Donating Buffett’s billions: Susie, siblings, tasked with giving away investor’s fortune

The billionaire’s morning routine still sees him leave the Omaha home he’s inhabited for 66 years, his daughter Susie Buffett says, often picking up breakfast at McDonald’s on the way to work. When he gets there, he’s guided by the same investing philosophy that made him a titan of finance.

But last year, a letter to shareholders appeared on Berkshire Hathaway’s austere website announcing a seismic change of heart for Buffett.

That shocking twist — Buffett declared that he’s willing nearly all of his immense wealth to a charitable trust overseen by his three children — will transform his kids into some of the world’s most influential philanthropists when the 94-year-old dies.

And, according to local and national observers, it’s likely to result in billions more flowing through four foundations tied to the family — including an Omaha-oriented grantmaking powerhouse.

The Sherwood Foundation, steered by Susie Buffett, is already a vital philanthropic organ in the city, contributing more than $130 million to local charities and initiatives in each of the last six years.

Susie Buffett told the Flatwater Free Press she anticipates Sherwood’s giving will remain in Nebraska if there’s an influx of funding. “It’s impossible at this point to know what the impact would be,” she wrote in an email. “I hope it’s all positive. That’s always the goal!”

“It matters to me that we are responding to what the community needs,” she added. “I never want to assume that I (or anyone at Sherwood) know what’s best for others. So when the time comes, we will do our best to listen and respond.”

Omaha’s nonprofit leaders are enthusiastic about the prospect of the foundation getting a piece of Warren Buffett’s remaining Berkshire stock, currently valued at roughly $145 billion. It could make a big difference.

It’s unclear how much each of the family foundations could receive. But if Sherwood eventually gets one-eighth of the pie — in line with Buffett’s recent allocation to the foundations — the organization would see its coffers filled with more than $18 billion in stock holdings, based on Dec. 4 prices.

For context, the 10th largest foundation in the U.S., the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, reported nearly $8.3 billion in assets, according to the nonprofit tracker Candid.

Sherwood’s total assets in 2023 were about $460 million.

Even as the city could be in line to hit the philanthropic jackpot, the Buffett billions won’t last forever — and that’s by design.

In keeping with Warren Buffett’s rejection of “dynastic wealth,” the family foundations are set up to sunset, preventing them from existing in perpetuity.

Peter Buffett, Warren’s youngest son, said he doesn’t know the specific sunsetting plans for each of the four family foundations, but he believes they will likely operate on different timelines for spending down their assets.

Susie Buffett said there is no trigger in place for Sherwood’s closure, but that will be decided after her father dies.

“At some point in the future … there won’t be that kind of money available in Omaha,” said Vic Gutman, a longtime nonprofit fundraiser.

Solving an unusual problem

Two decades ago, Warren Buffett faced an enviable problem: He had to give away one of the world’s largest fortunes.

Buffett found what he thought was a permanent solution in fellow billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates. In 2006, he pledged his support — in life and death — to the couple’s global foundation focused on reducing poverty and boosting health care.

To date, Buffett has given about $43 billion to the Gates Foundation, but last year’s letter spelled the beginning of the end of that partnership.

Instead, Buffett’s adult children will call the shots on donating their father’s posthumous assets.

Buffett recently wrote that observing his kids in action over the last two decades has given him “extraordinary confidence” in their philanthropic abilities.

“Their mother, from whom they learned these values, would be very proud of them. As am I,” Buffett wrote.

In the early days of the Buffetts’ burgeoning wealth, the formula was simple: Warren made the money, and his wife Susan gave it away to charitable causes, said Steve Jordon, a former Omaha World-Herald reporter.

Susan Buffett’s passion for supporting education, medical advancement and reproductive health initiatives powered the Buffett Foundation, the family’s main philanthropic organ from 1964 until the mid-2000s.

Susan died in 2004, leaving most of her estate to the foundation, which Warren renamed in her honor. She also left $10 million to each of her children, which they used to kickstart their own fledgling foundations.

Though the Gates Foundation has been the primary vehicle for Buffett’s giving since Susan’s death, he has steadily donated smaller but still sizable amounts to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and his kids’ foundations.

His eldest child Susie, 71, has centered her giving on her hometown — more than 70% of the Sherwood Foundation’s grants went to Omaha-based nonprofits and initiatives in the past decade, according to a Flatwater review of IRS filings.

Over its lifetime, the foundation has given more than $2 billion in grants to wide-ranging causes including public schools, child abuse treatment programs, juvenile justice projects, food banks and arts initiatives. (Editor’s note: Sherwood has also previously donated to the Nebraska Journalism Trust, Flatwater’s parent organization.)

Howard, 69, has taken a more global approach, funding a series of international conservation, agriculture, public health and peacekeeping projects, most recently in war-stricken Ukraine.

Peter Buffett, 66, and his wife, Jennifer, run the NoVo Foundation, which funds initiatives promoting gender equality, social justice and education, as well as dozens of local programs in upstate New York.

After their father dies, his Berkshire stock will go into a trust that requires unanimity from the three children to disperse. The siblings generally communicate well and get along, said Gutman, the Omaha fundraiser.

Buffett initially said the trust would self-liquidate after “a decade or so,” but his recent writings removed that deadline, noting that his kids are responsible for “gradually distributing” his holdings.

He unveiled last month that several alternate trustees have been chosen to succeed Susie, Howard and Peter in charitable decision making if they don’t live to complete the task.

Susie, Howard and Peter haven’t determined how they’ll allocate their father’s extensive holdings or whether the money will flow through existing family foundations, Peter Buffett told the Flatwater Free Press in an email.

“Obviously, we’ve all been thinking about this and talked through a few scenarios, but we continually come back to the fact that there are too many variables that we’ll have to consider when the moment comes,” he said.

In Warren Buffett’s Thanksgiving disbursements to the family foundations, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, chaired by Susie Buffett, received more than $700 million worth of Berkshire stock, while each of his children’s foundations got about $140 million in stock. It’s unclear if that division of resources between the foundations will continue after the billionaire’s death.

Warren and Howard Buffett declined to comment for this story.

Gutman doesn’t think an influx of money to the foundation would substantially change its mission or structure.

“I don’t see Susie changing a lot. I think she is who she is, and her values are her values,” he said.

For Omaha nonprofits, it’s a relief knowing that the city’s leading philanthropist will have influence over billions of dollars, in part because other large Omaha foundations are going away.

A prominent foundation created by early Berkshire investor Dick Holland will soon sunset, and the Peter Kiewit Foundation recently announced it will follow suit in 2030.

Eventually, Sherwood and the other three Buffett family foundations will also give away all their money and fade away, Gutman said.

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation will dissolve on Dec. 31, 2045, according to its website. The details surrounding the other foundations’ sunsets aren’t clear, Gutman said.

Some industry leaders have faith the giving spirit of the Buffetts and other Berkshire-tied families will outlive their money.

“There is still tremendous wealth in this community, and there will be future generations of philanthropists,” said Donna Kush, president of the Omaha Community Foundation.

“They may look a little different; they may go about it a little differently, but … they will take that responsibility very seriously I believe.” Kush said. “All is not lost.”

This article was reported through a fellowship supported by the Lilly Endowment and administered by the Chronicle of Philanthropy to expand coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The Flatwater Free Press is solely responsible for all content.

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