KINGSTON, N.Y. — In 2020, a charitable foundation controlled by Peter Buffett and his wife doled out more than $24 million to Ulster County and regional non-profit organizations, schools, activist groups, farm programs, food pantries, and colleges, according to tax documents.
The majority of the 2020 funding went to the Hudson Valley Farm Hub and Radio Kingston.
NoVo had already donated at least $116 million to charitable groups, activists, and governments between 2017 and 2019, tax records indicate.
Buffett, who lives in Lomontville, is the youngest son of multi-billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Buffet and his wife, Jennifer, control the NoVo Foundation charitable organization.
According to 2020 tax records, the foundation gave out $24.7 million in total to Mid-Hudson Valley community groups, non-profits, activist organizations and others.
Buffet purchased the former Gill Farm in Hurley in 2013.
He posted a “Letter to the Kingston Community” on June 7, 2021, to the blogging site Medium, describing the NoVo Foundation’s mission and its philosophical underpinnings. The foundation was established 15 years ago with a $1 billion stock donation made by Warren Buffett, whose net worth was most recently estimated by Forbes Magazine to be $123 billion.
In a recent email, Buffett said the continued NoVo donations will make for substantial change and provide needed programs.
“NoVo has made and will continue to make significant investments in infrastructure in Kingston … along with a wide variety of other capital projects, such as the new clinic being built by the Institute for Family Health on Pine St., the restoration of the Burger Matthews House by TRANSART on Henry St., and the redevelopment of the Broadway Bubble laundromat and community hub with Kingston Midtown Rising on Broadway that will be opening later in the Spring,” Buffett wrote, referring to past donations and others that are not included in the currently available tax records.
Infrastructure, he said, “is by far the most expensive part of our work.
“However, we know that by investing the time, energy and funding necessary to build physical infrastructure, we are collectively creating, in partnership with the community, new resources that will be of service to Kingston for generations to come,” Buffett wrote. “While these capital projects often take years to complete, we believe that meaningful change is often slow, steady work that may very well benefit people we’ll never meet, as the children of today become the grandparents of tomorrow.”
The largest portion of the donations from 2017 to 2019— more than $50 million — was given to the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, which Buffett said NoVo helped establish at the Gill Farm property.
The 2020 records show another $15,011,471 of giving to the Farm Hub.
“NoVo has made very significant investments into the Farm Hub in order to support Kingston and its surrounding areas to prepare for what we anticipate will be difficult times ahead,” Buffett said. “We all saw firsthand the impact of the pandemic on supply chains and there is no doubt that there will be similar, if not more severe shocks coming.
“We envision the Farm Hub as one part of a localized food system that creates a more direct relationship between demand for food and its supply,” he added. “A reliable, healthy local food system is the cornerstone of a more resilient community. This means better food throughout our major institutions, as well as grocery stores, home kitchens and ultimately our community’s growing children.”
NoVo also gave $5 million to Radio Kingston in 2020. That is on top of the nearly $20 million given between 2017 and 2019.
“In the case of Radio Kingston, we are supporting key infrastructure that lifts up voices in our community and supports residents to reconnect with one another through shared interests, storytelling, civil discourse, or just good music,” said Buffett, who is a musician. “Equally important, though, is its capacity as an emergency communications resource. On a practical level, last month’s ice storm revealed the vulnerabilities of the current system when thousands of residents lost power, heat, Internet and cell service.”
“Radio Kingston’s infrastructure remained intact,” Buffett said. “Now that the upfront investment has been made, the station can serve as a resource for emergency communications, as well as a central, accessible platform for up to date information and support, now and in the future.”
The 2020 tax records show that $1,175,000 went to the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck.
“Omega Institute, in a very different way, is providing learning opportunities in ways that can be difficult to find,” Buffett said. “Omega’s leadership programs have been helpful to Kingston organizations by providing access to innovative curricula, networking events and learning seminars in a thoughtful, supportive environment. Our support enabled Omega to provide some offerings at a lower cost and also helped them through a very difficult year.”
Bard College, which has received pledges of hundreds of millions from George Soros, got $70,898 in NoVo funding in 2020 and more in the past.
“Bard College, for example, provides educational opportunities to populations that are often overlooked or not considered at all,” Buffett said “The college continues to make strong and effective efforts to connect with and support the Kingston community through such programs as Brothers at Bard and the newly established “BardBac” full-scholarship pathway for adult students. The Bard Prison Initiative, as well as their work in high schools around the country, also stand out as exceptional programs that we believe are worth supporting.”
Other groups or agencies receiving funding in 2020 include Boys and Girls Club of Ulster County in Kingston, $650,000; Cornell Cooperative Extension, $350,000; Mount Laurel Waldorf School in New Paltz, $200,00; People’s Place, $300,00; YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County, $250,000; Bardavon 1899 Opera House, operators of Ulster Performing Arts Center, $250,000; Center for Creative Education, $288,000; Family of Woodstock, $325,000; and Kingston City Land Bank, $221,167.
Other groups or agencies receiving 2020 funding include Mohonk Preserve, Clinton Avenue Methodist Church, Jewish Federation of Ulster County, the Good Work Institute, Farm to Table Community Inc., Citizens for Local Power, and Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, now known as For the Many.
Buffett said that 2021 records will show more giving to 60 organizations.
“A large proportion of this goes to long treasured youth institutions in Midtown, like the Boys and Girls Club, the Center for Creative Education, the Everette Hodge Community Center and the YMCA, all of whom opened their doors and mobilized to provide daytime educational services, in partnership with the school district, at the peak of the pandemic,” Buffett wrote. “We also provided support to longstanding organizations, including Family of Woodstock, People’s Place, and the United Way, that responded to the community’s most basic and critical needs – housing, food, health and mental health services, and other emergency support.”
Buffett said that NoVo was able to set about its mission during the pandemic.
“We were also able to move quickly to support new collaborative initiatives that sprang up in the pandemic, like the Kingston Emergency Food Collaborative, which facilitated the distribution of thousands of prepared meals and groceries across the Kingston City School District.”
Buffett said the funding is intentionally spread out.
“We are funding in a wide variety of ways because we are living in a complex time like no other,” Buffett said. “Jennifer and I have learned that the way philanthropy often works is to address symptoms of much larger issues, rather than their causes.”
“All of our work is grounded in the belief that challenges and solutions come from the same place, and that local residents are the best experts in the communities they call home,” Buffett said. “We center the lived experience and leadership of historically and continually marginalized people and support them to create their own solutions for a more just and balanced world.”
Senior Editor Ivan Lajara contributed to this report.
