Warren Buffett revives his charity lunch auction—with Stephen Curry. His last one raised $19 million

Stephen Curry, four-time NBA champion of the Golden State Warriors, and his wife, Ayesha Curry, a best-selling author and lifestyle entrepreneur, are partnering with Buffett for the exclusive lunch this year.

Buffett is reviving the auction, which has raised more than $53 million since it began in 2000, offering bidders a chance to win a lunch with the famed billionaire investor, this year dubbed “A Seat at the Table.” Buffett stepped away from the auction in 2022 after raising $19 million that year alone. The proceeds will be equally split with Buffett’s longtime partner GLIDE, a San Francisco-based social justice nonprofit that aids homeless individuals, and the Currys’ Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation. 

“Over the years, I’ve seen how the business community and innovative nonprofits can work together to create real change, and I’ve always believed in supporting organizations that are making a meaningful difference,” Buffett wrote in a statement. “This event is about coming together again—in a new way—with people I admire, to support work that truly matters. Partnering with Stephen and Ayesha to help launch something new in support of these communities is something I’m very happy to be part of.

Bidding starts on eBay on May 7 at 7:30 p.m. PDT and will close on May 14. The winner and up to seven guests will join Buffett and the Currys for lunch in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 24, 2026.

Previous winners include Ted Weschler, now a top investment manager at Berkshire Hathaway, and hedge fund manager David Einhorn. Every winning bid since 2008 has surpassed $1 million, but in the auction’s earlier days, $25,000 could buy you lunch with the Oracle of Omaha. 

Building a partnership

Buffett reached out to the Currys over the holidays after their foundation caught his attention, Eat. Learn. Play. CEO Chris Helfrich told Fortune. 

“For us, this is about using the platform we’ve been given to create something bigger than ourselves,” Stephen and Ayesha Curry said in a statement. “With this incredible auction, we are excited to turn this moment into real impact for students and families throughout the Bay Area community. Eat. Learn. Play. was built on the idea that every child deserves the chance to thrive, and by partnering with Warren and his incredible team alongside GLIDE, together we can extend our efforts and impact even further.” 

In just seven years, the foundation has distributed more than 25 million meals to kids and families in Oakland, the Currys’ adopted hometown. 

Only about a third of Oakland’s public school students read at grade level, which has inspired Eat. Learn. Play. to invest heavily in early literacy programs. The organization provides one-on-one professional tutoring to thousands of students three to five days a week, Helfrich said. The foundation is also remodeling more than 25 public elementary schoolyards in the Oakland Unified School District and has completed 15 new playgrounds, so far.  

“It’s safe to say that if this becomes an annual thing, that would be a dream for us,” Helfrich said. 

Continuing a legacy

The charity lunch has become one of Buffett’s signature philanthropic events, but it all started with his first wife, Susan Thompson Buffett. 

Susan volunteered at GLIDE, which is home to a host of social justice and community services, including daily free food assistance, helping people transition out of homelessness, and addiction recovery programs. 

“None of us knew who she was. We knew her name was Susie. She would come in, and she served meals in the kitchen,” GLIDE President and CEO Gina Fromer told Fortune. Volunteering turned into a years-long partnership before Susan passed in 2004, and Buffett continued the auction for years afterward. 

After stepping away from the auction in 2022, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff took over the lunch for two years, raising $1.5 million in 2024.  

“I just think he came back, because he never left,” Fromer said. “He always watched and saw that the community of San Francisco, the revitalization coming back from COVID [and] how important GLIDE’s role has been in that.”