About
Established in 1999
Established in 1999, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation’s mission is to catalyze transformational change to improve the standard of living and quality of life, particularly for the world’s most impoverished and marginalized populations. We use our resources to improve conditions and create change in the most difficult circumstances and geographies.
We invest our funding in three main areas: food security, conflict mitigation and countering human trafficking.
The Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, and we typically do not provide general operating support. December 31, 2045, is the final dissolution of the Foundation’s assets.
Leadership
Howard G. Buffett
Chairman & CEO
Howard G. Buffett is the Chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, a private charitable foundation investing in global food security, conflict mitigation, and efforts to counter human trafficking. Mr. Buffett has been active in agriculture, business, conservation, philanthropy, photography, law enforcement, politics, and farms in Illinois.
He has served in a number of public positions including election to the Douglas County Board of Commissioners in Nebraska, serving on two Office of the United States Trade Representative committees, as Chairman of the Nebraska Ethanol Authority and Development Board, as Sheriff of Macon County, Illinois, as a member of the Commission on Presidential Debates, and as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Against Hunger on behalf of the World Food Programme.
Mr. Buffett held senior executive positions at Archer Daniels Midland Company and The GSI Group. He currently serves on the corporate board of Berkshire Hathaway, and previously served on the boards of Archer Daniels Midland, The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Enterprises, ConAgra Foods, Lindsay Corporation, Agro Tech Foods, and Sloan Implement.
Mr. Buffett has received a number of honors from several governments including: the Order of San Carlos from the President of Colombia; the Great Cross Order of Merit from the government of Colombia; the Wilson Jesus de Jesus Martinez Jaraba Military Medal of Humanitarian Demining from the government of Colombia; the Fe en la Causa Medal from the government of Colombia; the Order of Police Merit Gold Cross from the President of El Salvador; the Aztec Eagle Award from the President of Mexico; the Igihango National Order of Outstanding Friendship Medal from the President of Rwanda; The Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise from the President of Ukraine; the Certificate of Merit for Distinguished Service to the Ukrainian People from the Parliament of Ukraine; the Presidential National Legend of Ukraine Award from the President of Ukraine; and the Golden Heart Presidential Award of Ukraine from the President of Ukraine.
Additionally, he has been recognized for his leadership and contributions in agriculture, conservation, journalism, philanthropy, and law enforcement including the George McGovern Leadership Award; the Will Owen Jones Distinguished Journalist of the Year Award; the Columbia University Global Leadership Award; the Norman E. Borlaug Award; the National Sheriffs’ Associate Medal of Merit; and Honorary Doctorates from Pennsylvania State University and Arizona State University.
Mr. Buffett has traveled to 156 countries and authored books on conservation, wildlife, and the human condition, including two New York Times bestsellers, 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World and Our 50-State Border Crisis: How the Mexican Border Fuels the Drug Epidemic Across America. He is the executive producer of four award-winning documentary films: Porcelain War, an Academy Award-nominated film about Ukraine; Virunga, an Academy Award-nominated film about natural resource exploitation in Africa; Emmy Award winner Path of the Panther, documenting efforts to protect Florida’s endangered mountain lions; and The River and The Wall, a film examining how construction of physical barriers impacts people, wildlife, and habitats in the Texas-Mexico border region. In 2025, he received the Peterson Literary Fund’s Journey for Truth Award for his efforts to bring attention to the ongoing war in Ukraine through his photography, writings, public advocacy, and philanthropic support.
View Howard’s writing and photography work.
Ann Kelly Bolten
President
Prior to joining the Foundation full-time in 2011, Ann consulted the Foundation on its water and food security grantmaking as a partner and co-founder of Global Philanthropy Group (GPG). At GPG, she worked with corporations, high-net worth individuals and celebrity clients to better align their core competencies and philanthropic investment to maximize impact on a wide-range of social and policy issues.
Ann worked in private sector strategy consulting for a wide-range of for-profit and non-profit clients for nearly a decade before joining Lake.
Ann graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and received her MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School.
Foundation Affiliated Entities
The Foundation at times utilizes affiliate organizations to manage certain large, multi-year commitments or when supporting work that requires direct operations. Our goal is to: (1) manage the Foundation’s future obligations responsibly since we receive our grantmaking funds annually and not from an established endowment; (2) limit the Foundation’s liability when supporting innovative approaches to addressing the kinds of difficult, intractable issues we focus on; (3) ensure the Foundation’s operations reflect our focus on grantmaking and not on direct operations; (4) have in place legally separated assets that can be easily donated in the future; (5) preserve a mechanism for reclaiming funds in the event circumstances change and the funds cannot be used to achieve our original intent. Our most important affiliate organizations are as follows:
Nature Conservation Trust manages the Foundation’s long-term commitments in Africa. It is utilized to ensure we have funding available to meet future obligations but maintain control over that funding until it is needed by the grantee, especially when the grantee is not a U.S. 501(c)3 or is a government entity.
Sequoia Farm Foundation holds the Foundation’s research farms and ranches in Illinois, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico as well as the employees who operate and manage those properties.
The Ukraine Foundation complements the Foundation’s grantmaking work in Ukraine. As a Ukrainian organization, it can work more easily with local contractors and local organizations that are not established as U.S. nonprofit organizations.
Public Safety Training Foundation (PSTF) owns and operates land and buildings leased to the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Corrections. The State of Illinois also uses the facilities to ensure new police recruits receive best-in-class, practical training to meet the modern-day needs of law enforcement personnel and first responders. PSTF also works to educate the public about the demands on and decision-making processes of law enforcement personnel and improve community relations between law enforcement and the public they serve.
Farmers Youth Education Foundation owns the land and building that is leased to the Decatur Public Schools Foundation to establish the FFA Agriculture Education Center.
