WASHINGTON, June 25, 2006 (AFP) - By joining forces with his friend and fellow billionaire Bill Gates, Warren Buffett is helping shape a new era of super philanthropy with large-scale, global initiatives.
Buffett announced the biggest single charitable gift in history on Sunday, saying he would donate 85 percent of his vast wealth to the foundation run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda.
Buffett's gift of some 30 billion dollars will double the resources of the foundation, which was already the largest charitable foundation in the world.
While private foundations have traditionally focused on causes within US borders, often in the cities where the family business is based, Gates -- now with Buffett's generous help -- has emphasized the plight of those in developing countries suffering from deadly diseases.
Instead of building up his own charity under his name like other tycoons, Buffett broke the mold and decided to set aside most of his riches for an organization that was already engaged in the causes he cared about.
"In that sense this is new and unique," said Dwight Burlingame, associate executive director of the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University. "I think that's the challenge he has laid down here."
Buffett himself said in an interview with Fortune magazine that he hoped other wealthy donors might follow his approach and give to organizations with experience and expertise rather than duplicating efforts through new charities.
"I have small hopes that what I'm doing might encourage other very rich people thinking about philanthropy to decide they didn't necessarily have to set up their own foundations but could look around for the best of those that were up and running and available to handle their money," he said.
Burlingame called it "an intriguing idea" and that "maybe we will see more of that in the transfer of wealth in the next 20 years."
Famous for his shrewd investment moves, Buffett's decision was in keeping with the outlook that guided the stunning success of his company Berkshire Hathaway, according to Burlingame.
"In choosing a foundation that's up and running ... he gets the kind of efficiencies in his philanthropy that he certainly demands in his business practices," he said.
Industrialists from another age often passed on their wealth to their heirs and a small number dedicated their wealth to local charities, including libraries and hospitals.
Both Buffett and Gates have said they had ruled out giving their wealth to their children, saying they believed it would do their offspring more harm than good while failing to help those in need.
In his letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Buffett praised the couple for applying their talents to "improving the lives of millions of fellow humans who have not been as lucky as the three of us."
The Gates foundation has won acclaim for its aid work concentrating on combating HIV, malaria and tuberculosis around the globe, devoting funding to medical research, vaccines and the distribution of medicine.
The foundation's investment in public health in the developing world outstrips many governments and international organizations. Ninety percent of all aid directed at eradicating polio comes from the Gates foundation.
Bill Gates recently gave up his daily duties as head of Microsoft to devote himself full time to the foundation's work, which also includes a US campaign to improve education in the country's secondary schools.
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