Skip to content
Open Buffalo Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

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 from discrimination and poverty.

$333k
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$94k
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.

Human Services$224kYouth Development$203kEducation$108kCivil Rights$93kCommunity Improvement$79kEnvironment$60kFood & Nutrition$60kHousing & Shelter$9k
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $121k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $212k
$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Project Mona's House$93,862
Confident Girl Mentoring Program Inc$68,075
Net Positive Inc (dba The Foundry)$50,000
Omega Mentoring Program$47,856
Voice Buffalo Inc$42,740
Massachusetts Avenue Project inc$30,003
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, $224k) 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%Massachusetts Avenue Project inc: $30k → 13%Net Positive Inc (dba The Foundry): $50k → 13%Net Positive Inc (dba The Foundry): $50k → 13%Project Mona's House: $94k → 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.

49%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$406k · 3 repeat orgs$429k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue -13% since the first grant, against -58% for those funded once.

3 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
6

Total granted

$406k
$258k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-13%
-58%

Still filing today

100%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $172k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’22’23’24
Human ServicesCommunity ImprovementYouth DevelopmentEducationEnvironmentFood & NutritionOther
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

  • CG
    CONFIDENT GIRL MENTORING PROGRAM INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $203k · revenue -13% · 44% of their budget
  • VOICE Buffalo Inc
    2× · 2022–2024 · $103k · revenue -61%
  • NP
    Net Positive Inc
    2× · 2023–2024 · $100k · revenue +42%

Funded once

  • TG
    THE GALACTIC TRIBE INC
    one grant, 2022 · $60k · revenue +12% · 40% of their budget
  • CA
    CLEAN AIR COALITION OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC
    one grant, 2022 · $60k · revenue -68%
  • FB
    FEED BUFFALO INC
    one grant, 2022 · $60k · revenue -58%
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
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
2
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
3
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
4
East Buffalo Development Corporation

East Buffalo Development Corporation is a community-based real estate development corporation committed to our mission of leveraging private and public funds to drive equitable and inclusive eastside planning, construction, land use, and…

Community Improvement
5
Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art

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…

Arts & Culture
6
Green Options Buffalo Inc

Promote healthy, environmentally sustainable and community-friendly transportation through advocacy, education, and initiatives to promote healthy lifestyles, civic engagement, economic vitality and improved environments within Greater…

Education
7
Grassroots Gardens of Western New York Inc

Grassroots Gardens of Western New York, Inc.'s mission is to share knowledge, power and resources to grow healthy food, heal systemic harm, and strengthen neighborhood connections through community gardens.

Environment
8
Syracuse Grows Inc

A grassroots network that cultivates food justice through advocacy, education, and resources in support of urban food production.

Food & Nutrition
9
North Buffalo Organization

Searching for opportunities for small business owners in the North Buffalo area to maximize their income by increasing the walkability, cleanliness and beauty of the area. Increase accessablity to residents of good healthy food.

Community Improvement
10
East End Food Institute

East End Food is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support, promote and advocate for farmers and producers, while ensuring everyone in the community can enjoy and be nourished by local food. We envision the East End of Long…

Food & Nutrition
11
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
12
Broadway Market Management Inc

To lessen the burdens of government and to foster the creation, retention, and expansion of jobs and economic opportunities for the benefit of the City of Buffalo, New York, and the local economy. The Corporation's operations are conducted…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is African Heritage Economic Initiative; the most unlike its peers is Confident Girl Mentoring Program 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

10 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. 10 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
4/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Net Positive Inc: $100,000 · Human ServicesNet Positive IncPROJECT MONAS HOUSE INC: $93,862 · Human ServicesPROJECT MONAS HOUSE INCMassachusetts Avenue Project Inc: $30,003 · Human ServicesMassachusetts Avenue Project I…CONFIDENT GIRL MENTORING PROGRAM INC: $203,075 · Youth DevelopmentCONFIDENT GIRL MENTORING PR…VOICE Buffalo Inc: $102,740 · Community ImprovementVOICE Buffalo IncAfrican Heritage Economic Initiative: $19,000 · Community ImprovementAfrican Heritage …FB Community Land Trust Inc: $8,750 · Community ImprovementFB Community Land…Anchor Church: $50,000 · OtherAnchor ChurchOMEGA MENTORING PROGRAM: $47,856 · OtherOMEGA MENTORI…THE GALACTIC TRIBE INC: $60,000 · EducationCLEAN AIR COALITION OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC: $60,000 · EnvironmentFEED BUFFALO INC: $60,000 · Food & Nutrition
Human Services$223,865Youth Development$203,075Community Improvement$130,490Other$97,856Education$60,000Environment$60,000Food & Nutrition$60,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCONFIDENT GIRL MENTORING PROGRAM INC: $203,075 over 2y, 44% of budgetVOICE Buffalo Inc: $102,740 over 2y, 16% of budgetNet Positive Inc: $100,000 over 2y, 5.5% of budgetPROJECT MONAS HOUSE INC: $93,862 over 1y, 18% of budgetTHE GALACTIC TRIBE INC: $60,000 over 1y, 40% of budgetCLEAN AIR COALITION OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC: $60,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetFEED BUFFALO INC: $60,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetMassachusetts Avenue Project Inc: $30,003 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetFB Community Land Trust Inc: $8,750 over 1y, 5.9% 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 Western New York …United Way of Buffalo…The John R Oishei Fou…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo IncNY27.8× affinity11 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Inc · The Western New York Foundation · United Way of Buffalo and Erie County · The John R Oishei Foundation · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Open Buffalo Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Open Buffalo Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2023
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get 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 · 0–40%
    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

    Play a game based on Open Buffalo’s 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