Mega Donor Values Warren Buffett (Part 3 of a series)

Mega Donor Values Warren Buffett (Part 3 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.

We are all aware of the Rockefeller Foundation and Rockefeller University but I hadn’t heard any stories before about John D. Rockefeller’s importance to American philanthropy. These items were listed as philanthropic initiatives that caught the attention of Mr. Buffett.

“Mr. Rockefeller sent Abraham Flexner to study medical education in the United States. His report caused a scandal and convinced the Rockefeller Foundation to donate enough money to revolutionize medical education.

“Rockefeller also wanted to tackle problems that lacked a natural funding constituency. He found that poor black colleges, lacking rich alumni, had no way to improve themselves. In effect, John D. Rockefeller became their alumnus.”

What a great role model donor. I had no idea. To hire people to proactively look for problems that needed solving (medical schools) or poor nonprofits that needed adoption (poor black colleges), takes great insight and courage. I can see why Mr. Buffett was impressed.

I’m sharing some of these stories, as they may be useful for you as a major gifts officer to share at your board meetings or with donors who need to think through their own philanthropic legacy.

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 3 of a series)

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2009/07/mega-donor-values-warren-buffett-part-3.html

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)