Henrik and Geeta Fisker quietly shut down charitable foundation after EV startup’s collapse

The Fiskers’ foundation shuttered after only three years and minimal grantmaking.

Emmanuella Madu
2 Min Read

Henrik Fisker, founder of the bankrupt EV company Fisker Inc., and his wife Geeta Gupta-Fisker have quietly dissolved their private charitable foundation just three years after launching it.

The Geeta & Henrik Fisker Foundation, set up in late 2021 to support innovation in healthcare, education, sustainability, mobility, and other causes, was formally wound down in December 2024, according to an IRS filing marked as its “final return.”

Across its brief lifespan, the foundation distributed only about $100,000 in grants. Most of that came in 2023, when it gave $92,287 to a JP Morgan “Charitable Gift Fund.” A smaller $1,988 contribution to the same fund was recorded in its final year.

When it launched, the Fiskers seeded the nonprofit with 229,000 Fisker Inc. shares valued at roughly $4 million, plus a small cash donation. But the value of the shares plummeted as Fisker’s stock price tumbled, falling to $2.7 million by early 2022, $1.7 million later that year, and around $1.4 million by the end of 2023, as the automaker struggled with the rollout of its Ocean SUV.

The foundation never regained momentum and ultimately wound down six months after Fisker Inc. filed for bankruptcy.

The Fiskers had also donated $1.9 million worth of company stock to a donor-advised fund (DAF) in December 2021, according to SEC filings, though it remains unclear how those funds were distributed. Unlike foundations, DAFs are not required to disclose grants, making it impossible to track whether the money supported any charitable work before the stock value declined.

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By contrast, Rivian,  another EV startup that went public in 2021,  launched its own foundation with 1% of company equity. While its endowment has shrunk dramatically with Rivian’s share price, the nonprofit has already given out over $12 million in grants.

Henrik Fisker did not respond to requests for comment on the shuttered foundation.

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