Three years after pledging to give 1% of the company’s equity to philanthropic organizations and make “the natural world” a “stakeholder in our success,” Rivian has announced its first grant, worth $10 million, from the Rivian Foundation.
The company launched its foundation’s website on Monday, detailing 41 grant recipients who will receive a total of just over $10 million in funding. Most of the recipients are based in the United States, but there are several from outside the EV startup’s home country.
The website exposes one of Rivian’s closely guarded promises made around the time of its wildly successful IPO, and it came at a time when Rivian’s stock price has plummeted from its post-IPO highs, meaning the hypothetical value of the company’s 1% stake in the foundation has shrunk from $643 million to just $98 million.
Until now, it was unclear what the Rivian Foundation and a related entity it runs, called Forever by Rivian, would prioritize, where they would invest and how their strategies would be affected by the shrinking capital pool.
The list of grant recipients is beginning to answer some of those questions, showing companies focused on land conservation and protection, agriculture, Indigenous and urban communities, and renewable energy.
The largest grant, $2 million, was awarded to The Nature Conservancy in August of this year, and Rivian said the donation will “help catalyze the collaborative efforts needed to ensure California’s important landscapes remain places where wildlife thrives, cultural resources are protected, and people can inspire for generations to come.”
Rivian also donated $1 million to the Ocean Resilience Climate Alliance (ORCA), which previously announced that the Rivian Foundation would contribute a total of $250 million to the alliance in the second half of 2023, but did not provide details on the donation amount. Most of the other 39 grants are in the range of $100,000 to $400,000.
Rivian unveiled ambitious plans to create what it called “Forever By Rivian” in October 2021, just a month before its IPO. Vegan founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, known for speaking out about climate change and renewable energy, announced that the company would put more than 8 million shares into Forever (1% of the company’s total equity value of $643 million at the time) and $20 million in cash.
Soon after, the company went quiet about Forever. Rivian actually set up two organizations to address the company’s lofty goals: Forever by Rivian, Inc., a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, and the Rivian Foundation, a “non-operating” private 501(c)(3) organization.
According to tax filings, Forever by Rivian transferred about $25 million to the Rivian Foundation in 2023, but distributed just $123,250 that year, less than the 5% of assets that U.S. tax law requires private foundations to distribute annually. The foundation was careful about where the money went, saying only that it gave $60,000 specifically to “Natural Climate Solutions” — not to any specific organization but a concept promoted by groups like The Nature Conservancy and the World Economic Forum. It also paid $91,500 in consulting fees to New York-based philanthropic advisory firm Building Impact Partners.
It’s even less clear what Forever by Rivian has been up to since its October 2021 announcement. According to the IRS website, the 501(c)(4)’s filings have not been publicly available, and its tax-exempt status was automatically revoked in May of this year after it didn’t file an annual return. TechCrunch has reached out for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
