Since its founding in 2019, the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity has grown at an astounding pace. Dedicated to advancing the legacy of industrial design icons Ray and Charles Eames and cofounded by their granddaughter Llisa Demetrios, the nonprofit’s assets have swelled from about $250,000 in 2019 to $136 million at the end of 2024, according to tax filings. That growth has come with dozens of new staffers and supercharged salaries for leaders.
On Tuesday, the institute unveiled plans (opens in new tab) for a lavish museum on the landmark former Birkenstock campus, an 88-acre property along Highway 101 in Novato that it purchased for $36 million in 2025.
The ways in which the institute has raised funds have never been publicly revealed, although records suggest that its growth is, at least in part, fueled by Joe Gebbia, the billionaire Airbnb cofounder and Trump administration official.
Appointed by President Donald Trump as the nation’s first chief design officer, Gebbia is responsible for redesigning federal government websites. He previously served as a volunteer in Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and this month donated $8 million to Proposition 39 (opens in new tab), which would require California voters to present identification to submit ballots.
Joe Gebbia speaks during an event to unveil the new America.gov website on September 29. | Source: Photo by Kent Nishimura / Getty Images
While Gebbia’s connection with the Eames Institute has been previously acknowledged — he and Demetrios posed for photos to announce that he’d provided initial funding for the nonprofit (opens in new tab) — tax records uncovered by The Standard reveal that he is the probable source of substantial funds. The money was funneled through a donor-advised fund, an opaque charitable investment account that is commonly used by wealthy people to cut taxes while donating anonymously.
In 2022, Gebbia gave $106 million to a donor-advised fund overseen by the American Endowment Foundation, according to the foundation’s tax documents. It was the largest donation AEF received that year, by more than $30 million. According to tax filings, AEF in 2024 donated $63.2 million to the Eames Institute, representing 99.8% of the contributions the organization reported that year and 47% of the nonprofit’s total assets.
The Standard could not confirm what percentage of the AEF donations came from Gebbia. AEF held $8.4 billion in assets in 2024, the most recent year for which tax filings are available.
A spokesperson for the Eames Institute declined to disclose how much Gebbia has contributed to the nonprofit or whether the funds he donated to AEF ultimately reached Eames, but said Gebbia “is a founding donor who continues to support” the institute and its mission.
Gebbia could not be reached for comment. Representatives from the National Design Studio, the White House Office agency run by Gebbia, did not respond to questions about his financial role at the Eames Institute.
The Eames Institute holds more than 40,000 artifacts from the Eames Office, the architecture and design firm of Ray and Charles. In 2022, it purchased William Stout Architectural Books, a popular bookstore in Jackson Square, and in 2025, the Swiss imprint Lars Müller Publishers. The institute loans artifacts, serves as a fiscal sponsor for a handful of Sonoma-based organizations, and has hosted dozens of prestigious artists for a residency program at its Eames Ranch outside Petaluma.
Aside from an initial spate of press in 2022, the institute has not trumpeted its relationship with Gebbia, whose politics have become increasingly right-wing as his donations to the Eames Institute have apparently grown.
On X, Gebbia has routinely expressed support for Trump, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Elon Musk (Gebbia serves on Tesla’s board of directors), and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s homophobic “no beardos, no weirdos” rhetoric.
Renderings for a museum on the former Birkenstock campus in a master plan submitted by the Eames Instute to the city of Novato. | Source: Herzog & de Meuron
Like other Silicon Valley luminaries, Gebbia, who’d been a longtime Democrat, made a turn to MAGA in the aftermath of the pandemic. In a 2025 interview with right-wing pundit and former DOGE adviser Katie Miller, he said he defected largely because of concerns over illegal immigrants entering the country.
“This is a real problem, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be enforcing the laws of our country and our border,” he said. “And so, I think, as I started to pull on that thread, I sort of began to look at other topics and eventually came to the point where I don’t think I can support a political party that wants to have an open border, that lets in criminals and dangerous people into our country.”
Plans for the Birkenstock campus comes amid a wave of criticism in architectural circles over the institute’s ties to Gebbia. | Source: Herzog & de Meuron
A spokesperson for the Eames Institute said “Joe’s views are his own and do not reflect the Eames Institute,” echoing a statement by Airbnb, which took the same position after Gebbia accepted a position at DOGE (opens in new tab).
Last week’s submission of plans for the Birkenstock campus came amid a wave of criticism in architectural circles over the institute’s ties to Gebbia. The increased scrutiny comes after architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne published a series of newsletter articles (opens in new tab) highlighting Gebbia’s connection to the Eames Institute and his turn to MAGA politics.
“The Eames Institute has a Joe Gebbia problem,” Hawthorne wrote. “At the very least, the Institute should clearly communicate to those partners, and to the interested public, where its relationship with Gebbia stands and how it sees that relationship evolving.”
Donor-advised funds like AEF are common among wealthy Americans, as they provide a route for tax deductions and a way to obscure exactly where money is going. The funds allow donors to take a charitable tax deduction upfront, accrue investment income tax-free, and recommend grants to other nonprofits later.
The leaders of the Eames Institute have benefited from the infusion of funding from AEF. John Cary, a former consultant for the Obama Foundation who serves as CEO, has seen his compensation more than double since the institute’s founding, from about $279,000 in 2019 to $584,000 in 2024. Demetrios earned $289,000 in 2024, up from $182,000 in 2020. Over the same period, the institute grew from seven employees to 41.