--- title: Warren Buffett Needs Your Help Giving His Money Away description: The Sunshine Lady Foundation, run by Warren Buffett's sister Doris, needs volunteers to help read letters to give away millions of dollars. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2016-08-15T16:00:40.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T03:18:10.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - Charity - pubdesk - rich - volunteers - Warren Buffett - Wealth word_count: 427 canonical: https://money.com/warren-buffett-doris-buffett-charity-sunshine-foundation/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![ABC's "Good Morning America" - 2010](https://img.money.com/2016/08/dorisbuffett-charity-em-101886701.jpg) *Doris Buffett appearing on "Good Morning America," to discuss the charitable ventures she runs with the help of her famously wealthy brother, Warren.* Warren Buffett has famously pledged to [give away 99% of his money](https://money.com/10-other-celebs-besides-sting-whove-cut-their-kids-out-of-their-wills/?iid=sr-link3) to charity. But who will get a piece of the fortune, currently estimated at around $66 billion? You could soon have the power to help decide. Every year, a "small" chunk of the money--$1 to $2 million annually, which is peanuts to Buffett—is dished out to hundreds of individuals and organizations via the [Sunshine Lady Foundation](http://www.sunshinelady.org/) run by Doris Buffett, Warren's 88-year-old sister. As the [*Boston Globe*](http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/08/13/meet-doris-buffett-warren-sister-she-wants-your-help-spending-her-brother-billions/aEc47mXfoSeRkTgal5FgvK/story.html) reported, the Buffetts have received more than 22,000 letters asking for money over the past decade. Many of the requests come from regular people experiencing hard times—in desperate need of a new furnace, kids' clothing, medical bills, dentures, mortgage payments, even tombstones and funerals—and yes, the foundation is known to help them out. "The money does not go directly to individuals; instead, Buffett and her volunteers buy the requested items and have them delivered, or send payments to mortgage companies, utilities, and other creditors," the *Globe* clarified. Sifting through all of the requests obviously takes up a lot of time and effort, and Doris "Dodo" Buffett uses a team of volunteers to get it done. After recently relocating to the Boston area, Doris Buffett is currently seeking to beef up her volunteer ranks. And there's certainly plenty of cash to dole out. “My brother is putting up the money, so we’re sort of limitless,” Buffett told the *Globe*. “He’s told me that any time I run out of money, all I have to do is call him.” She said that her volunteers must "have to have a heart somewhere,” and that to qualify you should be "very practical" and "not be judgmental.” Appropriately, applications for the volunteer position of "letter reader" are not accepted electronically. A [website](http://www.letters.foundation/) lists the address where physical application letters should be sent, as well as other details. Those who are accepted shouldn't expect to be chatting with Warren Buffett around the office water cooler. He is not directly involved in the operation, and said to the *Globe* of his sister, “I like to give away money wholesale and she likes to give away money retail.” ***Read Next:* [Warren Buffett Says Presidential Candidates Are ‘Dead Wrong’ About America’s Future](https://money.com/warren-buffett-2016-berkshire-letter/)** “I mean, she is genuinely interested in a guy who’s had his pickup truck stolen or whatever it may be," Warren Buffett said. "Through no fault of their own, they’ve been handed a bum deal in their life. And I empathize with those people, but I’m not going to spend my days working with them." ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-doris-buffett-charity-sunshine-foundation/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Wealth Management", "item": "https://money.com/wealth-management/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Warren Buffett Needs Your Help Giving His Money Away" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-doris-buffett-charity-sunshine-foundation/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-doris-buffett-charity-sunshine-foundation/", "name": "Warren Buffett Needs Your Help Giving His Money Away", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-08-15T16:00:40.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-doris-buffett-charity-sunshine-foundation/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-doris-buffett-charity-sunshine-foundation/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T03:18:10.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Warren Buffett Needs Your Help Giving His Money Away", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/08/dorisbuffett-charity-em-101886701.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 2128, "caption": "ABC's \"Good Morning America\" - 2010" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-08-15T16:00:40.000Z", "description": "The Sunshine Lady Foundation, run by Warren Buffett's sister Doris, needs volunteers to help read letters to give away millions of dollars.", "abstract": "The Sunshine Lady Foundation, run by Warren Buffett's sister Doris, needs volunteers to help read letters to give away millions of dollars.", "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-doris-buffett-charity-sunshine-foundation/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T03:18:10.000Z", "wordCount": 427, "keywords": [ "Charity", "pubdesk", "rich", "volunteers", "Warren Buffett", "Wealth" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Personal finance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Wealth management", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_management" ] } ] } ] } ```