With an estimated $2.7 billion in assets, the Omaha-based Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation has announced that it will increase its grantmaking to at least $150 million annually — more than the total it has awarded over the past five years — for projects and programs for disadvantaged women, reproductive health, and other social issues, as well as scholarships for low-income students, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

Though it plans few changes to its programs, the foundation has dropped its limit on how many qualified students can receive funds through the Susan Thompson Buffett Scholarship program for low-income Nebraska students, reflecting the sizable increase in assets it received after Susan Buffett's death in 2004. In addition, Warren Buffett has restated his intention to donate his Berkshire Hathaway holdings, currently valued at $44 billion, to at least one foundation. "Every share of Berkshire that I own is destined to go to philanthropies, and I want society to reap the maximum good," Buffet told the World-Herald.

Criticized in the past for not giving away more of his fortune while at the top of his game, Buffett has remained focused on Berkshire Hathaway's financial performance. During a 2000 speech, Bill Gates, who speaks frequently with Buffett, noted that the master investor finds the idea of making money and giving it away at the same time "schizophrenic."

According to Susan Price, managing director for family foundations at the Council on Foundations in Washington, D.C., there's no right or wrong answer to the question of whether wealthy individuals should be active philanthropically while alive, rather than leaving their wealth to future generations. "It depends on what your goals for the foundation are," said Price. "What is important is that [high-net-worth individuals] have a mission that is clear to them. I'm just glad to see families with wealth are thinking about the needs of society."