Dien, Don't Wait. Start Your Charitable Foundation Right Now...

Dien:
1....Then I'd like to perhaps set up a charitable foundation which was funded...through the.... That's so some good could come out of this, and hopefully will also continue after I die.

2.Another long term goal of mine is to found a scientific research institute...
3.and also perhaps a private university (or two).

Simon:
Don't wait.
Start them right now.
This was a piece of advice I recieved from a wise teacher of mine...
Beleive me, you won't be building them with YOUR money in the first (last?) place.
So, why wait?

Look at how Michael J. Fox Foundation was built.
Don't think that you HAVE to be Michael J. Fox to back this thing up.
You can always find A michael j. fox who will tell you upon hearing your idea up: "I've been dreaming about this my whole life".

Same goes for the universities...

Simon

Hmmmm...
how does one start a foundation?

Taylor

> Dien:
> 1....Then I'd like to perhaps set up a
> charitable foundation which was
> funded...through the.... That's so some good
> could come out of this, and hopefully will
> also continue after I die.

> 2.Another long term goal of mine is to found
> a scientific research institute...
> 3.and also perhaps a private university (or
> two).

> Simon:
> Don't wait.
> Start them right now.
> This was a piece of advice I recieved from a
> wise teacher of mine...
> Beleive me, you won't be building them with
> YOUR money in the first (last?) place.
> So, why wait?

> Look at how Michael J. Fox Foundation was
> built.
> Don't think that you HAVE to be Michael J.
> Fox to back this thing up.
> You can always find A michael j. fox who
> will tell you upon hearing your idea up:
> "I've been dreaming about this my whole
> life".

> Same goes for the universities...

> Simon

> Don't wait.
> Start them right now.
> This was a piece of advice I recieved from a
> wise teacher of mine...

Hi Simon,

You certainly could start the foundations now, even if it wasn't the whole thing. The foundations of the foundation. :)

Thanks for the advice.... :)

What I had in mind was something like the Buffett Foundation (set up by Warren Buffett). That is, a charity which invests some of its wealth in stocks.... The profits are then distributed to help people or benefit humanity in some way.

What I like about this is that it could in principle continue to distribute aid after you pass away.... I like the idea of continuing to help people after you have gone....

- Dien

Dien Rice (from an interview):

... What I had in mind was something like the
Buffett Foundation (set up by Warren
Buffett). That is, a charity which invests
some of its wealth in stocks.... The profits
are then distributed to help people or
benefit humanity in some way.

What I like about this is that it could in
principle continue to distribute aid after
you pass away.... I like the idea of
continuing to help people after you have
gone....
----------
First, I started to read up ALL I could on the topic.
That means a LOT.
It took a long time too (you know how big that topic is)...

After a certain amount of time, I started to feel like I was quite knowledgeable on the topic...

-------------------------
Here is what I liked about Buffet Foundation:

No matter how much Warren E. Buffett has been criticized for not giving away more of his billions, he is unlikely to waver from his belief that the best thing he can do is leave all his money to charity after he's dead.
That way, he reasons, he can keep using his investment MAGIC to keep multiplying the amount available for his philanthropy.

Mr. Buffett owns more than 40 per cent of the stock in his Berkshire Hathaway investment company. He has made clear that he and his wife, Susan T. Buffett, will give the Buffett Foundation all of their stock upon their deaths. Such a gift would instantly make the Buffett Foundation the nation's largest, overshadowing the Ford Foundation and all others.

Although Mr. and Mrs. Buffett have devoted many of their gifts to date to the cause of population control, he said that they would place no restrictions on how the Buffett Foundation could spend the huge bequest.
Mr. Buffett: "You don't know what the major problems of the world will be or what the funding sources will be or anything. So they have total discretion."

The private fund, does NOT accept grant applications.

Roger Lowenstein, in his book, Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, wrote that Mr. Buffett and his wife were firm believers in population control but for different reasons.

The Buffett Foundation has supported many charities that have no interest in population matters.

Warren Buffett has found an unusual way to fill up the coffers of his foundation.
Mr. Buffett, in his role as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has given its shareholders the power to choose the recipients of the company's annual charitable contributions. Owners of stock are allowed to designate one to three charities or private foundations that will receive an amount for each share of Berkshire Hathaway stock that they own. The company then makes donations to the designated organizations by handing over cash or stock.

Each year Mr. Buffett makes his own private foundation the recipient of much if not all of his own shareholder-designated gifts, which allows him to put millions of dollars into the organization that do not come directly from his personal accounts.

Mr. Buffett created a second, much smaller, private foundation in 1990 in order to allow members of his extended family to make gifts of their own.
Each year, this fund -- the Sherwood Foundation, named for the forest in the Robin Hood legend -- allows each of the following to distribute up to $100,000 to the charities of their choice: Mr. Buffett's daughter, Susie; his sons, Howard and Peter; his sister, Doris Bryant; and Astrid Menks, a long-time friend.

Mr. Buffett is quiet about most of his own charitable gifts.

---------------

Hi Simon,

Thanks, you gave some great info. :)

What I had in mind for myself is contained in some of what you said....

> The private fund, does NOT accept grant
> applications.

What I had in mind was something like this.... A private fund.

Which has most of its assets in investments. (Like owning company stocks or property.)

Then the profits from the investments could be distributed to good causes....

What I like about this idea is that, in a sense, the foundation's money can be a "gift that keeps on giving." Since it has a source of income, it can continue to distribute that income, hopefully for a long time, even after I pass away....

(I think this is how the Nobel Prizes are funded, at least originally. Alfred Nobel set up a fund to invest the royalties from his invention of dynamite.)

I like the idea of helping humanity, even after you're gone.

Money and donations is not the only way to do that though. Spreading knowledge is also a "gift that keeps on giving."

Probably the easiest examples to think of about this comes from the spiritual path, where the wisdom we find may have been written thousands of years ago. But even in the financial path, there is knowledge which works like this too....

A whole new generation of people are benefiting from Napoleon Hill's writings, for example, even though he passed away in 1970.

Going further back, there's also a lot of useful knowledge on controlling your finances which you can find in some of Benjamin Franklin's writings from the 18th century.

I guess that's where my ideas for a scientific research institute and a private university would fit in.... It's the gift of knowledge.

But it takes a lot of money to make these things happen. However, I find this vision a powerful motivating force for me.

The possibility to help humanity, even after you're gone, is a compelling vision. :)

- Dien

Gordon has a very powerful program in the Square One Workshops....

I believe it has the power to change lives.

This is one reason why Gordon's work fascinates me. I believe the Square One Workshops can be a true gift to humanity.

It helps people beyond just the financial realm. It goes beyond that, and helps them to achieve a balanced life....

I've really come across nothing like it. Nothing as comprehensive.

Gordon has a powerful gift to give humanity too....

- Dien