Co-founder and board chair of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Susan Dell, was standing next to President Donald Trump at the White House on December 2, 2025, to make one of the biggest private donations ever made for the benefit of American kids.
Working together with her husband, Michael, the founder of Dell Technologies, she donated $6.25 billion in order to establish about 25 million new "Trump Accounts," the federal savings accounts for children created as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The decision was made on Giving Tuesday, and Susan stated in one sentence the idea behind the huge gift: the biggest investment anyone can make is in children.
Each of the accounts will have $250 on it.
The money will be used by children who did not qualify for $1,000 federal deposit available only for babies born from 2025 to 2028. In their turn, the Dells are focusing on older children, who were born from 2016 to 2024, and the donation is for those who are living in ZIP code with the median income under $150,000 (that is supposed to cover about 80 percent of all the children).
TIME magazine indicates that the idea came to the couple in 2021 when Brad Gerstner, the CEO of Altimeter Capital and founder of the nonprofit organization called Invest America, talked to them about giving all kids an investment stake.
It appears that the couple was very interested in it and even discussed the plan and calculations on napkins in the restaurant, pondering what would happen if they altered some of the factors.
The personal idea became the nationwide program. The Dells say that initially, they intended to implement the project only in Texas but then realized that it should become nationwide.
Since the money cannot be accessed until the child turns 18, they will be invested in market-based accounts, meaning that they are counting on compound interest over time and not an immediate profit.
It is necessary to register a child in a special account by completing IRS Form 4547. The first deposits are expected to be made on July 4, 2026.
The public perception about Susan Dell has been more about her work with kids than about her husband's technology business. She and Michael formed the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in 1999 for helping poor kids.
The main concerns of the foundation shifted gradually from Texas to the other parts of the USA, then from South Africa to India, and lately from Israel since October 7, 2023. TIME has reported that the foundation donated $3.3 billion since its creation and promised another $7 billion, and its endowment is approximately $7.5 billion.
She had built up her career in the fashion industry before becoming a philanthropist full-time. Susan founded the fashion label Phi, but when it came to the choice between the label and her fast-growing philanthropic foundation in 2009, she chose the latter and claimed it was a more responsible choice.
She has served as the chairman of its board since then. She still sews on a part-time basis by running the tailoring business JustSaySew, and she claims that she sews for her husband, children, and grandchildren.
Those familiar with the couple claim that they are extremely driven people. In an interview with TIME, Janet Mountain, the executive director of the foundation, said that the Dells are very competitive and goal-oriented and that they deliberately set aggressive goals.
Susan used to be an endurance athlete who has participated in Ironman contests, and as per the profile provided by TIME, after their first reluctant blind date, she has offered to go for a bike ride, covering 50 miles for their second date.
Currently, the couple engages in rucking, which means hiking while carrying heavy backpacks.
One of her favorite projects of the foundation includes the Dell Scholars Program, which supports approximately 9,000 students in terms of providing tuition.
There are currently more than 800 projects implemented by the foundation, and the latest contribution includes a $750 million pledge to the University of Texas at Austin, in addition to the $250 million that the couple donated earlier.
This pledge resulted in the inclusion of the couple on the TIME100 Philanthropy 2026 list, and TIME published them on its cover in May.
The donation was called the greatest contribution ever made to Americans by two other citizens.
But there are those who disagree. Duke economist William Darity, who was behind the design of another competing baby bond scheme, claims that the program can increase the gap as wealthier parents can deposit far more than poor families per year into the savings accounts. According to an analysis from the Council of Economic Advisers quoted in the TIME report, the account with no additional contributions will be valued at around $5,800 when the child turns 18 years old, as against the amount of $303,800 in one with maximum contributions per year.
The problem is in the very design of the Dells' own giveaway. Due to Treasury regulations, the eligibility gets determined through ZIP codes.
The children in uneven communities may end up being ineligible due to their wealthier neighbors lifting the median income of their community.
According to the TIME article, the children living in the Queensbridge Houses of New York City do not qualify for the program due to their median income being boosted by the people from Long Island City.
Much of the social media discussion after the event at the White House was not about the donation but rather focused on Susan Dell's looks and whether or not she has had any cosmetic surgery done.
The articles that reported on the phenomenon stated that there is no information available in public sources about any cosmetic procedures and that people's speculations about this issue took attention away from the essence of the statement.
