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Independent Health Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Independent Health Foundation

To improve the health and well being of western new york residents through awareness, prevention, wellness, and other education programs focused on community health priorities.

$92k
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Food & Nutrition$181kPhilanthropy$50kEducation$50kHousing & Shelter$36kHealth$30kAnimals$20kYouth Development$17kHuman Services$5k
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 4 grants below total $47,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $92,184 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $44,684 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $37k
$12,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE TEACHERS DESK$25,000
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF BUFFALO FOUNDATION$12,000
NIAGARA FALLS HOUSING AUTHORITY$5,250
RURAL OUTREACH CENTER INC$5,250
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 (FY23–24, $55k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, 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.

area typical 11%THE TEACHERS DESK: $25k → 13%THE TEACHERS DESK: $25k → 13%RURAL OUTREACH CENTER INC: $5k → 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.

45%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$153k · 5 repeat orgs$186k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
4

Total granted

$153k
$176k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
+39%

Still filing today

100%
25%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesHealthHousing & ShelterAnimalsOther
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

  • TT
    THE TEACHERS DESK INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $50k · revenue +13%
  • FG
    FOSTERING GREATNESS INC
    2× · 2022–2023 · $42k · revenue +98% · 52% of their budget
  • ZS
    ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BUFFALO INC
    2× · 2022–2023 · $20k · revenue +22%

Funded once

  • AH
    AFRICAN HERITAGE FOOD CO-OP
    one grant, 2021 · $160k
  • BUFFALO PRENATAL-PERINATAL NETWORK INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +39%
  • NF
    NIAGARA FALLS HOUSING AUTHORITY
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
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
Food Bank of Central New York

Food bank of central new york is a not-for-profit organization: our mission is to lead the effort to eliminate hunger in our region, through partnerships with others in our community, through education, advocacy, and distribution of…

Food & Nutrition
2
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
3
Invest Buffalo Niagara Inc

To attract new employers to the buffalo niagara region through outreach to growing companies around the world. to support business attraction, expansion and entrepreneurship, invest buffalo niagara collaborates with local businesses,…

Community Improvement
4
Big Big Table Community Cafe Incorporated

Big Big Tables mission is to provide a dignified response to hunger in our community, serving Buffalo with accessible and affordable nutritious meals regardless of ability to pay.

Human Services
5
Western Ny Coalition of Farmworker Serving Agencies Inc

To promote justice, dignity, and equity for migrants and farmworkers through advocacy, education, outreach, and direct services. We empower our communities to achieve self-sufficiency by fostering collaboration among partners.

Human Services
6
Partnership for the Public Good Inc

Partnership for the Public Good, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help build a more just, sustainable, and culturally vibrant community through action-oriented research, policy development, and citizen engagement.

Community Improvement
7
University At Buffalo Pediatric Associates Inc

To assist the faculty of the department of pediatrics at the university at buffalo in the delivery of health care, improve the ability of the faculty to perform clinical research, maximize resources to foster academic, research and…

Health
8
Open Buffalo Inc

Open Buffalo's mission is to advance racial, economic, and ecological justice through skill building, network connecting, and activating leadership opportunities with the ultimate goal for all communities in Western New York to thrive free…

Human Services
9
Community Health Center of Buffalo Inc

The community health center of buffalo, inc operates four freestanding federally qualified health centers licensed as a diagnostic and treatment center under article 28 of the ny state health law. the center provides a broad range of…

Health
10
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
11
Buffalo Niagara River Land Trust Inc

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

Environment
12
Buffalo Initiative Inc

To accelerate treatments for genetic diseases by enabling a collaborative, community-led research ecosystem that is efficient, and focused on impact.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Inc; the most unlike its peers is Fostering Greatness Inc. 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

8 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. 8 of the 12 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
6/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AFRICAN HERITAGE FOOD CO-OP: $160,000 · OtherAFRICAN HERITAGE FOOD CO-OPA TASTE OF BUFFALO INC: $21,000 · OtherA TASTE OF BUFFALO INC+3 more: $15,600 · Other+3 moreTHE TEACHERS DESK INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesTHE TEACHERS DES…The Rural Outreach Center Inc: $5,250 · Human ServicesThe Rural Outrea…COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC: $50,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUN…FOSTERING GREATNESS INC: $42,000 · Housing & ShelterFOSTERING GR…THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF BUFFALO FOUNDATION: $19,500 · HealthBUFFALO PRENATAL-PERINATAL NETWORK INC: $5,432 · HealthZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BUFFALO INC: $20,000 · Animals
Other$196,600Human Services$55,250Philanthropy$50,000Housing & Shelter$42,000Health$24,932Animals$20,000

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: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TEACHERS DESK INC: $50,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetFOSTERING GREATNESS INC: $42,000 over 2y, 52% of budgetA TASTE OF BUFFALO INC: $21,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BUFFALO INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF BUFFALO FOUNDATION: $19,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBUFFALO PRENATAL-PERINATAL NETWORK INC: $5,432 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetThe Rural Outreach Center Inc: $5,250 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

First Niagara Foundat…The Hunt Charitable F…East Hill FoundationJames H Cummings Foun…The Margaret L Wendt …Tower Family Fund IncThe Baird FoundationCullen FoundationHealth Foundation for…The Peter and Elizabe…Mother Cabrini Health…The Bank of America C…
First Niagara FoundationNY15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: First Niagara Foundation · The Hunt Charitable Foundation Inc · East Hill Foundation · James H Cummings Foundation Inc · The Margaret L Wendt Foundation · Tower Family Fund Inc · The Baird Foundation · Cullen Foundation · Health Foundation for Western & Central New York · The Peter and Elizabeth C Tower Foundation · Mother Cabrini Health Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable 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 Independent Health Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Independent Health Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%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
    0get no government money at all
    3report 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.

    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 12 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 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

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    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