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 Buffett’s changing philanthropic intentions is a positive story. “It shows how a donor is making choices and adapting to circumstances,” he said.
The Gates Foundation did not say when it learned of Buffett’s decision or what the impact would be on its budget. A statement previously stated, “Warren Buffett has been exceedingly generous” and has “played an invaluable role in championing and shaping the foundation’s work to create a world where every person can live a healthy, productive life.”
The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after Warren Buffett’s first wife, is the largest donor organization. It supports organizations that provide reproductive health care and access to contraception and abortion around the world. Susie Buffett, 71, is its board chair, and Peter Buffett, 66, is a board member.
Susie Buffett also leads The Sherwood Foundation, a major national supporter of early childhood development that gives grants to organizations and projects within Omaha, Nebraska, the Buffetts’ hometown.
Peter Buffett’s NoVo Foundation has been a significant funder of organizations advocating for the autonomy of girls and women and against gender-based violence. In 2020, Peter and his wife, Jennifer, decided to reorient their focus, expanding their support for Native American communities and projects to build sustainable, local communities focusing on agriculture and food access.
The Howard G. Buffett Foundation has focused on conflict mitigation and agriculture worldwide. Since 2022, it has donated some $800 million — more than most countries — to humanitarian initiatives in Ukraine during the country’s war with Russia. These include supporting food distribution at schools, demining activities, and rebuilding a major publishing company and a key grain-transporting bridge.
In a relatively rare interview for a family that seldom makes time to speak with the media, Howard Buffett, 69, said he couldn’t predict exactly how he and his siblings would give away their father’s fortune. However, he said they would continue to take risks and find ways to make the most significant difference, as their father recommended.
“I can tell you, we’ll sit down in a room when the time comes, and we’ll get it figured out pretty quickly,” he said, acknowledging that the directive to donate all the money within 10 years was challenging. He said the siblings’ different ways of thinking and approaches to giving are assets.
But don’t expect to find the family name on many buildings. The siblings have largely avoided it, even as they’ve given away more than $15 billion of their father’s money since 2006.
Kathleen Enright, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations, said the Buffetts have effectively made philanthropy a family business. The next generation is now seasoned and built enduring institutions in their foundations.
“It is a big deal,” she said, of the amount of money the Buffetts are poised to give away, noting that because the fortune will likely continue to grow, they will have to give away highly visible sums to spend it down.
The tight timeframe to give away his fortune after his death reflects one of Warren Buffett’s longstanding conditions for receiving charitable funding. He has instructed the Gates Foundation and his family’s foundations to grant out the full amount they received within a year.
The next generation of Buffetts has run their foundations with tiny staffs, much like Warren Buffett oversees his massive Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate with only about two dozen people at its headquarters in Omaha.
