Billionaire philanthopist Warren Buffett gave away $2.2 billion this year in the form of 19.6 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock. Buffett is a longstanding charitable giver, who has also worked to create charitable opportunities for the world’s other richest people. In 2010 he founded The Giving Pledge with Bill and Melinda Gates, a loosely structured org that encourages billionaires to leave their wealth to charity. Members include Ted Turner, Michael Bloomberg, George Lucas, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The Gates’ run the world’s largest charitable foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Most of Buffett’s charitable gift this year will go to the Gates Foundation, with smaller portions being distributed to other foundations. Buffett has been making similar annual gifts for more than a decade.
