· Private foundation
Cullen Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2022.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2022
- Under $10k92 grants · $397k
- $10k–50k64 grants · $1.5M
- $50k–250k30 grants · $3.1M
- $250k+3 grants · $1.1M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| TNTP | $600,000 |
| SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC | $278,250 |
| CITY YEAR INC | $250,000 |
| RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (UB) | $240,450 |
| EDUCATION COLLABORATIVE OF WNY | $235,900 |
| BUFFALO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE CHARTER SCHOOL | $217,300 |
| PERSISTENCE PREPARATORY ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL | $201,200 |
| CHAPIN HALL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO | $191,766 |
| EDUCATION ANALYTICS INC | $190,000 |
| BUFFALO COLLEGIATE CHARTER SCHOOL | $175,125 |
| TNTP | $131,086 |
| CANISIUS COLLEGE | $125,000 |
| KLEINHANS MUSIC HALL MANAGEMENT INC | $100,000 |
| SHEA'S PERFORMING ARTS CENTER | $100,000 |
| BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA | $100,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY19–22, $604k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 9% of Cullen Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.
105 repeat relationships: 88 still active in FY2022, 17 since wound down; 68 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2022, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $479k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TITNTP INC4× · 2019–2022 · $1.7M · revenue +145%
CITY YEAR INC4× · 2019–2022 · $1.1M · revenue +0%- TRThe Research Foundation for The State University of New York3× · 2020–2022 · $993k · revenue +18%
Funded once
- URUB RESEARCH FOUNDATIONone grant, 2019 · $369k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2019 · $256k
- BIBES INCone grant, 2019 · $250k · revenue -47%
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.
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.
To provide quality, affordable child care for the families of students, faculty and staff of the college, as well as families of other new york state employees and community members.
The mission of the Binghamton Philharmonic is building community through the power of live music.
Charter school of inquiry (csi) will achieve breakthrough outcomes for city of buffalo children in kindergarten through grade 6 by creating an inquiry-based learning environment with an intense focus on learning to read and write well in…
The Buffalo Institiute for Contemporary Art (Bica) is a art and educational project for Buffalo, NY. Through Innovative exhibitions, cross-discipplinary skills-based programming, and arts ecology development, bica mission is to break down…
CNY Arts' mission is to promote, support, and celebrate arts and culture in Central New York.
To promote sponsor and develop an appreciation of and allegiance to african and african american heritage and commit to enhance social behavior amoung african american youths through multi disciplinary education and training in the arts.
A pioneering advocate for cultural equity, the bronx council on the arts nurtures the development of diverse artists and arts organizations and build strong cultural connections in and beyond the bronx.
Brooklyn children's theatre empowers youth through musical theatre, reimagining arts education by centering the whole child and prioritizing belonging and equity.
Provide quality, diverse arts programming to impact our communities and enrich people's lives in the twin tiers
The mission of new york city center is to be new york city's leading center for dance and musical theater. dedicated to making the arts accessible to the broadest possible audience, city center seeks to create a welcoming environment and…
University at Buffalo Child Care Center offers care for infants, toddlers, and preschool children throughout the year.
How this is measured
156 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. 156 of the 232 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
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
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.
- Who funds TNTP INC ↗
- Who funds CITY YEAR INC ↗
- Who funds The Research Foundation for The State University of New York ↗
- Who funds SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC ↗
- Who funds EDUCATION COLLABORATIVE OF WNY INC ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds Elmwood Village Charter School ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO PREP INC ↗
- Who funds WEST BUFFALO CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds PERSISTENCE PREPARATORY ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO COLLEGIATE CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds NORTHEAST CHARTER SCHOOLS NETWORK INC ↗
- Who funds THE BISON CHILDREN'S SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC ↗
- Who funds BES INC ↗
- Who funds EDUCATION ANALYTICS INC ↗
- Who funds CANISIUS UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds Torn Space Theater Inc ↗
- Who funds IRISH CLASSICAL THEATER CO ↗
- Who funds ROAD LESS TRAVELED PRODUCTIONS LTD ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds READ TO SUCCEED BUFFALO INC ↗
- Who funds SHAKESPEARE IN DELAWARE PARK INC ↗
- Who funds SPRINGVILLE CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC ↗
- Who funds BURCHFIELD PENNEY ART CENTER ↗
- Who funds TAPESTRY CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds ARTPARK & COMPANY INC ↗
- Who funds THE VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds SHAW FESTIVAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds HALLWALLS INC ↗
- Who funds BESTSELF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Inc · Cullen Foundation of Western New York Inc · The John R Oishei Foundation · First Niagara Foundation · The Western New York Foundation · The Peter and Elizabeth C Tower Foundation · James H Cummings Foundation Inc · The Margaret L Wendt Foundation · Children's Foundation of Erie County Inc · United Way of Buffalo and Erie County · The Baird Foundation · Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Cullen Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Cullen Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
- President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
- The Achievement Network Ltd: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Cullen Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Cullen Foundation 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.
Play a game based on Cullen’s filings →