Elon Musk says it’s ‘very hard to give away money effectively’ if you care more about the outcomes than the optics of philanthropy

• Elon Musk says he’s not concerned getting recognition for donating money.
• He says this makes philanthropy a challenge: “It is very hard to give away money effectively.”
• The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is the world’s richest person, with a net worth of roughly $260 billion.

Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, but he says it’s still hard to give away money to do good.

“When it comes to donations, I’d say it is very difficult to give away money effectively,” Musk said in a recent conversation with Mathias Döpfner, the CEO of Insider’s parent company, Axel Springer.

When asked about the goals of his foundation, Musk said he cares more about the outcomes, not optics, of philanthropy. This, he says, makes it harder for him to give away money “effectively.”

“If you care about the reality of doing good and not the perception of doing good, then it is very hard to give away money effectively,” he said. “I care about reality. Perception be damned.”

Despite what he described as a challenge to philanthropic efforts, Musk said, “I’m always looking for ways to give away money that are effective,” he continued.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO brought up a number of social causes during the conversation.

“There’s obviously environmental causes, there is education, especially science and engineering education,” he said. “Pediatric healthcare. Hunger these days is more of a political and logistics problem than it is not having enough food. There is a lot of food. In the US and many countries, the issue is more obesity than it is hunger.”

Musk also touched on the positive change he hopes SpaceX and Tesla will bring.

“I do want to emphasize that SpaceX and Tesla fundamentally intend to improve the quality of the future,” he said. “Especially in terms of usefulness to humanity. Tesla by accelerating sustainable energy. And SpaceX by making multiplanetary intercourse possible. This is more than I can do myself.”

Musk is one of the richest people in human history, with a net worth of roughly $260 billion. When asked how he felt about this, Musk said he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is “significantly richer than me.”

Musk also discussed Putin and Russia’s now-monthlong invasion of Ukraine at another point in the interview, saying, “We cannot let Putin take over Ukraine.”