Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation funds scholarships for college students from Nebraska and grants to colleges and universities in the U.S. It is also the top private funder of sexual and reproductive health and rights work worldwide.

IP TAKE: While the size of this funder’s global health grants is staggering, it does not accept requests for funding and does not even mention its efforts on its website. Interested grantseekers will likely have difficulty securing funding without an inside connection, since this grant-maker likes to scope its own organizations to fund.

PROFILE: The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation was originally established as the Buffett Foundation in 1964. Susan Buffett, wife to multi-billionaire Warren Buffett, passed away in 2004, after which Buffett renamed the foundation in her honor. In 2006, Warren Buffett pledged nearly $3 billion in Berkshire-Hathaway stock to the organization. Susan Buffett left around $2.5 billion of her own fortune to the foundation, and in 2006, Warren Buffett pledged billions more (over time) to the foundation. In a recent year, STBF made grants of a half-billion dollars, mostly to support sexual and reproductive health and rights in the U.S. and abroad. Although this is a sizable foundation, it maintains a low public profile and does not articulate specific funding priorities other than its Nebraska scholarships program.

Grants for Higher Education

The Buffett Scholarship program awards grants of up to $6,050 per term to students who are “residents of Nebraska, graduates of a Nebraska high school with plans to attend a Nebraska public institution, and who have demonstrated financial need.” Applicants must complete a FAFSA to demonstrate their financial need. Applications become available on November 1 of each year and are due on the following February 1. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation also awards a limited number of grants to colleges and universities in the U.S. Past grantees include Southeast Community College, the University of Michigan, Rutgers University, and Stanford University.

This funder’s higher education grants typically range from $100,000 to $500,000, but have been as high as $10 million. Large, public universities tend to be the recipients of its largest grants.

Grants for Public Health, Global Health, Women and Girls

Despite its financial clout, the STBF does not brand itself as a large philanthropic organization. The foundation’s website features information about its education giving in Nebraska, which is only a small part of its work. The site avoids mention of the foundation’s other philanthropic focus areas or its extensive sexual and reproductive rights work, which spans the world and focuses significant attention on Latin America, the U.S. and Rwanda. In these areas, the foundation prioritizes large nonprofit organizations that work within the sexual and reproductive health and rights field on a global scale. In the past, the STBF has funded organizations like Ipas, International Planned Parenthood and the World Health Organization. The foundation’s grants for global health and reproductive justice may be in the tens of millions of dollars.

Since the Supreme Courts Dobbs v. Jackson decision of 2022, grantmaking for U.S.-based organizations involved in women’s reproductive health has increased. Grantees include the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Network of Abortion Funds, the National Abortion Federation Hotline Fund and If/When/How: Lawyers for Reproductive Justice, each of which has received several millions in support.

Important Grant Details:

The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation’s scholarships are awarded in amounts that relate to students’ needs. Grants for health and women’s reproductive rights range from $100,000 to over $10 million.

  • Global and reproductive health grants are often made in amounts greater than $10 million in support of large global nonprofits and NGOs.

  • This funder provides transparent application information for scholarships on its website but does not accept applications for its health grants.

  • Grantmaking for reproductive health is global in scope, but giving for U.S.-based organizations has increased significantly since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision of 2022.

  • For information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s recent tax filings.

For questions about scholarships, the foundation may be reached via email at scholarships@stbfoundation.org. The foundation’s phone number is (402) 943-1300.

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LINK:

CONTACT:

Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation

808 Conagra Dr., Ste 300

Omaha, NE 68102-5025

402-943-1300