Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Google co-founder Sergey Brin (Sergey Brin) is working on a $500 million nonprofit organization focused on health and climate change, April 23. Most of the money for Brin's move so far has come from the sale of Tesla shares, according to regulatory filings.

Brin's new organization, called Catalyst4, complies with Section 501 (c) (4) of the IRS, which allows it to obtain tax relief through philanthropic strategies while having unique flexibility, confidentiality and political influence.

Starting from December 14, 2021, Catalyst4 sold Tesla shares for $366 million in four days, according to the documents. At the time, a clear disagreement emerged between Mr Brin and Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla.

Last July it was reported that Brin had asked advisers to sell Tesla's shares after his wife, Nicole Shanahan, was suspected of having an affair with Mr Musk. Musk later denied the affair and Brin filed for divorce with Shanahan in January 2022.

According to an IRS document, Catalyst4's two main goals are to "support breakthroughs in the treatment of central nervous system diseases and disorders, and efforts to mitigate and reverse the effects of climate change." the non-profit organization approved its tax exemption application in November.

Brin is currently the tenth richest person in the world, with a net worth of about $93 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Brin already has his own foundation, which has accumulated $4.9 billion in assets by the end of 2021. But by transferring donations through Section 501 (C) (4), he can circumvent the Foundation's ban on the use of charitable funds for commercial and political activities.

In May 2022, when Congress was debating an economic and climate bill that eventually became an "inflation reduction bill", the Catalyst4 said in a document that it had "recently contributed to another 501 (C) (4) organization to support clean energy legislation".

According to the latest documents dated April 19, Catalyst4 spent $30,000 lobbying in the first quarter of 2023 to promote "disease surveillance through municipal wastewater systems to inform public health responses". The group also hired FGS Global, a lobbying company, to lobby on behalf of Wastewater SCAN, an initiative for disease sampling sewer systems, whose website lists Brin's foundation as a partner.

According to the May 2022 filing, Catalyst4's efforts in "drug discovery and research" will include venture capital investment, "focusing on companies that invent, develop or commercialize products that address highly unmet medical needs related to the central nervous system".

Catalyst4 owns a 74.25% stake in the Column Group-Neuro fund, which raised $100m in may 2021, according to filings with the securities and exchange commission. Column Group founder Peter Sven Nielsen (Peter Svennilson) didn't respond to a request for comment.

Although 501 (C) (4) taxes have been part of US tax law for decades and are often used by "black money" political funds, prominent billionaires are starting to use them for a wider range of purposes. Brin joined Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard Chouinard, hedge fund founder Ray Dalio and members of the Koch family to embrace the strategy.

Unlike foundations and other 501 (c) (3) organizations, donations to 501 (c) (4) organizations are not income tax deductible. But these tools can exempt donors from capital gains tax and avoid inheritance and gift taxes. For many of the world's super-rich, these two taxes are often more valuable than one-off tax cuts.

Another advantage of clause 501 (c) (IV) is confidentiality. The link between Catalyst4 and Brin is not obvious in the document, and his name is not even mentioned in the document. However, the board members listed as president and treasurer of the organization are senior managers of Bayshore Global Management, the office of the Brin family, which shares a mailing address with Catalyst4.

Other Catalyst4 board members include a tax expert and Ekemini Riley, managing director of the Parkinson's Center for Scientific Research (ASAP), another research institution backed by Brin. Brin has reportedly donated more than $1 billion to Parkinson's disease and appointed Riley as the leader of the work.

Catalyst4 had total assets of $469 million at the end of 2021, and the IRS application says another $100m is expected to be donated in 2022 and 2023. Along with the sale of Tesla's shares, Catalyst4 also owns shares in Google's parent company, Alphabet, which were worth $78 million at the end of 2021, according to the documents.

Foundations usually have to devote 5% of their assets to charitable donations each year, but the 501 (C) (4) organization does not have the same requirement. However, Catalyst4 said in its submission that it intended to allocate at least 5 per cent of its income each year to other organizations that are active in social welfare or charitable activities.

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