- An unidentified donor gave $10M – 77% of the charity’s total 2021 income
- The wealthy benefactor set up a fund with Silicon Valley Community Foundation
- It has been speculated that part of donation came from Harry himself, through the $20m advance for his autobiography Spare
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s non-profit Archewell Foundation is almost entirely funded by a single mystery donor, a DailyMail.com investigation can exclusively reveal.
The large sum of $10million – 77% of Archewell’s total 2021 income – came from the unidentified wealthy donor.
Archewell released its 2020-2022 impact report at the end of January, and briefing notes from the Sussexes’ favorite reporter Omid Scobie said it had raised $13million in revenue and distributed $3million in grants across areas including ‘vaccine equity, relief centers, refugee resettlement and building a better online world.’
Now, DailyMail.com can reveal most of that money came from a single person through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation [SVCF], a mega-rich non-profit and a vehicle for extremely wealthy philanthropists to give out tax-free grants anonymously.
An individual sets up a Donor Advised Fund [DAF] with SVFC and directs where they want their money to go with their ‘gift qualifying for an immediate tax deduction.’
It means Archewell’s generous benefactor is almost single-handedly keeping the charity afloat without ever having their name revealed.
In 2020, the charity raised less than $50,000 in donations, with its operations so small that it didn’t even have to file a full tax return with the IRS.
But the following year it had blossomed and clearly gained the blessing of one wealthy individual.
If the funding from this anonymous donor was to disappear, Archewell may struggle to keep handing out substantial grants to the likes of the female empowerment group Girls Inc. and the UK mental health charity Mind.
On its website, Archewell says its core purpose is ‘quite simply, to do good.
‘We believe that philanthropic work is more than a handout, it’s a hand held,’ it adds.
‘To activate this belief, we independently create dynamic and impactful programming to serve communities in need. We also partner with key organizations and leaders to identify immediate needs, build meaningful initiatives, and drive long-term change.
‘Baked into all that we do is the core belief that our collective wellbeing and mental health are paramount. Our three main pillars of focus are to build a better world online, to restore trust in information, and above all, to uplift communities.’
The $10million grant to Archewell is listed on the SVCF website and states that it was for ‘general nonprofit support’ rather than one project. This is unusual as most SVCF’s grants are project-specific such as ‘youth development’ or ‘education.’
This means Archewell can use the funds for office expenses, PR and marketing, and to pay salaries.
It begs the question as to why a rich donor would pay for ‘general support’ rather than specific Archewell causes?
There is some speculation, for example from YouTube channel The Royal Grift, that the donation has come from Harry himself through the $20million advance for his autobiography Spare
The unfounded theory is that no rich person, even their famous friends, would donate $10million just for general support, so it’s Harry who’s funding Archewell and avoiding paying taxes on the donation.
Silicon Valley tech billionaires, including Mark Zuckerberg, have extensively used their SVCF donor funds to give away millions.
In 2020, the Chan Zuckerberg DAF – named for the Facebook founder and his wife Priscilla Chan – gave $300million to two non-profits to ensure safe and reliable voting in the 2020 presidential election – although some accused him of voter meddling in key battleground states.
Others who have used SCVF include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
SVCF hit headlines in 2018 when its CEO Dr. Emmett Carson was forced to resign after a law firm hired to investigate workplace bullying and harassment issued a scathing report that included sexual, racist and other inappropriate remarks by some executives.
Harry and Meghan will be hoping financial support doesn’t falter for the charity they named after their eldest son Archie, so that it can keep spending money on issues such as ‘building a better online world.’
The recent impact report revealed it had given to a foundation which provided an online guide ‘for promoting gender equity by fostering positive masculinity in boys and men’ and aimed to ‘challenge harmful gender stereotypes.’
The Duchess has handpicked several projects herself. These include one scheme in Antioch, Tennessee, where children can receive free hair braiding.
After visiting the Uvalde massacre vigil last year, she also chose to give to a playground for local children after seeing their grief firsthand.
Other grants went to help rescue 7,400 people from war-torn Afghanistan through a partnership with Human First Coalition, dishing out 50,000 meals alongside World Central Kitchen and helping fund 13 academic fellows to ‘address society’s most urgent concerns surrounding social media’ at Harvard’s Institute for Rebooting Social Media.
Archewell will spend the next year working on ‘three main pillars’ – building a better online world, restoring trust in information, and uplifting communities.
Omid Scobie tweeted that in Archewell’s first full year of operation it distributed $3million in grants, 23% of its income.
