Jul 15, 2024,06:30am EDT
Buffett is in an undisclosed location in the Donetsk Oblast region of eastern Ukraine, capturing photos for his recently published book, Courage of a Nation, through his Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The 220-page book features pictures taken by Buffett, an avid photographer, during 10 trips to Ukraine in the first two years following Russia’s invasion in February 2022. His foundation has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the country, primarily for food security and conflict mitigation. Last year alone, it distributed about a quarter of a billion dollars to organizations operating in Ukraine, and it’s on track to donate another $800 million this year, Buffett told Yahoo Finance last month. “In Ukraine, we are currently responding to the humanitarian crisis created by the full-scale invasion by Russia, but we have ideas of the role we can play when the war ends and the hard work of recovery begins,” Buffett wrote in his foundation’s 2023 annual report. “Too often, the world responds in a big way when a new conflict starts, but in my experience, the hardest work begins when a conflict persists, or a country moves from conflict to recovery.”
For years, Howard and his siblings, Susie and Peter, have quietly but significantly given away their father’s money, making a substantial impact while maintaining a low profile. Between 2001 and 2023, the trio received nearly $7.9 billion in Berkshire Hathaway shares and have donated at least $7.4 billion through their charitable foundations, averaging over $2.2 billion each. Their lifetime giving places them among the top 25 most generous philanthropists in the U.S., ahead of figures like Charles Koch and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. These figures exclude the $8.8 billion distributed by the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after Warren’s first wife, which is chaired by their daughter Susie Buffett and is reportedly the largest private U.S. donor to reproductive health groups.
The spotlight on the Buffett siblings is set to intensify. Last year, their 93-year-old father announced he was appointing them as future distributors of nearly $130 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock, to be managed through a charitable trust upon his death. This trust will hold nearly all of Warren Buffett’s assets, he recently told the Wall Street Journal.
It remains unclear why Buffett chose his children over the Gates Foundation, which has a well-established infrastructure and distributed nearly $8 billion last year. In 2006, Buffett promised to give portions of his Berkshire Hathaway shares to his children’s foundations and the Gates Foundation every June, referring to it as a “lifetime pledge.” However, in late June this year, Buffett told the Wall Street Journal, “The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death,” citing his children’s preparedness to handle the responsibility.
Signs of distancing from the Gates Foundation have been evident since Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce in May 2021. The following month, Buffett resigned from the Gates Foundation’s board, stating his goals were “100% in sync with those of the foundation” and his physical participation was no longer needed. He also stopped attending annual Giving Pledge gatherings, according to Forbes and sources familiar with the event. A Gates Foundation spokesperson pointed Forbes to a statement from its CEO Mark Suzman, acknowledging Buffett’s generous contributions and advice over 18 years.
While questions linger about the Buffett children’s plans for the charitable trust, they have already established their philanthropic paths. Their foundations are notable for their high annual grantmaking relative to their assets, far exceeding the IRS-required 5% payout rate. In 2022, Howard’s and Peter’s foundations gave away about half of their net assets, while Susie’s Sherwood Foundation gave away most of its net assets, compared to the majority of private foundations which give away less than 10%.
Warren Buffett advised his children to give generously each year, stating in his 2006 pledge letters that with annual gifts, there was no need to build large reserves. Because the Buffett children’s foundations don’t retain most of their annual contributions, they remain under the radar despite their significant impact.
The siblings must unanimously decide on the disbursement of funds from their father’s charitable trust. So far, they have established distinct areas of giving, paving their own philanthropic paths over the past two decades.
Howard Buffett
Charitable distributions by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, 2001-2023: $2.7 billion
Gifts to the foundation from Warren Buffett, 2001-2023: $2.7 billion
Most of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation’s support is directed toward food and agricultural assistance, particularly in Ukraine, Rwanda, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In Ukraine, where the foundation’s grants have been concentrated since 2022, it funds landmine removal efforts to enable farmers to plant crops. This includes a $15 million donation to the landmine-clearing nonprofit HALO Trust last year.
Howard Buffett embodies the spirit of an adventurer with a cause. Besides his numerous trips to Ukraine for foundation work, he has spent time at a ranch his foundation purchased in Arizona near the Mexico border, learning about human smuggling and researching viable crops for the region. He has also worked in Colombia and El Salvador for years, aiming to address the root causes driving migration to the U.S.
As a lifelong farmer, prolific writer, and photographer, Buffett’s international travels have profoundly shaped his worldview. He emphasizes the importance of being on the ground to understand the challenges of different places, as he wrote in his foundation’s latest annual report: “I have always believed in showing up, that you must be on the ground, meet the people, see the environment, and sometimes feel the dirt between your fingers and the smells around you just to start to understand a place and its challenges.”
Howard also focuses on local initiatives in Decatur, Illinois, where he lives with his wife, Devon Buffett. The foundation commissioned a police training center in May last year, part of a long-term collaboration with the Police Executive Research Forum. This organization focuses on reducing the use of force and developing crime-reduction strategies. Howard served as sheriff in Macon County, where Decatur is located, from 2017 to 2018, and three years earlier, he was a volunteer deputy sheriff in the county.
Some of the foundation’s largest grants have gone to organizations that Howard runs or is connected to. In 2021, its largest grant—nearly $43.5 million—was awarded to the Center to Combat Human Trafficking in Decatur, Illinois, where Howard serves as the (unpaid) president. That same year, $25 million went to Fundación Para La Paz Y La Seguridad (Foundation for Peace and Security) in Decatur, which supports market access for smallholder farmers in Colombia; Howard is also a director there. Additionally, the foundation donated $15 million to the Decatur-based Public Safety Training Foundation, where Howard serves as a director. Phil Hackney, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh specializing in nonprofits, notes that while this arrangement is unusual, it doesn’t pose legal issues for the IRS as long as Howard isn’t compensated for his roles, thus avoiding “self-dealing” transactions.
Howard, a board member of Berkshire Hathaway since 1993, is expected to be voted in as the company’s non-executive chairman once his father steps down. Warren Buffett told 60 Minutes in 2011 that this decision would help preserve the company’s values. Howard added, “As long as I can keep farming, I’m okay.”
Charitable distributions by Sherwood Foundation, 2001-2023: $2.5 billion
Gifts to foundation from Warren Buffett, 2001-2023: $2.6 billion
Susan A. Buffett, the eldest of the Buffett siblings at age 71, leads the Omaha-based Sherwood Foundation, which focuses on aiding Nebraska’s most vulnerable populations, including the state’s school system. “Here’s the problem: too many children arrive at kindergarten already behind. What’s worse, far too many children keep falling further behind – and never catch up,” Susie, who reportedly taught at inner-city schools in Omaha, wrote on the website of the Buffett Early Childhood Fund. This fund, which received $30 million from the Sherwood Foundation in 2023, supports the critical first five years of childhood education. Susie also chairs the Buffett Early Childhood Fund.
In 2023, the Sherwood Foundation made grants to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support various programs, including a college preparatory academy and a project for vulnerable youth. Other smaller grants were awarded to organizations ranging from food banks and conservation foundations to school districts and mental health organizations.
Susie joined the board of Berkshire Hathaway in 2021. As chair of the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, she has overseen hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to Planned Parenthood and its affiliates.
Peter Buffett
Charitable distributions by NoVo Foundation, 2001-2022: $2.2 billion
Gifts to foundation from Warren Buffett, 2001-2023: $2.6 billion
Peter Buffett, 66, the youngest of Warren’s three children, dropped out of Stanford and built a career in music. He started by composing 15-second tunes for the then-nascent MTV cable channel and creating music for commercials. In the late 1980s, he signed his first record deal for instrumental music during the popularity of New Age music. Notably, he scored the fire dance scene in the Academy Award-winning 1990 film “Dances With Wolves.” His passion for Native American culture and music led to the creation of the theatrical show “Spirit – The Seventh Fire,” which premiered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2004 to celebrate the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian.
Peter and his wife Jennifer, who reside near Kingston, N.Y., previously directed the NoVo Foundation’s funding primarily towards empowering women and girls and ending violence against them. However, in May 2020, following a 25% drop in Berkshire Hathaway stock amid the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Peter announced in a blog post that every NoVo grant was being re-evaluated and that the foundation was shifting its strategy. “We will no longer be siloed into initiative areas,” he wrote. The foundation reportedly laid off some employees, ended multi-year grants, and reduced funding for women and girls’ programs, though the largest grants in 2022 still supported these causes.
Now, the foundation focuses on Indigenous communities, sustainable food growth, supporting children, and projects in the Hudson Valley. In Kingston, these initiatives include a community center with a low-cost laundromat and a family health center providing affordable healthcare. Asked about one effort NoVo has funded that stands out, Peter said via email, “The next big thing will be a lot of small things.”