Rebecca Susan Buffett Foundation

• The foundation accepts no unsolicited requests and makes contributions only to preselected charitable organisations, so a cold application is unlikely to be considered.
• If your work serves people with mental illnesses, provides or supports scholarships for higher education, or serves underprivileged children, it matches the areas the foundation names publicly; if it does not, this foundation is unlikely to be a fit.
• Its giving is highly repeat: 99% of its grant dollars to organisations went to organisations it had also funded in earlier filings, so most of its money already goes to known recipients.
• Half of its 102 grants to organisations were $10,000 or less, and about 8 in 10 fall between $500 and $335,000, so a modest request in the lower part of that range is the most realistic; the largest grant was about $11,500,000, so that band is typical rather than a ceiling.
• The filings show grants mainly in Nebraska and Illinois, but no geographic focus is stated, so location alone should not decide whether to approach it.

The largest grants to organisations in the foundation’s latest filing:

• Thresholds · General operating
  $4,200,0002025 tax year
• Buffett Early Childhood Fund · General operating
  $3,000,0002025 tax year
• University of Nebraska Foundation · General operating
  $1,002,5282025 tax year
• Cornell College · General operating
  $1,000,0002025 tax year
• Latino Center of the Midlands · General operating
  $500,0002025 tax year
• Girls Incorporated · General operating
  $334,0002025 tax year
• Northstar Foundation · General operating
  $265,0002025 tax year
• Boys & Girls Club · General operating
  $215,0002025 tax year

Grants to organisations listed in the foundation’s Form 990-PF filings. Grants to individuals are not shown.

Figures from the foundation’s IRS Form 990-PF filings. Assets are at fair market value at year end. The document icon links to each year’s filing on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.