Gary Zhou 
Key Points
- 💰 Tesla has been approved to invest $750,000 in nine local Texas organizations, exceeding its required community investment.
- 🏢 Tesla is required to invest about 10% of its property taxes into local organizations near its Gigafactory in Austin and its Del Valle headquarters.
- 🤝 The investments will support various organizations, including schools, environmental groups, and workforce training programs.
- 🌱 Tesla is also involved in a pilot program for ecological restoration near its Giga Texas factory.
- 💬 The contributions have been praised as “really impressive” by local officials.
- 📈 Tesla’s investment far exceeds the 10% requirement, as its 2022 taxes would have only required $298,000 in investments.
- 📚 The investments aim to create access to career pathways, improve workforce training, and enhance career opportunities for the community.
- 🚗 Tesla is expanding its contributions beyond what is legally mandated to benefit the local Texas community.
- 🏆 The news about Tesla’s investments comes ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings report.
Tesla has been approved to invest $750,000 in nine local organizations in Texas this year, significantly exceeding its required investments. Although the company is required to give a certain percentage of its taxes as community investments, the figure nearly doubles the required amount from last year, and one official went on to call the automaker’s contributions “really impressive.”
Travis County commissioners approved Tesla for $750,000 in investments to local organizations in 2023, as shared by the automaker in a report this week (via Fox 7 Austin). Tesla is required to invest about 10 percent of operations and maintenance property taxes into organizations near its Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, and in its official headquarters of Del Valle.
When Tesla established its headquarters in Del Valle, which officially opened in 2022 after being announced in 2020, part of the agreement included giving back to the community. Travis County Director of Economic Development Christy Moffett recently explained the agreement upon the commission’s approval of Tesla’s 2023 investment plan.
“Tesla has an obligation to spend an equivalent of at least 10 percent of the operations and maintenance ad valorem property tax owed by the company over the term of the agreement in one or more of the programs identified,” Moffett said.
Tesla’s maintenance and operational taxes amounted to a little more than $2.9 million in 2022, according to Fox 7 Austin, so the 10-percent requirement would equate to $298,000. The $750,000 Tesla has been approved for is more than double the 2022 figure.
“To see what has happened there because of the hard work of a lot of people, it’s really cool to see that,” said Rohan Patel, Tesla’s director of public policy.
The investments are broken up into increments ranging from as little as $12,000 to over $350,000, and will go toward organizations such as Del Valle school needs, along with multiple social and environmental groups.
“These things demonstrate to youth that there is something on the other side if [they] stay in school,” said Jeff Travillion, Travis County Precinct 1 Commissioner.
The nine organizations are as follows, according to Tesla’s report to the county:
| Community Partner | Funding Amount | Program Description |
| Ecorise | $100,000 | Student Innovation Fund creating access to careerpathways. |
| American Youthworks | $30,000 | New training and production equipment for ManufacturingProgram, providing workforce training. |
| Colorado River Alliance | $25,000 | River clean-up and environmental education activities. |
| Black Leaders’ Collective | $32,000 | State of Black Education Program to improve careeropportunities. |
| Austin Area Urban League | $75,000 | Green Jobs Initiative improving training and access tocareers in the sustainability sector. |
| Partners for Education Agriculture and Sustainability (PEAS) | $100,000 | Sustainability/ Environmental programming to sixelementary schools (AISD and Manor ISD) and prepareprogramming for the 4 Del Valle elementary schools. |
| Workforce Solutions Teacher Externships | $12,000 | 2023 Summer Educator Externship Program. Tesla ledtraining and teaching opportunities at Giga Texas. |
| Del Valle ISD Staff | $376,880 | Creation of 3 new DVISD roles to directly support careeropportunities. |
| Del Valle High School P-Tech Equipment | TBD | Manufacturing and Robotics equipment for classroomtraining. |
Among the many programs are the addition of new roles at the Del Valle School District to support career development, and multiple education and training opportunities for students and teachers. The automaker is also expanding a 120-acre area to the west of Giga Texas as a pilot program for ecological restoration.
“The whole goal with this pilot project, which is a fairly large pilot project, is to get a lot of learnings about what works on this site and maybe what doesn’t and continue applying this along our river frontage,” said Logan Grant, Tesla factory engineer.
The news comes ahead of Tesla’s third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday evening at 5:30 pm ET.
“This is really impressive. I know there’s lots of chatter in the community about Musk and Tesla and all of that, but what you’ve created here is really remarkable,” Brigid Shea, Travis County Precinct 2 Commissioner, said.
