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Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.9M
Granted FY2024still arriving
156
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$296k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Philanthropy$1.5MFood & Nutrition$1.2MHealth$764kEnvironment$656kPublic Safety & Disaster$601kRecreation & Sports$588kHuman Services$478kEducation$415kOther$0
02FY2024 · 156 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k125 grants · $347k
  • $10k–50k17 grants · $266k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $1.0M
  • $250k+1 grant · $296k
$3,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$4.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNITED WAY OF BUFFALO & ERIE COUNTY$295,634
CONNECTING COMMUNITIES IN ACTION INC$165,000
BUFFALO PREP$105,000
HARVEST HOUSE BUFFALO INC$100,000
BUFFALO GO GREEN$100,000
CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION OF ERIE COUNTY$93,564
PROVIDENCE FARM COLLECTIVE$80,000
POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE OF BUFFALO INC$75,000
SHARE OUR STRENGTHNO KID HUNGRY$50,800
MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PROJECT INC$50,000
FANTHEM FOUNDATION$50,000
WESTERN NEW YORK AMATEUR FOOTBALL ALLIANCE$50,000
RESOURCE COUNCIL OF WNY$50,000
SHARE OUR STRENGTHNO KID HUNGRY$50,000
ST SUSAN CENTER INC$39,520
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $437k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%EDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $40k → 14%COMMUNITY MISSIONS OF NIAGARA FRONTIER INC: $8k → 14%COMMUNITY MISSIONS OF NIAGARA FRONTIER: $6k → 14%SONSHINE CHARITABLE FUND: $269 → 18%COMMUNITY MISSIONS OF NIAGARA FRONTIER: $2k → 14%COMMUNITY MISSIONS OF NIAGARA FRONTIER: $394 → 14%GATEWAY LONGVIEW INC: $362 → 13%SOPHIA THE FIERCE INC: $227 → 13%SOPHIA THE FIERCE: $98 → 13%BIG BIG TABLE COMMUNITY CAFE: $6k → 13%NEW DIRECTIONS YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES INC: $221 → 14%BIG BIG TABLE COMMUNITY CAFE: $1k → 13%BUDDY'S SECOND CHANCE RESCUE: $1k → 13%BUDDYS SECOND CHANCE RESCUE INC: $909 → 13%YMCA BUFFALO NIAGARA: $146 → 13%ROOTED IN LOVE: $10k → 13%VIA VISUALLY IMPAIRED ADVANCEMENT: $20k → 13%WNY WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $11k → 13%OLMSTED CENTER FOR SIGHT: $5k → 13%COMPASS HOUSE: $2k → 13%VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INC: $5k → 13%BIG BIG TABLE COMMUNITY CAFE INCORPORATED: $10k → 13%TRUSTED GIVES: $1k → 13%MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PROJECT INC: $50k → 13%MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PROJECT INC: $8k → 13%MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PROJECT INC: $6k → 13%MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PROJECT: $5k → 13%MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PROJECT INC: $281 → 13%OPEN BUFFALO: $8k → 13%OPEN BUFFALO: $5k → 13%FEEDMORE WNY FOUNDATION INC: $75k → 13%RURAL OUTREACH CENTER: $56k → 13%FEEDMORE WNY FOUNDATION INC: $15k → 13%RURAL OUTREACH CENTER INC: $8k → 13%RURAL OUTREACH CENTER: $5k → 13%RURALO OUTREACH CENTER: $5k → 13%FEEDMORE WNY FOUNDATION INC: $9k → 13%OPEN BUFFALO: $1k → 13%BUFFALO URBAN LEAGUE: $13k → 13%BUFFALO CITY MISSION: $8k → 13%BUFFALO CITY MISSION: $8k → 13%BUFFALO CITY MISSION: $5k → 13%COMMUNITY MISSIONS: $5k → 13%BUFFALO CITY MISSION: $5k → 13%BUFFALO URBAN LEAGUE: $1k → 13%NORTHWEST BUFFALO COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $5k → 13%NORTHWEST BUFFALO COMMUNITY CENTER: $2k → 13%NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITY SERVICES OF ERIE AND NIAGARA COUNTIES INC: $261 → 13%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ID
IL
MI
NY
MA
CA
VA
MD
DC
MS
GA
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 11% of Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 85% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 90%.

Buffalo Bills Foundation Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.3% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

68%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.3M · 76 repeat orgs$2.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +24% since the first grant, against +15% for those funded once.

76 repeat relationships: 47 still active in FY2024, 29 since wound down; 50 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

76
217

Total granted

$4.3M
$1.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+24%
+15%

Still filing today

68%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 66% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $656k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesHealthEducationYouth DevelopmentRecreation & SportsAnimalsOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • BG
    BUFFALO GO GREEN INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $656k · revenue +372% · 25% of their budget
  • PROVIDENCE FARM COLLECTIVE CORP
    4× · 2021–2024 · $263k · revenue +164%
  • BUFFALO PREP INC
    3× · 2021–2024 · $200k · revenue +49%

Funded once

  • NC
    NATIONAL COMPASSION FUND
    one grant, 2022 · $544k
  • FW
    FEEDMORE WNY FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2022 · $99k · revenue -60%
  • CC
    CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
    one grant, 2023 · $91k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Hispanos Unidos De Buffalo

Respond to economic, social, educational, and cultural needs of hispanic/latinos in western new york through bilingual, bicultural services that promote self-sufficiency and improve quality of life.

Human Services
2
Lockport Cares Inc

The organization provides charitable relief in the form of emergency shelter, material needs, and compassionate care for the homeless and persons in need in the eastern niagara county, new york area.

Education
3
Feedmore Western New York Inc

To offer dignity, hope and a brighter future by providing nutritious food, friendship, and skills training to our Western New York neighbors in need.

Food & Nutrition
4
Invest Buffalo Niagara Foundation Inc

Invest buffalo niagara foundation, inc. is a vehicle to solicit charitable contributions to develop programs, collaborate with, and provide funding to organizations that advance and encourage economic development in western new york.

Community Improvement
5
Wny Veterans' Housing Coalition Inc

To acquire and renovate real property in western new york to establish and maintain facilities for the temporary and permanent housing of needy veterans and other special needs individuals.

Housing & Shelter
6
Wny Food Web Inc
Food & Nutrition
7
Buffalo Niagara River Land Trust Inc

To acquire, remediate, and steward lands along wny's waterfronts prioritizing public access.

Environment
8
The Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo

The legal aid bureau of buffalo, inc., a not-for-profit organization, provides legal representation to financially needy men, women and children in western new york. through its skilled staff, the legal aid bureau seeks equal justice for…

Crime & Legal
9
Community Blood Bank of Erie County

To provide a safe, adequate supply of voluntarily donated blood for patients seeking medical services in northwestern pennsylvania and western new york hospitals.

Health
10
Buffalo ReUse Inc

Committed to jobs creation, material reuse and recycling, and community betterment

Community Improvement
11
The Western New York Foundation
—
12
Western New York Impact Foundation
Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hospice Foundation of Wny Inc; the most unlike its peers is Sophia the Fierce Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

175 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 175 of the 345 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
38
Early backer (in before they grew)
172/175
Grantees still filing
103/175
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATIONAL COMPASSION FUND: $543,543 · OtherNATIONAL COMPASSION FUNDBUFFALO PREP INC: $200,000 · OtherBUFFALO PREP INCWESTERN NEW YORK AMATEUR FOOTBALL ALLIANCE: $196,419 · OtherWESTERN NEW YORK AMATEUR FOOTBALL ALLIANCEFEEDMORE WNY: $181,468 · OtherFEEDMORE WNYCATTARAUGUS COMMUNITY ACTION INC: $170,728 · OtherCATTARAUGUS COMMUNITY ACTION INC+129 more: $1,868,199 · Other+129 moreCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC: $899,300 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR …UNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY: $514,896 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND…FANTHEM FOUNDATION INC: $200,000 · PhilanthropyFANTHEM FOUNDATION INC+2 more: $34,029 · PhilanthropyBUFFALO GO GREEN INC: $655,874 · EducationBUFFALO GO G…Classroom Champions Inc: $34,500 · Education+16 more: $88,869 · Education+16 moreECMC FOUNDATION INC: $303,325 · HealthINDEPENDENT HEALTH FOUNDATION: $51,000 · HealthPANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC: $30,800 · HealthGRACE GUEST HOUSE INC: $19,278 · Health+9 more: $63,066 · HealthFEEDMORE WNY FOUNDATION INC: $98,724 · Human ServicesThe Rural Outreach Center Inc: $73,728 · Human ServicesMassachusetts Avenue Project Inc: $68,864 · Human ServicesEDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $40,000 · Human ServicesCITY MISSION SOCIETY INC: $25,703 · Human ServicesVIA VISUALLY IMPAIRED ADVANCEMENT: $25,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY MISSIONS OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC: $21,111 · Human ServicesBIG BIG TABLE COMMUNITY CAFE INCORPORATED: $16,764 · Human Services+9 more: $65,295 · Human ServicesPOLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE OF BUFFALO: $129,231 · Youth DevelopmentHARVEST HOUSE BUFFALO INC: $100,000 · Youth DevelopmentResource Council of WNY Inc: $85,805 · Youth DevelopmentCITS FOUNDATION AND INCORPORATED: $17,500 · Youth DevelopmentHOME BENEATH OUR FEET INC: $12,750 · Youth Development+4 more: $22,908 · Youth DevelopmentPROVIDENCE FARM COLLECTIVE CORP: $263,407 · Food & NutritionFare Share Wny Inc: $30,000 · Food & NutritionFEED BUFFALO INC: $28,119 · Food & NutritionHEART LOVE & SOUL INC: $18,547 · Food & Nutrition
Other$3,160,357Philanthropy$1,648,225Education$779,243Health$467,469Human Services$435,189Youth Development$368,194Food & Nutrition$340,073

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC: $899,300 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetBUFFALO GO GREEN INC: $655,874 over 4y, 25% of budgetUNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY: $514,896 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetECMC FOUNDATION INC: $303,325 over 4y, 4.3% of budgetPROVIDENCE FARM COLLECTIVE CORP: $263,407 over 4y, 6.0% of budgetBUFFALO PREP INC: $200,000 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetFANTHEM FOUNDATION INC: $200,000 over 4y, 13% of budgetCATTARAUGUS COMMUNITY ACTION INC: $170,728 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetPOLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE OF BUFFALO: $129,231 over 4y, 4.2% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $100,800 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHARVEST HOUSE BUFFALO INC: $100,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetFEEDMORE WNY FOUNDATION INC: $98,724 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFIELD & FORK NETWORK: $93,260 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetResource Council of WNY Inc: $85,805 over 3y, 6.0% of budgetBACK TO BASICS OUTREACH MINISTRIES: $75,000 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetThe Rural Outreach Center Inc: $73,728 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetMassachusetts Avenue Project Inc: $68,864 over 3y, 4.3% of budgetEIGHT DAYS OF HOPE INC: $61,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetINDEPENDENT HEALTH FOUNDATION: $51,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetEXPLORE & MORE A CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $50,511 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetBUFFALO - NIAGARA HONOR FLIGHT INC: $50,049 over 2y, 29% of budgetEDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST SUSAN CENTER INC: $39,520 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF EAST AURORA INC: $35,247 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetClassroom Champions Inc: $34,500 over 2y, 5.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF NIGHT PEOPLE INC: $34,435 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetNEUROFIBROMATOSIS INC NORTHEAST: $32,884 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetPANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC: $30,800 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHUNTER'S HOPE FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetFEED BUFFALO INC: $28,119 over 3y, 3.4% of budgetCITY MISSION SOCIETY INC: $25,703 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetVIA VISUALLY IMPAIRED ADVANCEMENT: $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY MISSIONS OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC: $21,111 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDETROIT LIONS CHARITIES: $20,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetGRACE GUEST HOUSE INC: $19,278 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetHEART LOVE & SOUL INC: $18,547 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMetro Community Development Corporation: $18,067 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetJuneteenth Festival Inc: $18,000 over 2y, 28% of budgetCITS FOUNDATION AND INCORPORATED: $17,500 over 2y, 56% of budgetBIG BIG TABLE COMMUNITY CAFE INCORPORATED: $16,764 over 3y, 6.9% of budgetUniversity at Buffalo Foundation Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOUR CITY BUFFALO INC: $15,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetPUNT PEDIATRIC CANCER COLLABORATIVE INC: $14,503 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetGREATER OLEAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DBA CATTARAUGUS REGION COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $14,029 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBUFFALO URBAN LEAGUE INC: $13,591 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOpen Buffalo Inc: $13,500 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetHOME BENEATH OUR FEET INC: $12,750 over 1y, 4.5% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Community Foundation …The John R Oishei Fou…The Western New York …United Way of Buffalo…First Niagara Foundat…Rich Family FoundationBuffalo Sabres Founda…Cullen FoundationThe Ralph C Wilson Jr…The Frank G Raichle F…James H Cummings Foun…Children's Foundation…
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo IncNY149.2× affinity96 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Inc · The John R Oishei Foundation · The Western New York Foundation · United Way of Buffalo and Erie County · First Niagara Foundation · Rich Family Foundation · Buffalo Sabres Foundation · Cullen Foundation · The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation · The Frank G Raichle Foundation · James H Cummings Foundation Inc · Children's Foundation of Erie County Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Best Buddies International Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Classroom Champions Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
62report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 345 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Buffalo Bills’ filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home