www.theguardian.com
Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25bn Tuesday to provide 25 million American children under 10 an incentive to claim the new investment accounts for children created as part of Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation.
The historic gift has little precedent, with few single charitable commitments in the past 25 years exceeding $1bn, much less multiple billions. Announced on GivingTuesday, the Dells believe it’s the largest single private commitment made to US children.
It is also unusual in that it will operate through investment accounts set up by the US Department of Treasury that will be managed by private companies. Dubbed “Trump Accounts”, the program has not yet launched but was passed into law on 4 July as part of the president’s signature legislation. The administration had already said that it planned to contribute $1,000 into Trump Accounts for each child born between 2025 and 2028.
Funds in Trump Accounts must be invested in an index fund, which track the overall stock market.
“Trump Accounts will be the first – I guess you could say – first real trust funds for every American child, allowing family members, employers, corporations, generous donors to contribute money that will be invested and grow,” Trump said in a White House press conference Tuesday, hours after the announcement of the Dells’ pledge.
He continued: “An investment’s gonna be made, that investment’s gonna continue to grow – we hope, right, we hope. But it will.”
Trump suggested that he would personally donate to the Trump Accounts. During the conference, Michael Dell said that he had spoken to other “wealthy Americans” about also contributing.
“Our gift will cover most of the children that are 10 or under that are not part of the federal program, the zero to two year olds,” he said.
said Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies whose estimated net worth is $148bn, according to Forbes.
Through their gift, the Dells will deposit $250 into each qualified child’s investment account, which they said the treasury plans to launch on 4 July 2026. Dell said they wanted to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence.
But it will be up to the families of other children to put money into the accounts. When the children turn 18, they can withdraw the funds to put toward their education, to buy a home or to start a business.
The Dells hope their gift will encourage families to claim the accounts and deposit more money into it, even small amounts, so it will grow over time along with the stock market. They also hope companies and other philanthropists will donate to these accounts.
In 2024, about 13% of children and young people in the US lived in poverty, according to the Annie E Casey Foundation, and experts link the high child poverty rates to the lack of social supports for new parents, like paid parental leave.
The Dells will put money into the accounts of children who live in zip codes with a median family income of $150,000 or less.
While the funds in the Trump Accounts may help young adults whose families or employers can contribute to them over time, they won’t immediately help to diminish childhood poverty. Cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and childcare that were also included in the spending package are likely to reduce the support children from low-income families receive.
“We are going to make sure that all American families have a stake in the success of the United States of America,” Scott Bessent, the secretary of the treasury department, said in the Tuesday press conference. “People who have a stake in the system and become more and more invested in the system do not want to bring down the system. They want to make it better.”
The Trump Accounts, he added, have started “a new age of capitalism and market interest”.
