Glide Foundation

Last updated
Glide Foundation
Formation1929
Type Charitable organization
Headquarters San Francisco, CA, United States
President and Chief Executive Officer
Karen Hanrahan
Key people
  • Jay Williams
  • Rita Shimmin
  • Cecil Williams
  • Janice Mirikitani
Website www.glide.org

The Glide Foundation is a charity organization that helps the homeless, based in San Francisco, California, associated with devout Methodist Lizzie Glide and the Glide Church.

Contents

History

Glide and the foundation bought the Hotel Californian two blocks from the church in 1935 and it was operated as a temperance hotel for decades. She also funded a home for young working Christian women and a dorm for young Christian women at U.C. Berkeley. [1]

Recent activities

The foundation has worked with investor Warren Buffett who has donated the proceeds from his eBay "Power Lunch with Warren Buffett" auctions to Glide. As of 2017, he had raised nearly $24 million for the Foundation. [2] The winning bid in 2006 was $620,100, won by Duan Yongping, a California investor. [3] In 2008, Mohnish Pabrai and Guy Spier won the auction for $650,100. [4] The 2009 auction was won with a bid of $1.68 million by an anonymous bidder [5] In 2011 an anonymous bidder paid $2,626,411 for a lunch with Buffet. [6] The June 9, 2012 auction for lunch with Buffett yielded a record figure of $3,456,789; the highest figure paid for lunch with the investor at the time. This number was tied at the 2016 auction. [2] The 2017 winning bid was $2.68 million. [7] In 2019, the annual auction closed with a winning bid of $4,567,888 by Justin Sun. [8] In 2022, the 21st "Grand Finale" auction closed with a winning record bid of $19,000,100 from an anonymous bidder, bringing the total raised by the annual actions to over $53 million. [9] In 2025, AI entrepreneur Yi Shi won the charity auction with a six-figure bid for a lunch with Marc Benioff. Shi had previously attended the Warren Buffett lunch in 2015. [10] The Glide auction's winners traditionally dine with Buffett at New York's Smith and Wollensky steak house. The restaurant donates at least $10,000 to Glide each year to host the auction lunch. [11]

Power Lunch Winning Bids

Event numberYearWinning bid (USD)
222025$200,100 [12]
212022$19 million [13]
202019$4.57 million [8]
192018$4.23 million [14]
182017$2.68 million
172016$3.46 million
162015$2.35 million
152014$2.16 million
142013$1 million
132012$3.46 million
122011$2.63 million
112010$2.63 million
102009$1.68 million
92008$2.1 million
82007$650,100
72006$620,100
62005$351,100
52004$202,100
42003$250,100
32002$25,000
22001$18,000
12000$25,000

References

  1. "National Register #98001195: Hotel Californian in San Francisco, California". noehill.com. Archived from the original on 2019-01-20. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  2. 1 2 "Buffett to auction off lunch for California homeless charity". Fox Business. 2017-05-09. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  3. Stein, George; Bodzin, Steven (2006-06-30). "Chance to Dine With Buffett Sells for $620,100 in eBay Bidding". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2013-10-24. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  4. Spier, Guy (2008-06-30). "My $650,100 Lunch with Warren Buffett". TIME . Archived from the original on 2015-06-13. Retrieved 2015-06-08.
  5. Gaskell, Adrian (2009-06-29). "1.68 Million buys you lunch with Warren Buffett". Archived from the original on 2011-08-29.
  6. Smith, Aaron (2011-06-10). "Buffett lunch sets $2.62 million record after all". CNN. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-06-08.
  7. Buhayar, Noah (10 June 2018). "The Cost of Lunch With Warren Buffett: $2.68 Million". Bloomberg.com . Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  8. 1 2 Berg, Madeline. "Want To Have Lunch With Warren Buffett? Here's How Much It Will Cost You". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2019-06-03.
  9. "GLIDE, eBay and Warren Buffett Celebrate the Grand Finale Power of One Charity Auction Lunch with Record-Breaking Winning Bid". 17 June 2022. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  10. "In The News: Why This AI Entrepreneur Paid Six Figures For A Lunch With Benioff". GLIDE - San Francisco: serving the people of the Tenderloin and San Francisco since 1963. 2025-07-11. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  11. Funk, Josh (2012-06-09). "Cost to lunch with Warren Buffett: $3.5 million". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-06-08.
  12. "In The News: Why This AI Entrepreneur Paid Six Figures For A Lunch With Benioff". GLIDE - San Francisco: serving the people of the Tenderloin and San Francisco since 1963. 2025-07-11. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  13. "Someone paid $19 million for a steak lunch with Warren Buffet". eBay. 17 June 2022. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  14. "Lunch with Warren Buffett hits $4.23 million in eBay auction". 9Finance. 31 May 2018. Archived from the original on 22 August 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.