Doris Buffett's $30 million gift has grown into $50 million in grants

The scholarship fund created with a $30 million gift from Doris Buffett, the older sister of Warren Buffett, has now distributed more than $50 million to survivors of domestic violence and counted more than 3,000 graduates, according to figures the organization reported in March 2026 and cited by Yahoo.

The Women's Independence Scholarship Program began in 1999 inside Buffett's Sunshine Lady Foundation and handed out 124 awards in its first year. She said in December 2007 that she would give the effort a dedicated endowment, and it was spun out as a separate nonprofit on July 1, 2008, funded by the $30 million gift. By 2016 it had paid out more than $35 million to roughly 2,000 women.

The program targets women who have left abusive partners and cannot afford to continue their education, on the premise that the cost of supporting a household alone keeps many from leaving at all.

Buffett, who set up the Sunshine Lady Foundation in 1996 and later helped start the Letters Foundation with her brother, reviewed aid requests with volunteers and gave directly to individuals, an approach that earned her the label "retail philanthropist." She was 92 when she died in Maine on Aug. 4, 2020.

This story was first reported by Yahoo.