The annual Glide auction for lunch with Warren Buffett will now be an auction for lunch with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, as Benioff is taking over the annual charity auction that has fed San Francisco’s neediest residents to the tune of $53 million.
Many San Francisco residents are probably aware that the local charity powerhouse Glide Memorial Church feeds hundreds of needy San Franciscans every day, especially during their Thanksgiving meal drives and House of Prime Rib Christmas Eve dinners that provide quality holiday dinners for families in need. And you may realize that this is to some degree paid for by wealthy financier and philanthropist Warren Buffet’s power lunch auctions where people bid on a lunch with Buffett himself, which last year fetched an astonishing $19 million, and has raised a highly respectable $53 million over the course of the last 21 years.
You may also realize that the 93-year-old Warren Buffett had said 2022 would be his final lunch auction. But he announced at Thursday night’s Glide Holiday Jam at the Masonic in SF that the annual Glide fundraiser Power of One Charity Auction Lunch is officially being handed off to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who will handle these annual power-lunch fundraising duties going forward.
“I’ve got good news for you tonight, Cecil,” Buffett told Glide’s Reverend Cecil Williams via video address. “I’m particularly impressed that Marc Benioff is going to do a wonderful job in the years to come, raising money having the lunch and improving on what I was able to do over the years.”
New president and CEO of Glide Dr. Gina Fromer confirmed the news to SFist. “Warren Buffett has basically passed the baton to Marc Benioff at Salesforce,” Dr. Fromer told SFist Thursday night. “He’s an amazing community guy, we’re so excited to work with him. And Warren will always forever be in our hearts.”
Benioff himself also confirmed the news in a video address to the Glide Holiday Jam audience Thursday night.
“I’m delighted to extend that program with all of us at Salesforce into the future, and be part of this amazing program,” Benioff said in his video segment.
It’s not clear when the bidding will start for the 2024 lunch with Benioff, but eBay has committed to continuing to host the auction on their platform.
Related: GLIDE’s ‘Lunch With Warren Buffett’ Auction Fetches Record $19 Million [SFist]
Images: (Left) NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 24: Marc Benioff attends the 2023 Time100 Next at Second on October 24, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic via Getty Images) (Right) Figlinus via Wikimedia Commons
