Warren Buffett (USA)
From PhilanthropyWiki
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(USA) In late June 2006, Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man, announced that he will give 85% of his stock in his company, Berkshire Hathaway, to five foundations with most of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (USA). Mr Buffett's donations will not increase the corpus of the foundation, as they must be spent in full in the year after they are given. Fortune magazine estimates the total gift is worth nearly $US37 billion. The Buffett family foundations will also benefit from the gift.
The repercussions of this announcement were felt globally. In Australia there was considerable media reportage on the donation and a subsequent surge of interest in Australia's philanthropic sector. Both the Australian media and those within the philanthropic sector were especially interested in how Mr Buffett's donation compared to Australian philanthropy, both in terms of the volume of structured giving and significant one-off donations.
This sudden focus on Australian philanthropy both renewed and redirected the interest in giving that came about after the unprecendented surge of public donations following the 2004 Tsunami.
Similar significant philanthropic donations that followed this event in Australia include The Thomas Challenge and the philanthropy of John Davis.