Charles and Candy Ergen’s boom-bust-boom journey as the cofounders of the satellite TV company Dish Network and its parent EchoStar has inspired headlines like “How to lose nearly $20 billion.” The couple are now in their 70s, and their next chapter could lead to headlines more along the lines of “How to give away nearly $10 billion.”
Charles Ergen first made the Forbes list back in 1999, but as EchoStar spent billions to set up its own mobile phone network, investors lost faith, and in the early 2020s, the stock price collapsed. Pushed by the Trump administration to sell off its unused spectrum, the company recently cut several mega deals that sent its valuation skyward, including a $19 billion agreement with SpaceX. It has been “one of the greatest turnovers of a distressed company in the history of corporate America,” wrote the Financial Times.
The Ergens’ wealth now totals around $14 billion, according to Forbes, an order of magnitude greater than a few years ago, and back to about the same level as when they signed the Giving Pledge in 2018. Given their modest giving record to date, if they want to make progress toward that goal during their lifetimes, they will have to write a lot of checks in the coming years. With as much money — at least on paper — as the William and Flora Hewlett or the Robert Wood Johnson foundations, the Ergens could become a philanthropic power couple. Will they?
The Ergens’ recent philanthropic history is not very promising. The couple have not sent a dollar to the Telluray Foundation, their Littleton, Colorado-based operation, since 2015. Its endowment, which largely comprised Dish Network stock, has fallen from a high of $200 million to $72.6 million in 2024. The foundation’s grantmaking has dropped with it, from around $7 million a year in the early 2020s to $3.5 million in the latest cycle, the lowest level in nearly a decade. And if the family has made any donations outside of their foundation, they have occurred off the radar.
Yet the four-fold increase in the price of EchoStar’s stock, which has now subsumed Dish’s shares, means the foundation’s endowment should now have hit a new high, and the operation has likely ramped up its grantmaking over the past two years. If the Ergens — or their five children, at least two of whom serve on the foundation’s board — ultimately follow through on their pledge, Telluray’s track record offers a window into what causes, geographies and groups might benefit.
The foundation did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Telluray Foundation: A funder of health, education, and the environment
Originally called the Ergen Family Foundation, the Telluray Foundation shares a name with the Ergens’ 6,200-acre ranch in southwestern Colorado, according to a Yahoo Finance profile.
Its earliest awards were mostly four-figure checks to community groups, typically in Colorado, such as Rockland Memorial Community Church ($5,000), the Girl Scouts Mile High Council ($10,000), and the Colorado Mountain Club Foundation ($16,000).
The foundation appears to have issued its first-ever grant ($3,000) in 2005 to the Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation. (The purpose of the grant, curiously, is listed as “Spin Doctors Account Division.”) Nearly two decades later, its largest awards now go to the hospital, including $500,000 in 2023 and 2024. (Now, the listed purpose is to address the youth mental health crisis.)
Most of Telluray’s top awards in recent cycles have gone to a mix of health, education and environmental causes. Major grantees include the the Denver Botanic Gardens ($500,000), Littleton Public Schools Foundation ($281,299, two grants), Craig Hospital Foundation ($259,031), the produce box organization Nourish Colorado ($150,000), the Arapahoe Community College Foundation ($126,043), the Christian K-12 institution Ambleside School of Colorado ($100,000) and the autism job training group TACT ($100,000).
The foundation has also dropped some big awards for history, with grants to History Colorado ($250,000) for an archive of photographer John Fielder’s work and the Littleton Museum ($125,000) to renovate its permanent gallery.
Over the past two grant cycles, nearly every one of the almost 100 grants issued by the foundation has landed in Colorado. But the exceptions are fascinating.
Telluray has sent two grants each to the Massachusetts-based National Trust for Local News (a total of $100,000) and Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies ($156,250). The foundation also made a few out-of-state environmental awards, including to the National Wildlife Federation ($208,028) and National Forest Foundation ($150,000). Most such grants are project support, such as work to reclaim abandoned mines by Trout Unlimited ($64,000).
Finally, there’s a big chunk of money whose final destination is unknown. Telluray sent nearly $10 million to a donor-advised account at Schwab Charitable, now known as DAFGiving360, between 2020 and 2023. The payments accounted for about 40% of the foundation’s payout during those years, not quite enough to qualify the Ergens as black box billionaires, but it’s still a question mark in their philanthropic record. The practice, however, may be over. Telluray did not send any money to DAFs in 2024.
Could SpaceX stock lead the Ergens to ramp things up?
Giving Pledge commitments are always uncertain. But what is fairly certain is the endowment of the Ergens’ foundation has now doubled in value, if not more.
Thanks to a stock deal, EchoStar now owns about 2.8% of SpaceX, according to its financial reports, holdings that are worth about $58 billion on their own, based on today’s $161 share price. Provided Elon Musk’s company continues to defy financial gravity, both the Ergens’ company and their foundation should be riding high. Like with other SpaceX IPO winners, including Musk ally Antonio Gracias, many in the philanthrosphere will be awaiting their next moves as donors.
Press accounts like to cite both Charles Ergen’s frugality and his past as a professional gambler. To date, it seems the first quality has triumphed over the latter, with neither he nor Candy putting many chips on the table toward their philanthropy. There’s no real indication that has changed, but the couple now has about as much money as they have ever had. Maybe some big bets are on their way.
Michael Kavate covers climate philanthropy and billionaire donors. He welcomes all feedback, and tips.
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