Henrik Fisker, founder of the now-bankrupt electric vehicle startup Fisker Inc., established a private charitable foundation with his wife Geeta in late 2021. The foundation, originally intended to "foster innovation in healthcare, education, sustainability, and transportation, as well as all charitable endeavors that help protect the planet and improve the quality of life for humans and animals," has now quietly dissolved.
In December 2024, six months after Fisker Inc.'s bankruptcy, the foundation filed a tax return with the Internal Revenue Service marked as a "final return." This filing was made public in early 2025.
The organization, named the "Geeta & Henrik Fisker Foundation," distributed only approximately $100,000 in grants during its three-year existence. Henrik Fisker has not yet responded to requests for comment.
The brief existence of the Fisker couple's foundation reflects a broader narrative of the 2020s electric vehicle startup boom—many of these companies went public through SPAC mergers and fostered a wave of unbridled optimism.
In 2021, when Rivian went public through a traditional IPO, it announced the establishment of its own foundation, endowing it with 1% of the electric vehicle company's equity. Although this stake was once worth approximately $643 million before declining to less than $100 million, the Rivian Foundation continues to operate. The nonprofit distributed its first $10 million in grants last year, and according to its website, has added an additional $2.2 million in donations as of 2025.
IRS documents show that the Fisker couple established their foundation in late 2021, approximately one year after Fisker Inc. went public through a SPAC merger. In December 2021, the couple transferred 229,000 shares of company stock to the nonprofit organization, valued at approximately $4 million at the time of donation. The couple also appears to have contributed about $5,000 in cash during the foundation's first year. (Note: Geeta Gupta Fisker served as Fisker Inc.'s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer.)
Fisker Inc. did not officially announce the couple's joint foundation establishment until February 14, 2022. Despite the press release's emphasis on the $4 million donation amount, Fisker Inc.'s stock price had already declined significantly by the announcement date, reducing the foundation's equity holdings to approximately $2.7 million.
Documents show the foundation distributed no grants during its first fiscal year (ending September 30, 2022). By the end of that fiscal year, its stock holdings had further declined to approximately $1.7 million.
Fisker Inc. began producing electric SUVs in late 2022 and started deliveries in mid-2023, but the flawed electric vehicle consistently underperformed in sales, with the company's stock price continuing to decline during this period—factors that clearly limited the foundation's operational scope.
According to a filing document, during the foundation's 2023 fiscal year (ending September 30, 2023), it made only one grant of $92,287 to JPMorgan Chase's "Charitable Gift Fund." That same year, the Fisker couple contributed only an additional $9,500 in cash to the foundation, meaning the stock holdings, which had again shrunk to approximately $1.4 million, comprised virtually all of the foundation's assets.
The latest filing announcing the nonprofit's dissolution shows that during the foundation's final year, only one donation occurred: the Fisker couple made an additional $1,988 contribution to the same JPMorgan Chase fund.
The "Geeta & Henrik Fisker Foundation" was not the couple's only charitable channel, but details of their other donations are currently difficult to verify.
A 2022 press release mentioned that since founding the electric vehicle startup in 2016, the Fisker couple had "supported multiple charitable causes, including participation in education and healthcare projects."
The press release also indicated that in December 2021, the Fisker couple donated approximately $1.9 million worth of company stock to a "donor-advised fund" (DAF). However, an SEC document shows this donation came from the Fisker couple's personal trust, not from the "Geeta & Henrik Fisker Foundation." Additionally, neither the press release nor the SEC filing identified which donor-advised fund received the stock donation.
Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are somewhat controversial charitable donation vehicles. While donors to DAFs can still decide where funds ultimately go, such information need not be disclosed to the public. Simultaneously, donating stock to a DAF allows donors to deduct the stock's value from their personal taxable income—even if the stock's market value subsequently declines, this tax benefit remains unaffected.
Furthermore, DAFs can hold funds indefinitely, so the public cannot know whether the DAF that received $1.9 million in Fisker stock distributed grants before or after the stock's market value declined.
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