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· Private foundation

Eastman Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$25k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$244kHealth$171kEducation$129kArts & Culture$39kYouth Development$22kReligion$14kEnvironment$8kEmployment$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $15k
$1,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$39k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNITED WAY OF BUFFALO & ERIE COUNTY$15,000
ERIE COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT FOUNDATION$2,500
THE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION$2,500
HILARY GRACE FOUNDATION$1,500
SHEA'S BUFFALO THEATRE$1,200
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB$1,000
SKIN CANCER FOUNDATION$1,000
JACK ROGERS FOUNDATION$500
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 (FY20–21, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%WNY HEROES: $250 → 13%BUFFALO CITY MISSION: $3k → 13%BUFFALO CITY MISSION: $3k → 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.
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$559k · 17 repeat orgs$96k to everyone else

17 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
34

Total granted

$559k
$93k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-10%
+14%

Still filing today

35%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
PhilanthropyEducationHealthYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesArts & CultureOther
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

  • UNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $233k · revenue -35%
  • RP
    ROSWELL PARK ALLIANCE FOUNDATION
    4× · 2017–2024 · $83k · revenue -2%
  • MU
    MEDAILLE UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2017–2023 · $60k · revenue +12%

Funded once

  • BS
    BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2017 · $16k · revenue +19%
  • NE
    NEW ERA CAP FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +545%
  • BF
    BUFFALO FINE ARTS ACADEMY
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue +24%
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
The Western New York Foundation
—
2
Niagara Area Scholarship Foundation
Education
3
Western New York Impact Foundation
Philanthropy
4
The Joseph E Peter Foundation
Philanthropy
5
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
6
University at Buffalo Foundation Inc

The mission of the university at buffalo foundation, inc. is to support and promote the activities and programs of the university at buffalo, state university of new york.

Education
7
Buffalo Scholarships Foundation Inc

Provide financial assistance in the form of educational scholarships to qualified high school students.

Education
8
State University of New York At Oneonta Foundation Corporation

To support and strengthen the fundraising programs of the state university of new york at oneonta so that gifts and grants are raised for student scholarships, faculty/student research, lectureships, and numerous academic and institutional…

—
9
University At Buffalo Student Association Inc

The organization's exempt purpose is to promote and cultivate the quality of education and activities for students of the state university of new york at buffalo. the organization carries out those charitable and educational purposes by…

Education
10
University At Albany Foundation

The mission of the university at albany foundation is to encourage, receive, accept, hold, invest, and manage money and property of every description, and the disbursement thereof for the promotion, development and advancement of the…

Education
11
Law Enforcement Foundation of Wny
Crime & Legal
12
Buffalo Sabres Alumni Association
Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Buffalo State College Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is New Era Cap Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

22 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 22 of the 53 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
21/22
Grantees still filing
10/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY: $232,801 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTYROSWELL PARK ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $82,500 · PhilanthropyROSWELL PARK ALLIANCE FOUNDATION+2 more: $10,500 · PhilanthropyMEDAILLE UNIVERSITY: $60,000 · OtherMEDAILLE UNIVERSITYPARK SCHOOL: $42,058 · OtherPARK SCHOOLSISTERS HOSPITAL - NICU RENOVATION: $15,000 · OtherSISTERS HOSPITAL - NICU RENOVATIONSHEAS PERFORMING ART CENTER DEPT 590: $13,600 · OtherSHEAS PERFORMING ART CENTER DEPT 590SHEA'S BUFFALO THEATRE: $12,300 · OtherSHEA'S BUFFALO THEATREBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $8,500 · OtherBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS: $8,000 · Other+32 more: $67,075 · Other+32 moreKEVIN GUEST HOUSE INC: $51,000 · HealthKEVIN GUE…ECMC FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · HealthECMC FOUN…BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $16,265 · EducationTHE HILARY GRACE FOUNDATION INC: $6,000 · EducationNICHOLS SCHOOL OF BUFFALO: $995 · EducationBUFFALO FINE ARTS ACADEMY: $10,000 · Arts & CultureBUFFALO FENIANS GAELIC FOOTBALLCLUB: $500 · Arts & CultureTHE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC: $7,650 · EnvironmentCITY MISSION SOCIETY INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesWNY HEROES INC: $250 · Human Services
Philanthropy$325,801Other$226,533Health$56,000Education$23,260Arts & Culture$10,500Environment$7,650Human Services$5,250

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY: $232,801 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetROSWELL PARK ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $82,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMEDAILLE UNIVERSITY: $60,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetKEVIN GUEST HOUSE INC: $51,000 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetBUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $16,265 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBUFFALO FINE ARTS ACADEMY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC: $7,650 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HILARY GRACE FOUNDATION INC: $6,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetCITY MISSION SOCIETY INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetECMC FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBUFFALO SABRES FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetERIE COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 7.3% of budgetITALIAN-AMERICAN POLICE ASSN OF WNY: $1,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetNICHOLS SCHOOL OF BUFFALO: $995 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMHERST YOUTH FOUNDATION INC: $750 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetPERSISTENCE PREPARATORY ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL: $600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BISON CHILDREN'S SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budget716 Squash Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWNY HEROES INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds ROSWELL PARK ALLIANCE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MEDAILLE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds KEVIN GUEST HOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW ERA CAP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BUFFALO FINE ARTS ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds THE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE HILARY GRACE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CITY MISSION SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds ECMC FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds BUFFALO SABRES FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ERIE COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE SKIN CANCER FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ITALIAN-AMERICAN POLICE ASSN OF WNY ↗

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 for Greater Buffalo IncNY27.4× affinity11 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 Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation · The Baird Foundation · First Niagara Foundation · Equitable Foundation Inc · Rich Family Foundation · Zeron Foundation · Demakos Foundation · The Osc Charitable Foundation · Cullen Foundation of Western New York Inc · Buffalo Sabres Foundation · James H Cummings Foundation 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 Eastman Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Eastman Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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 Eastman Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Eastman 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.

    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 53 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Eastman’s filings →

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