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Mumbai: Charity got its biggest boost on Sunday when the world's second richest man, Warren Buffett, pledged to donate $37 billion - about 85 per cent of his $44 billion fortune - to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The pooling of resources of the richest two would also create the world's largest charity organisation. Buffet's contribution could double the net worth of Gates Foundation, which already has assets worth nearly $27 billion. Buffett will join Gates as a trustee of the foundation, which will have combined assets of over $65 billion. This dwarfs the second-largest charitable organisation in the US - the Ford Foundation, with assets of $11.6 billion - and even the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), which has $610 million in assets. Buffet, chairman of Berkshiter Hathaway Inc, now joins the rank of the great entrepreneur-philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Kellog and Bill Gates. He proposes to channel the donations mostly in Berkshire stocks - about $31 billion - into the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation funds programmes for improving health and education, especially in poor countries. In 2003, the foundation made grants totalling $1.18 billion. The foundation uses nearly half of its resources for its US programmes while the rest are directed towards supporting its international programmes. Buffett, however, will make the contribution over a period, increasing the amount by five per cent each year. The transfer of funds could also change in an unexpected way if Buffett dies before the entire payment is made. The donation terms also make it clear that for continued transfer of funds to the foundation, active participation of at least one of the Gates is necessary. The announcement comes days after the Microsoft chairman and the world's richest man, Bill Gates, announced his plans to step down from his daily duties at Microsoft by the year 2008 and devote more time to his philanthropy foundation. The Seattle-based Gates Foundation made $1.36 billion in grant payments in 2005. The Buffet donation would help the foundation double its current programmes and funding plans. For Gates his long-term vision is to improve the lives of millions of people across the globe. And he believes not just in giving aid but in making it work as well. By linking their fortunes and legacies through the Gates foundation, Gates 50 and Buffet, 75, have given a fresh impetus to the business of charity.
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