Buffett next generation philanthropy
Succession: Warren Buffett Will Leave Behind the Largest Experiment in Family Giving of Our Time
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on July 3, 2024.
Not too long ago, the commonly accepted wisdom was that the bulk of Warren Buffett’s fortune would go to the Gates Foundation when he died. After all, that’s what he indicated back in 2006, and he’s spent the intervening years pumping up Gates’ already-prodigious endowment with regular gifts often outweighing Bill Gates’ own.
Nevertheless, we’ve spent a good part of the last 10 years wondering whether Buffett’s commitment to Gates was really quite so set in stone. One big reason is that it hasn’t been all-encompassing: He’s long paired his Gates gifts with substantial contributions to the four foundations helmed by his three children, often in the hundreds of millions apiece.
Now, nearly two decades later, the 93-year-old Buffett put it plainly in recent comments to the Wall Street Journal: “The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death.” Instead, the vast majority of the Oracle of Omaha’s fortune — currently pegged at around $128 billion — will go into a charitable trust when he passe
Next Buffett Generation Takes Family Vision to Philanthropy
[:en]By Jay Ruderman
Kudos to Howard Buffett on a amazing idea. The grandson of billionaire Warren Buffett has left his government career behind to grab over leadership of his family’s foundation. And he’s insisting that the organizations they support inhabit up to a high businesslike standard he calls “impact.”
Buffett is looking for like-minded organizations to work together to eliminate duplication in both services and administrative costs that can weigh an organization down, making it less than nimble in responding to the need it was constructed to address.
Overlapping operations, he argues, waste money through redundant overhead. Working together and streamlining operations serve to maximize the impact of every dollar.
“We will provide you money to execute your mission,” Buffett says, “if you work together and identify the most cost-effective and successful ways to achieve that.”
In evaluating organizations, he plans to take a page from the world of business and look hard at the numbers of lives impacted … moving non-profits away from selling the narrativ
Warren Buffett is 95. Here's a look at the legendary investor's remarkable life as he prepares to step down as CEO.
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- It's Warren Buffett's 95th birthday, his last as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after 55 years in charge.
- The legendary investor bought his first stock at 11 and built a $1 trillion company.
- Buffett made billions by investing in stocks like Coca-Cola and buying businesses like Geico.
It's Warren Buffett's 95th birthday, his last as Berkshire Hathaway CEO.
When he steps down in December, it will mark the end of an era that saw the legendary investor transform a failing textile mill into a $1 trillion conglomerate over six decades.
Here's a look back at Buffett's remarkable life.
Born to do business
Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on August 30, 1930, at the height of the Great Depression. He was the second of three children and the only son of Howard, a stockbroker and later a congressman, and Leila, a homem
OMAHA, Neb. — The next generation of Buffetts is poised to become one of the most powerful forces in philanthropy when their 94-year-old father, the legendary businessman and leader of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, eventually dies.
Buffett announced in June that he would donate his fortune, now valued at nearly $144 billion, to a charitable trust managed by his three children when he dies instead of giving it to the Gates Foundation, as he indicated 18 years ago. In the meantime, the elder Buffett continues to make substantial annual donations to the Gates Foundation and his four family foundations, which will continue throughout his lifetime.
Buffett has entrusted Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates with significant annual gifts to their foundation since 2006 — a remarkable $43 billion.
“Wealthy people don’t tend to give their money to other people to give away,” said James Ferris, founding director of The Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at the University of Southern California. But many wealthiest people are also hesitant to hand over their fortunes to the next generation because they are concerned that it hampers their ingenuity, he said.
Ferris thinks Bu
The next generation of Buffetts is poised to become a huge force in philanthropy
Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway chief had previously suggested his wealth would go to the Gates Foundation, but in a twist revealed in June, he opted to entrust nearly $144bn to a trust managed by his offspring
Howard, Susie and Peter Buffett are set to become a philanthropic powerhouse following their father Warren Buffett's decision to leave his vast fortune to them for charitable use.
The legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway chief had previously suggested his wealth would go to the Gates Foundation, but in a twist revealed in June, he opted to entrust nearly $144bn to a trust managed by his offspring. The Buffett progeny will have a decade to distribute the funds once they inherit them, according to the nonagenarian magnate's plans.
Warren Buffett continues to support the Gates Foundation with substantial yearly contributions, alongside donations to his own family foundationsa commitment he intends to maintain for the rest of his days. He first hinted at establishing a new charitable trust last November.
Howard Buffett has ec