Development Co‑operation Profiles: Susan T. Buffett Foundation
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The Susan T. Buffett Foundation is a charitable organisation formed in 1964 in Omaha, Nebraska, by investor and industrialist Warren Buffett as a vehicle to manage his charitable giving. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation was renamed in honour of his wife, Susan Buffett, who passed away in 2004.
As regards its international activities, the foundation focuses primarily on reproductive health services.
This profile is based on OECD estimates1. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Susan T. Buffett Foundation provided USD 397.7 million for development in 2023 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2022, this amount represents an increase of 62% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of the Susan T. Buffett Foundation’s gross disbursements.
In 2023, the Susan T. Buffett Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mainly through the public sector (USD 173.5 million) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 99.5 million).
In 2023, the Susan T. Buffett Foundation provided USD 48.7 million to the multilateral system, representing 12.3% of its total development finance. All multilateral contributions were earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes or purposes. Almost the entirety (97.9%) of these multilateral contributions was channelled through United Nations (UN) organisations and UN funds and programmes.
The UN system received USD 47.7 million from Susan T. Buffett Foundation in 2023. The most significant UN recipients were WHO - Core Voluntary Contributions Account (CVCA) (USD 43.2 million) and UNICEF (USD 1.5 million).
See the section on Geographic and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2023, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 99.5 million of the Susan T. Buffett Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 54.2% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 25% of the contributions were earmarked for specific projects or programmes, while none of the contributions were allocated to CSOs as core support. From 2022 to 2023, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 79.9% to 25%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2023, Susan T. Buffett Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. USD 306.1 million was allocated to Africa and USD 1.4 million to Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting respectively for 77% and 0.3% of gross bilateral development finance. A sum of USD 90.3 million (22.7%) was unspecified by region in 2023, mainly including multi-regional programmes, core support and research grants.
In 2023, 70.7% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably Rwanda and Ethiopia.
Least developed countries (LDCs) received respectively USD 292.4 million (73.5%) of the Susan T. Buffett Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2023. Susan T. Buffett Foundation allocated the highest share (73.5%) of its bilateral development finance to least developed countries in 2023, followed by upper middle-income countries (1.6%), noting that USD 95 million (23.9%) was unallocated by income group.
Furthermore, the Susan T. Buffett Foundation allocated USD 214.1 million of its development finance to landlocked developing countries in 2023, and USD 1 million to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2023. The main SIDS recipient is Guinea-Bissau.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 262.2 million in 2023, representing 65.9% of the Susan T. Buffett Foundation’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extreme fragility received a sum of USD 18 million.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, the entirety of the Susan T. Buffett Foundation’s bilateral contributions was allocated to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area amounted to USD 397.7 million.
In 2023, the Susan T. Buffett Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 5 (gender equality) SDG 3 (good health and well-being) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Support to SDG 5 amounted to USD 397.7 million.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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← 1. This profile is based on estimates using information available in the Susan T. Buffett Foundation’s publicly available tax return forms (990-PF).
