The Great Warren Buffet

This is my third "The Great X", and hopefully, not the last one.

Today, we awoke with an exciting new: "Buffett to Give Bulk of His Fortune to Charities". Mr. Buffet, the second richest man in the world has taken the decision to give away 85% of his fortune (about $37.4 billion).

Warren Buffett came from a small town and made it big without losing sight of his roots in the process. Even though he is a billionaire many times over, he still lives in the same house he bought before he was rich and is considered an all-around good guy.
He turned his company, Berkshire Hathaway, almost single-handedly over the last 30 years, into a Fortune 500 powerhouse. He has amassed a personal fortune of $36 billion dollars and is considered the most successful investor of all-time.

Buffett, 75, has for decades said his wealth would go to philanthropy but has just as steadily indicated the handoff would be made at his death. Now he was revising the timetable.

Here are the recipients of this extraordinaire philanthropist donation of shares:

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Ten million shares (aprox. $30b)

This foundation, the largest in the world, has around $30 billion of assets right now and has given away $8 billion in its 12 years of existence. Most of its money (typically funneled through partners) has gone to world health programs and to U.S. education. Buffett's gifts to this foundation will continue only as long as either Bill or Melinda Gates is alive and active in its work.

Combining the two fortunes will create a $60 billion philanthropic vehicle that will dwarf the $11 billion Ford Foundation, the $8.3 billion Lilly Endowment and the $5.5 billion Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. By comparison, the United Nations and its agencies spend about $12 billion per year. The gift, valued today at more than $30 billion, will create a philanthropic organization with potential to significantly shape social issues including child mortality, disease control and education.

"Rather than competing, they are going to pool their resources for common causes. They are going to affect millions of lives" says Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy.

• Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation: One million shares

Once called simply the Buffett Foundation and renamed in 2004 for Buffett's wife, who died that year, this foundation has $270 million in assets. Most of its funds came from the estate of Susan T. Buffett, and $2.1 billion more is expected from that source. This foundation has focused on reproductive health, family planning, and pro-choice causes, and on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

• Susan A. Buffett Foundation: 350,000 shares

This philanthropy is named for and chaired by Buffett's daughter, 52, who lives in Omaha (and who has also chaired the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation since her mother's death). The daughter's foundation, which today has $118 million in assets, has funded early education for children of low-income families. With her father's new gifts, Susan Buffett expects to continue that work and expand into public-education and foster-care grants.

• Howard G. Buffett Foundation: 350,000 shares

Now holding $129 million in assets, this foundation was set up by Buffett's older son, 51, who farms 840 acres outside Decatur, Ill., and is on several corporate boards, including Berkshire's. (His middle name, by the way, is Graham - for famed investor Ben Graham.)

This foundation's giving has been very international, taking in 42 countries and often aimed at conservation goals such as the protection of African wildlife habitats. But with its new money, the foundation plans to move much more heavily into clean-water projects, food relief, the plight of children entangled in illegal immigration, and other humanitarian areas.

• NoVo Foundation: 350,000 shares

Named for the Latin word novo (meaning "I alter"), this foundation is run by Peter Buffett, 48, a musician and composer, and his wife, Jennifer, who live in New York City. Currently holding $120 million in assets, it has focused on funding individuals and organizations working to open up education opportunities, reverse environmental degradation, uphold human rights, and improve understanding and respect among various cultures and ethnicities.

So, again, I've found another role model to follow. It's very inspirational to find people in the world with the ideas so clear, with a so wide heart, with such a tremendous generosity. I wasn't wrong when I called him The Great, he is one of my Greats.

Lets all (at our possible level) follow their steps!

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/business/26buffett.html?hp&ex=1151380800&en=db528d55ed9f06b1&ei=5094&partner=homepage
http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/25/magazines/fortune/charity3.fortune/index.htm