When he closes his “family foundation”, I might believe him, until then, not so much.
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Allen Greenberg, the Executive Director of the foundaton, was married from 1983 to 1995, to the Buffetts’ daughter, Susie, who is Chair. The Buffett Foundation was set up in 1964 but had no director until Greenberg took the job in 1987.
By 2008, the Foundation had nearly $4 billion in assets.
Buffett Foundation does not accept unsolicited requests, preferring instead to seek out worthy recipients on its own.
Of the $17.6 million that the Buffett Foundation donated in the fiscal year ended June 30, 1999, nearly $3.8 million went to Planned Parenthood, among its top contributors. It also involves itself directly at the clinic level. Buffett money has enabled dozens of Planned Parenthood clinics to add abortion to their services, for example $178,000 to the University of Michigan clinic.
International Projects Assistance Services (IPAS), based in Carrboro, N.C., manufactures a handheld suction pump used in developing countries to initiate abortions. The Buffett Foundation has backed IPAS for years. Its 1999 contribution of $2.5 million is part of a five-year, $20 million commitment that will enable IPAS to double its capacity.
Giving away such a large part of his company holding could prove problematic in that much of the business of Berkshire Hathaway consists of stock-issuing insurance companies, such as GEICO and General Re. In the past, many state insurance regulators have had serious concerns about allowing for-profit insurance companies – as opposed to mutual insurance companies – to be ultimately controlled by non-profit entities.
In a famous case regarding this, the MacArthur Foundation was forced to divest itself of Bankers Life and Accident.