Santa’s Helpers Foundation
Endowment Appeal to Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation
Date: April 1, 2025

I. A Personal Challenge to Elon Musk
Elon,

 

You don’t know us—but you should.

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We’re not solving interplanetary propulsion.  We’re not decoding AI.  We’re not building rockets or batteries.  What we’re doing is fighting something far more Earth-bound and urgent: holiday poverty.  And for children who go without while you’re celebrated for reshaping humanity’s future, we ask:
 

What kind of future are they expected to believe in?
 

This is not a pitch. This is a call to conscience.
 

Santa’s Helpers Foundation is a small but mighty nonprofit based in Contra Costa County, California—just miles from Tesla’s roots—serving thousands of children whose only hope for joy during the holidays comes from strangers who still believe in kindness.

We are asking—not humbly, but boldly—for a $5 million endowment to secure a permanent headquarters for our work.  Because charity shouldn’t be seasonal.  Because dignity shouldn’t be optional.  And because you can afford to change lives without noticing the money is gone.

II. The Moral Debt

You’ve avoided billions in taxes by placing your wealth in philanthropic vehicles.  It’s legal.  But it isn’t noble—not if that wealth isn’t moving.  MacKenzie Scott proved that.  Her giving has helped fund after-school programs, housing for the homeless, food for the hungry—without bureaucratic filters or PR spin.
 

We invite you to do the same.
 

And unlike spaceflight or AI, this investment isn’t speculative.  It pays dividends immediately—through warm clothing, nourishing food, and toys that say you are seen to a child who’s heard “no” too many times.

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We don’t need 10 engineers and a 10-year runway.  We need $5 million—once.
 

III. The Project

With your help, we will purchase and convert 535 Main Street in Martinez, California, into our permanent headquarters.  This facility will house:

• The Santa Claus Museum – a free, educational, year-round experience for children rooted in history, culture, and storytelling.

• Seasonal Logistics Hub – for sorting, wrapping, and staging donations.

• Community Event Space – for our annual Winter Wonderland and other child-centered activities.

 

This isn’t a Band-Aid.  It’s infrastructure for joy—year-round.
 

IV. Why This Matters Now

Because families in our community are choosing between heat and food.
Because childhood joy is collapsing under the weight of inflation and instability.
Because in 2024 alone, we had to turn away hundreds of children—despite every effort to stretch our resources.

And because in 2025, Elon Musk has the power to turn the page—to shift from futurist icon to humanitarian force.
 

V. What We’re Offering in Return

Nothing.

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No naming rights.  No press conference.  No museum wing in your name—unless you want it.

We’re offering you something rarer: the opportunity to do good without needing to be thanked.
 

VI. Next Steps

We’re prepared to show you the numbers, the renderings, the impact reports.  We’ll meet wherever, whenever. Our team is lean, our mission clear, our ask justified.

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This $5 million endowment would:

• Remove our dependency on seasonal funding.

• Protect our future from real estate inflation.

• Allow us to redirect every future dollar into direct community benefit.
   

VII. In Closing

The children we serve don’t know who you are, Elon.

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But if you say yes to this, they will.

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They’ll grow up believing in a world where someone that powerful used his wealth not just to change the planet—but to help the people living on it.
 

That’s the legacy that lasts longer than Mars.

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Very Truly Yours,

Ricky Crum
Executive Director
Santa’s Helpers Foundation
rcrum@santashelpersfoundation.org | (925) 956-3636