $1 million to the Ocean Resilience Climate Alliance (ORCA). ORCA previously announced Rivian Foundation was involved in a collective commitment of $250 million to the alliance in late 2023, but did not detail the size of the gift. The majority of the other 39 grants range between $100,000 to $400,000.

Rivian revealed in October 2021, just one month before its IPO, an aspirational plan to create what it called Forever by Rivian. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, a vegan who is known to talk about climate change and renewable energy, announced his company was placing more than 8 million shares into Forever -- 1% of its total equity, worth $643 million at the time -- along with $20 million in cash.

But, Rivian spokesperson Peebles Squire told TechCrunch, not long after the company set up the Forever by Rivian 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, it decided the "most impactful and most transparent approach" would be to give out money through a 501(c)(3). So it established the Rivian Foundation.

Tax filings show that Forever by Rivian moved nearly $25 million into the Rivian Foundation in 2023, which the company said incorporated the cash assets of the 501(c)(4). The Rivian Foundation only distributed $123,250 in 2023, which is below the 5% of assets that U.S. tax law requires private foundations to distribute annually. Foundations are allowed by law to make up that gap in the following year, and Rivian says the Rivian Foundation has "far surpassed the minimum requirements for both 2023 and 2024" with the giving reflected by the newly-launched website.

Nearly half of the $123,250 distributed in 2023 went to “Natural Climate Solutions," or NCS, which is not a specific entity, but a concept promoted by groups like The Nature Conservancy and the World Economic Forum. Squire said this expenditure helped co-fund research with the Doris Duke Foundation in the field of NCS. The Rivian Foundation also paid $91,500 in consulting fees to Building Impact Partners, a New York-based philanthropy advisement firm, in 2023.

Rivian is now in the process of winding down the Forever by Rivian 501(c)(4), Squire said, which is why in May of this year, its tax-exempt status was automatically revoked because it had not submitted annual returns, according to the IRS' website. He added that Forever by Rivian is "in the process" of transferring its equity to the Rivian Foundation.

"Since the original commitment to 'Forever' was made at the time of Rivian’s IPO in 2021, we have been working hard to establish the Rivian Foundation," Squire said in a statement. "This includes implementing best practices in strategic philanthropy, including governance, management, strategy development (including with the support of Building for Impact and in consultation with experts and peers), grantmaking and more. The Foundation website transparently reflects the work that has been happening behind-the-scenes for some time."

This story was originally published on September 23, 2024 at 2:15PM ET. It has been updated with responses and further information from Rivian.