Largest Ever Secondary School Endowment from a Berkshire Hathaway Investment

The following entry is based on Sam Dillon, Alumna Gives $128 Million to High School, N.Y. Times, Sept. 19, 2007.

A George School alumna, Barbara Dodd Anderson, made a $128 million donation to the school from her investment in Warren E. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, an investment and insurance holding company. Warren Buffett, one of America’s most celebrated investors, largely attributes his success to his deeply admired professor David L. Dodd. Dodd admitted Buffett to Columbia University well past the deadline after Buffett’s application was rejected by Harvard University. Impressed by Buffett, Professor Dodd put money into Buffett’s investment partnership both for himself and his daughter.

It is that investment money that Professor Dodd’s now 75 year old daughter donated to her school. Her bequest is to be paid over 20 years from a charitable trust, at a rate of $5 million per year for 15 years and $10.7 million per year for the last five, for a total of $128.5 million. Numerous other Berkshire Hathaway investors have also greatly profited from the appreciation of the company’s stock. Many of them, following the lead of the founder himself, have made generous contributions to their schools and charitable organizations.

Special thanks to Kimbery Bridges (Ph.D. candidate, Texas Tech University) for bringing this article to my attention.