巴菲特致股东的信（1993年）
⑨股东指定捐赠计划

Shareholder-Designated Contributions

     About 97% of all eligible shares participated in Berkshire's 1993 shareholder-designated contributions program. Contributions made through the program were $9.4 million and 3,110 charities were recipients.

股东指定捐赠计划

大约有 97%的有效股权参与 1993 年的股东指定捐赠计划，总计约 940 万美元捐出的款项分配给 3,110 家慈善机构。

     Berkshire's practice in respect to discretionary philanthropy - as contrasted to its policies regarding contributions that are clearly related to the company's business activities - differs significantly from that of other publicly-held corporations. There, most corporate contributions are made pursuant to the wishes of the CEO (who often will be responding to social pressures), employees (through matching gifts), or directors (through matching gifts or requests they make of the CEO).

伯克希尔在自主慈善方面的做法，(不同于具有特定商业目的的捐赠)，与其它公开上市公司的做法有很大的不同，因为大部分的公司所作的捐赠大多是依照 CEO 的意愿(他们通常会对许多社会压力做出反应)，员工(通过相对赠与)或董事(通过相对赠与或是对于 CEO 的要求)的意愿。

     At Berkshire, we believe that the company's money is the owners' money, just as it would be in a closely-held corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Therefore, if funds are to be given to causes unrelated to Berkshire's business activities, it is the charities favored by our owners that should receive them. We've yet to find a CEO who believes he should personally fund the charities favored by his shareholders. Why, then, should they foot the bill for his picks? 

不过在伯克希尔，我们相信公司所有的钱都是属于股东的，就像是在私人家族合伙企业一样，因此只要这些捐赠资金与公司本身商业活动无关的话，那么这些款项就应该赠与股东们所想要赠与的慈善机构，就像是我们还没看到过有 CEO 愿意拿自己的钱，依照股东们的意愿进行捐赠，那么又有什么理由，让股东为公司 CEO 的意愿买单呢？

     Let me add that our program is easy to administer. Last fall, for two months, we borrowed one person from National Indemnity to help us implement the instructions that came from our 7,500 registered shareholders. I'd guess that the average corporate program in which employee gifts are matched incurs far greater administrative costs. Indeed, our entire corporate overhead is less than half the size of our charitable contributions. (Charlie, however, insists that I tell you that $1.4 million of our $4.9 million overhead is attributable to our corporate jet, The Indefensible.) 

而我必须说明的是，我们这项计划执行起来并不困难，去年秋天，我们从国民保险公司借调一个人为期两个月，帮我们处理来自 7,500 位股东的捐款指示，而我也相信其它公司花在处理相同捐赠规模所发生的成本铁定比我们高出许多，事实上，我们公司每年所有的管理费用甚至不到我们每年捐赠金额的一半，(查理坚持我必须向大家报告，总计 490 万美元的管理费用当中，有 140 万是发生在公司的企业专机-无可辩解号之上)。

     Below is a list showing the largest categories to which our shareholders have steered their contributions.

下表显示股东指定捐赠的前十大慈善机构：

     (a) 347 churches and synagogues received 569 gifts
     (b) 283 colleges and universities received 670 gifts
     (c) 244 K-12 schools (about two-thirds secular, one- third religious) received 525 gifts
     (d) 288 institutions dedicated to art, culture or the humanities received 447 gifts
     (e) 180 religious social-service organizations (split about equally between Christian and Jewish) received 411 gifts
     (f) 445 secular social-service organizations (about 40% youth-related) received 759 gifts
     (g) 153 hospitals received 261 gifts
     (h) 186 health-related organizations (American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, etc.) received 320 gifts

(a)347 个教堂与犹太教堂收到 569 笔善款
(b)283 所大专院校收到 670 笔善款
(c)244 所 K-12 学校收到 525 笔善款(三分之二是普通学校，另外三分之一属教会学校)
(d)288 所艺术、文化或人类学研究机构收到 447 笔善款
(e)180 所宗教社会福利机构(犹太教与基督教各半)收到 411 笔善款
(f)445 所民间社会福利机构(其中 40%与青少年相关)收到 759 笔善款
(g)153 所医疗机构收到 261 笔善款
(h)186 所与医疗相关的机构(如美国心脏学会，美国癌症协会等)收到 320 笔善款

      Three things about this list seem particularly interesting to me. First, to some degree it indicates what people choose to give money to when they are acting of their own accord, free of pressure from solicitors or emotional appeals from charities. Second, the contributions programs of publicly-held companies almost never allow gifts to churches and synagogues, yet clearly these institutions are what many shareholders would like to support. Third, the gifts made by our shareholders display conflicting philosophies: 130 gifts were directed to organizations that believe in making abortions readily available for women and 30 gifts were directed to organizations (other than churches) that discourage or are opposed to abortion.

在这些机构之中，有三点我认为特别有趣。首先，某种程度可以显示出当人们依个人意志而非迫于募款人的压力或募款机构感性的诉求时，所可能做出的选择对象。第二，一般大公司的捐赠计划从未将教堂或犹太教堂列入考虑，但这却是股东心目中最佳的选择之一。第三，股东们所做出的决定有时有明显的冲突，有 130 笔捐款给支持堕胎的机构团体，而另外有 30 笔的捐款指定要给反堕胎的机构团体(宗教机构不算)。

     Last year I told you that I was thinking of raising the amount that Berkshire shareholders can give under our designated-contributions program and asked for your comments. We received a few well-written letters opposing the entire idea, on the grounds that it was our job to run the business and not our job to force shareholders into making charitable gifts. Most of the shareholders responding, however, noted the tax efficiency of the plan and urged us to increase the designated amount. Several shareholders who have given stock to their children or grandchildren told me that they consider the program a particularly good way to get youngsters thinking at an early age about the subject of giving. These people, in other words, perceive the program to be an educational, as well as philanthropic, tool. The bottom line is that we did raise the amount in 1993, from $8 per share to $10.

去年我曾经告诉大家我考虑提高伯克希尔股东指定捐赠计划的额度，并询问大家的意见，不过我们却收到一些股东来信反对整个计划，他们认为我们的责任是将公司经营好而不是去强迫股东做一些慈善捐赠，当然大部分的股东还是支持这项计划，认为这种做法可以享受租税优惠，并敦促我们提高捐赠的额度，有好几位把部分股份移转给子女或孙子女的股东告诉我，他们认为这是让下一代了解施予行善最好的教育方法，因此最后我们还是决定将下限从每股 8 美元提高到每股 10 元。

     In addition to the shareholder-designated contributions that Berkshire distributes, our operating businesses make contributions, including merchandise, averaging about $2.5 million annually. These contributions support local charities, such as The United Way, and produce roughly commensurate benefits for our businesses.

伯克希尔除了通过股东指定捐赠计划对外捐赠之外，我们旗下事业的经理人每年也会通过公司对外捐赠，包含商品在内每年平均金额约在 250 万美元左右。这些捐赠主要是赞助当地像是联合劝募等慈善团体，所得的效益应该与我们所捐出的相当。

     We suggest that new shareholders read the description of our shareholder-designated contributions program that appears on pages 50-51. To participate in future programs, you must make sure your shares are registered in the name of the actual owner, not in the nominee name of a broker, bank or depository. Shares not so registered on August 31, 1994 will be ineligible for the 1994 program.

我们敦促新加入的股东，仔细阅读年报上有关股东捐赠计划的详细内容，如果在未来年度内，你想要参加这类的计划，我们强烈建议你将股份登记在自己而不是受托人的名下，必须在 1994 年 8 月 31 日之前完成登记，才有权利参与 1994 年的捐赠计划。

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