Mega Donor Values Warren Buffett (Part 2 of a series)

Mega Donor Values Warren Buffett (Part 2 of a series)

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

This article is part of an ongoing series of excerpts and insights from the recent biography The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business Life by Alice Schroeder.

One of the other business and philanthropic legends of Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. is Peter Kiewit. His construction firm, Kiewit Construction is still highly respected throughout the world.

Warren Buffett noted that Peter Kiewit: “. . . it may well be the most profitable business of its type on the country, an achievement possible only because Kiewit was able to transmit, throughout an organization of thousands of employees, an unremitting insistence on excellence and efficiency. Kiewit was overwhelming a producer, not a consumer. Profits went to build the capacity of the organization, not to provide opulence to the owner.”

With assets of over $400 million, the Kiewit Foundation is the second largest charitable foundation in the state of Nebraska.

Mr. Buffett’s view that owners should reinvest in their companies not their salaries or offices should make some nonprofit CEOs pause. Too often, high salaries, fancy large offices, and free-spending contradict a nonprofit organization’s need for contributions from donors.

If Mr. Buffet were to tour your offices next week, what would he find?

This article is part of series. To read the other articles in the series, please click the links below:

Permanent Link: Mega Donor Values Warren Buffett (Part 2 of a series)

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2009/07/mega-donor-values-warren-buffett-part-2.html

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