Warren Buffet To Give About $3B To Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation, More Than $30B To Gates Foundation

Berkshire Hathaway Chair Warren Buffett on Sunday in a letter disclosed that he plans to donate stock currently valued at about $3 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which is named after his late wife and supports reproductive health and rights, family planning and college scholarship programs, the Wall Street Journal reports (Richardson, Wall Street Journal, 6/26). Warren Buffett's donation will be added to the $2.5 billion bestowed to the foundation in the will of Susan Thompson Buffett, who in 2004 died of a stroke (Loomis [1], Fortune, 6/25). The Buffett Foundation has been a "quiet force" in population control and has made "substantial donations" to organizations that support abortion rights, according to the Journal (Wall Street Journal, 6/26). In the past, the Buffets' philanthropic efforts reportedly have contributed to the Center for Reproductive Rights in support of its court battle to overturn Nebraska's ban on so-called "partial-birth" abortion; the ban was overturned in 2001. Their foundation also has given money to Ipas, the Population Council, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Family Health International, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Catholics for a Free Choice and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. In addition, they funded millions of dollars to help mifepristone, which causes a medical abortion when taken in conjunction with the drug misoprostol, win FDA approval (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/25/03).

Donation Given To Gates Foundation
Many observers had expected Buffett to give most of his money to the Buffett Foundation, but on Sunday he disclosed that his biggest donation will be stock valued at $30.7 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which works on global health and poverty issues, the Chicago Tribune reports (Miller, Chicago Tribune, 6/26). Buffet said, "If I had died before Susie and she had begun to distribute our wealth, this is the foundation that would have scaled up to a much bigger size," adding, "I came to realize that there was a terrific foundation that was already scaled up ... and that could productively use my money now." Buffett Foundation President Allen Greenberg has "done an excellent and thoughtful job of running it," Buffet said, adding, "His results-to-cost ratio is as good as I've ever seen. And he'll keep on that same path now, not just with Susie's money, but with mine too" (Loomis [2], Fortune, 6/25). Buffett also announced that he plans to give $1.07 billion each to foundations run by his three children -- the Howard G. Buffet Foundation, the Susan A. Buffet Foundation and the NoVo Foundation, according to the Tribune. The foundations support the arts, child protection, education and the environment (Chicago Tribune, 6/26).

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