Two kinds of high-profile 2015 commitments for the public good were not included in the Philanthropy 50, one because the money did not go to a 501(c)(3) organization and the other because it was paying off previous pledges to nonprofits. Pledges are counted in the year they are made but not again as they are paid off, to avoid double counting.
The December 1 announcement by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg that they intend to donate 99 percent of their Facebook stock to “improving this world” did not qualify for the list because they will do it through a limited-liability company, not a nonprofit.
Warren Buffett is missing from the list, even though the 85-year-old continues to pay off billions of dollars in pledges he made in 2006 to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and to his family’s foundations.
That year, he pledged shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock valued at more than $30 billion to the Gates foundation and has been making annual payments toward that commitment ever since, totaling more than $17.3 billion so far.
In 2015 he gave 15,756,234 shares of Berkshire Hathaway class “B” stock valued at nearly $2.2 billion toward the pledge.
In 2006, he also promised to give about $3.6 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which is named for his first wife. In 2015, he gave 1,575,623 shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock, valued at $215.7 million, bringing the total so far to almost $1.6 billion. Mr. Buffett also promised in 2006 to give about $1.3 billion apiece to each of his three children’s foundations.
Last year, he donated 1,102,932 shares, worth $151 million, apiece, bringing the total to $823.7 million each.
The Howard G. Buffett Foundation gives money to agricultural development, clean-water projects, and programs working to fight poverty.
The NoVo Foundation, co-founded by Peter Buffett and his wife, Jennifer, seeks to improve the well-being of girls and women globally and supports economic and education programs.
The Sherwood Foundation, founded by daughter Susan Buffett, supports social-justice and early-childhood education.
The Philanthropy 50 report was compiled by Maria Di Mento, with assistance from Kathleen Kelly and Nicole Lewis.