Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Warren Buffett changes giving plans (for the worse), published by katriel on July 16, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.

Folks in philanthropy and development definitely know that the Gates Foundation is the largest private player in that realm by far. Until recently it was likely to get even larger, as Warren Buffet had stated that the Foundation would receive the bulk of his assets when he died. A few weeks ago, Buffet announced that he had changed his mind, and was instead going to create a new trust for his assets, to be jointly managed by his children.

It's a huge change, but I don't think very many people took note of what it means ("A billionaire is going to create his own foundation rather than giving to an existing one; seems unsurprising."). So I created this chart:

The new Buffet-funded trust is going to be nearly twice as large as the Gates Foundation, and nearly 150% larger than most of the other brand names among large foundations, combined. So what's going to happen with that money? That's where it gets really scary. The three Buffet children who will be in charge are almost entirely focused on lightly populated parts of the US, and one of them is apparently funding private militias operating on the US border.

If you at all subscribe to ideas of effectiveness in philanthropy, this is one of the most disastrous decisions in philanthropic history, and like I said, not getting enough attention.

Source: Tim Ogden. July 15, 2024. The faiv: Five notes on financial inclusion

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