Current Events: Warren Buffett Giving Fortune to Gates Foundation With Conditions
Warren Buffett's contribution of about $1.5 billion a year to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be used to seek cures for the world's worst diseases and improve American education, Bill Gates said Monday [6/26/06]. Read more here.

The Gates Foundation has been getting a lot of press recently but I think that it came as a shock to many when this was announced. Buffett is the world’s second richest man, second only to Gates. With this gift, Buffett is giving away something like 85% of his money. I think this combination of philanthropy will have major implications for the U.S. and the world.

This reminds me of the philanthropy of the Gilded Age “Robber Barons” like J. D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie (picture at left) that are still having a major impact on American even though their foundations were established some 100 years ago.

There has also been an upswing in household giving in the U.S., despite fear of “donor fatigue.” My wife and I give to Doctors Without Boarders and Save the Children on a regular basis and have give to UNICEF, SaveDarfur.org, and other charities. I believe that give to charity is a duty for everyone who can afford it—even if it’s not much.

We should keep an eye on this story.