SpaceX has launched a new Donate option on the Starlink website, less than one month after CEO Elon Musk said yes to the idea. However instead of allowing anyone to donate in small amounts, there are only preset donation amounts that most people won’t be able to afford.
According to the new Donate page on the Starlink website, there are two ways you can help a community or organization get set up with Starlink.
The first is if you don’t have a specific group or community you want to donate to, in which case the Starlink team will decide where to send your donation. SpaceX says their decision “will be applied to the areas of greatest need across education, telehealth, emergency response and humanitarian efforts.”
If you go this route the minimum donation is $1,919 USD (~$2,559 CAD), enough for one Starlink Kit ($599) and one year of service ($1,320).
The amounts increase from there to $3,239 USD (~$4,320 CAD) or $4,599 USD (~$6,133 CAD), for the required hardware and two or three years of Starlink service respectively.
If you want to donate this way, visit starlink.com/donations.
The second option allows you to donate to a specific organization, but you first have to make sure they are located in a serviceable area, and contact the organization to confirm they will accept your donation.
Once you have done that you can donate by ordering Starlink service on behalf of the organization at starlink.com/rv. If you donate through this method you will likely have to update the billing information at some point to make sure you aren’t paying for service in perpetuity (unless you want to).
Unfortunately donating Starlink through either option does not qualify you to receive receipt for a tax-deductible charitable donation.
While it is great that SpaceX has launched this initiative, hopefully the company will allow anyone to donate $20 or $50, or an amount of their choosing. That money could then be put into a Starlink donation fund that could provide Starlink kits and service when their is enough money to do so.
