Our Mission
Our mission at The Sherwood Foundation is to double down on our values of equity, social justice, and shared humanity by making grants in Nebraska to organizations with missions we love and people we trust.
Our Vision
Nebraska is a celebrated place to live, work, learn, and play; a Nebraska where all people – not just some – have access to the good life. And the good life truly is good.
Our Diversity Statement
“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” Desmond Tutu
The Sherwood Foundation team respects and celebrates our common humanity including people of all sexual orientations and gender identities; people of all faiths or no faith; people of all races, ethnicities, and cultures; and people of all ages and abilities. The team makes grants to organizations that do the same.
Our Values
The Sherwood Foundation doesn’t have a yard. But if it did, the yard signs would look something like this:
Visit our What We Fund page to learn more about funding guidelines and our areas of focus
Our Roots
The Sherwood Foundation established roots in Omaha, Nebraska in 2006. Susan A. “Susie” Buffett, the daughter of the late Susan T. “Mama Susie” and Warren Buffett, is the chair of the Sherwood Foundation, a private, family foundation serving Omaha and Nebraska.
Warren has spent a lifetime investing and building Berkshire Hathaway, a company of “Gibraltar-like financial strength” with global impact; Mama Susie spent her life in the very personal civil rights work of “crossing lines and clasping hands” in Omaha, Nebraska. Mama Susie was not afraid to use the “L word,” acknowledging the importance of love in her philanthropic philosophy; Warren would choose “lean” as a good “L word” for a foundation.
Both of Susie’s parents made deals – whether business or philanthropic – with people in whom they had great confidence. From her parents, Susie and the Foundation have inherited philanthropic DNA that acknowledges both common humanity and common sense. While economic efficiency is core to the work of the Foundation, so too are trust and relationships.
“Expect to make some mistakes; nothing important will be accomplished if you make only “safe” decisions.”
— Warren Buffett
“This whole exercise of giving could be analyzed on so many levels. Even the highest level doesn’t come out very nobly, but I am grateful for the chance I have to extend myself to others. If what comes from myself can be occasionally purely motivated, or once in a while, done only in love, then perhaps it will be worth something.”
— Susan Thompson Buffett