Key Takeaways
Rippleworks made an all-time high of $154 million in grants in its fiscal year ending March 2025, up from $40 million the prior cycle, according to new 990 filings reviewed by Inside Philanthropy.
A surge in XRP grew the foundation's assets by $1.1 billion and pushed its endowment to roughly $2.5 billion, about the size of the 76-year-old Knight Foundation.
More than half the payout, $91 million, went to A Khmer Buddhist Foundation, a San Jose temple whose founder and executive director is Lyna Lam, Larsen's wife.
Chris Larsen has not added a dollar to his foundation in two years, and it just posted its biggest giving year on record. New tax filings reviewed by Inside Philanthropy show Rippleworks, the San Francisco grantmaker Larsen cofounded in 2015, made $154 million in grants in the fiscal year ending March 2025, up from $40 million the cycle before. The jump did not come from a new donation. A surge in XRP, the cryptocurrency Larsen's company created, grew the foundation's assets by $1.1 billion and pushed its endowment to roughly $2.5 billion, the size of the 76-year-old Knight Foundation.
Where the money went
More than half of the payout, $91 million, went to a single grantee. A Khmer Buddhist Foundation is building a temple in San Jose, and its founder and executive director is Lyna Lam, Larsen's wife, who does not sit on the Rippleworks board. That number is worth sitting with. The rest of the slate looks like the usual Rippleworks playbook, US-based nonprofits working on basic needs in the Global South. Food for Education received $5.5 million for school meals, Inkomoko got $5 million for refugee entrepreneurs, and groups like Sanku, We Care Solar, and the Luminos Fund each landed around $3 million for nutrition, clean energy, and classrooms. Public filings on ProPublica also show the foundation locked in gains before crypto markets turned, banking about $400 million by selling coins before XRP lost roughly half its value.
A 2017 bet that keeps compounding
None of this money started as cash. In 2017 Ripple donated 1 billion XRP, then worth $174 million, to the foundation, a move critics called self-serving at the time because the company had created the asset it was giving away. Nearly a decade later that donation has become one of the larger charitable war chests in tech. It also puts Rippleworks at the center of two live debates, why foundation payout stays pinned at 5 percent while windfall endowments balloon, and how regulators treat giving vehicles that double as tax strategy, a question the IRS just sharpened with its new listed transaction rules.
People Also Ask
What is Rippleworks?
Rippleworks is a San Francisco foundation cofounded in 2015 by Ripple cofounder Chris Larsen and Doug Galen. It supports social ventures working on essential needs like water, health, nutrition, and education, mostly in the Global South, through grants, training programs, and investments.
How much did Rippleworks give away in its latest fiscal year?
Its latest tax filings, covering May 2024 through March 2025, show an all-time high of $154 million in grants, up from $40 million in the prior cycle, according to Inside Philanthropy.
Who received Rippleworks' largest grant?
A Khmer Buddhist Foundation received $91 million, more than half the total payout. The San Jose organization is led by founder and executive director Lyna Lam, who is married to Chris Larsen and does not sit on the Rippleworks board.
Where did Rippleworks get its money?
In 2017 Ripple donated 1 billion XRP to the foundation, valued at $174 million at the time. The token's rise grew the endowment to about $2.5 billion, and the foundation banked roughly $400 million by selling some holdings before prices fell.