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Plinth

· Public charity

Say Yes to Education Inc

To partner with communities to provide academic and non-academic services to children to support education kindergarten through college.

$4.5M
Granted FY2023
1
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$4.5M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2023.

Education$19MPhilanthropy$9.7MHuman Services$4.5MRecreation & Sports$699kArts & Culture$198kYouth Development$182kReligion$44kHousing & Shelter$31kOther$0
02FY2023 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$4,465,527
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WEISS FAMILY FOUNDATION$4,465,527
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–18, $60k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUFFALO NIAGARA: $19k → 13%TRUE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $9k → 13%THE TEACHERS DESK INC: $7k → 13%LT COL MATT URBAN HUMAN SERVICES CENTER OF WNY: $25k → 13%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

NY
OR
OH
PA
CT
VA
NC
DC

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

04

Where the work is directed

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

About 18% of Say Yes to Education Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another.

Say Yes to Education Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

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 foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$18M · 8 repeat orgs$9.1M to everyone else

8 repeat relationships — 1 still active in FY2023, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
46

Total granted

$18M
$9.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
+28%

Still filing today

88%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’23
EducationYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesArts & CultureRecreation & SportsPhilanthropyOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC
    3× · 2019–2021 · $4.9M · revenue +259% · 36% of their budget
  • GE
    GUILFORD EDUCATION ALLIANCE
    4× · 2017–2021 · $3.3M · revenue +284% · 67% of their budget
  • TC
    Teachers College Columbia University
    2× · 2017–2018 · $2.6M · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • CA
    CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES OF ERIE COUNTY
    one grant, 2019 · $4.5M · revenue -15%
  • SE
    SHIFT EDUCATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $2.0M · revenue +40% · 55% of their budget
  • CN
    COLLEGE NOW GREATER CLEVELAND INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $879k · revenue +131%

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

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Buffalo Commons Charter School

Establish and operate a charter school to prepare our diverse community of students to succeed academically and professionally regardless of background and circumstance.

Education
2
The Baruch College Fund

The baruch college fund is an organization engaged in generating, encouraging and promoting the educational welfare of the students of the bernard m. baruch college of the city university of new york.

Education
3
Buffalo Collegiate Charter School

With unrelenting determination and a commitment to excellence, buffalo collegiate charter school educated students in grades 4 through 12 to graduate from the college of their choice and serve as our next generation of leaders. the…

—
4
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
5
State University College At Buffalo Child Day Care Development Facility Inc

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.

—
6
Benedict College

Benedict college is committed to providing transformative learning experiences characterized by high quality academic, co-curricular and extra-curricular programming, intentionally designed to develop superior cultural and professional…

Education
7
African Cultural Center of Buffalo Inc

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.

Arts & Culture
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
Brooklyn Community Foundation

Spark lasting social justice change, mobilizing people, capital, & expertise for a fair brooklyn.

Philanthropy
10
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
11
Community Education Commission

CEC works with diverse stakeholders across Detroit to develop critical resources and system-level solutions that address common challenges faced by Detroit families in accessing quality education.

Education
12
Global Cleveland

Global cleveland is dedicated to growing northeast ohio's economy by welcoming and connecting international people to opportunities and fostering a more inviting community for those seeking a place to call home.

Human Services

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Grantmakers for Education and the most unlike its peers is Weiss Family Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyCleveland Foundation FundsCommunity Arts & Culture Or…Youth Sports LeaguesCleveland Neighborhood Deve…Senior Affordable HousingFaith-Based Community Servi…Academic Medical DepartmentsCharter Schools
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 34 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number19%2%<5yr13%0%5–10yr17%18%10–20yr17%31%20–35yr17%22%35–55yr18%27%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value19%3%<5yr13%0%5–10yr17%36%10–20yr17%14%20–35yr17%15%35–55yr18%32%55yr+

The field is 19% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 3% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 5% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
5%
3/59
the rest of the field
13%
2,285/18,106

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

05the grantee network

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2026, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 42 of the 59 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
39/42
Grantees still filing
28/42
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC — $4,914,551 · EducationSAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INCGUILFORD EDUCATION ALLIANCE — $3,292,220 · EducationGUILFORD EDUCATION ALLIANCETeachers College Columbia University — $2,572,917 · EducationTeachers College Columbia UniversitySHIFT EDUCATION — $1,951,324 · EducationSHIFT EDUCATIONCOLLEGE NOW GREATER CLEVELAND INC — $879,076 · EducationCOLLEGE NOW GREATER CLEVELAND INCPROMISE PATHWAYS INC — $865,837 · EducationPROMISE PATHWAYS INC+5 more — $175,854 · EducationTHE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION — $5,412,825 · PhilanthropyTHE CLEVELAND FOUNDATIONWEISS FAMILY FOUNDATION — $5,180,191 · PhilanthropyWEISS FAMILY FOUNDATIONCENTRAL NEW YORK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $1,083,758 · PhilanthropyCENTRAL NEW YORK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION IN…+2 more — $538,435 · PhilanthropyCHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES OF ERIE COUNTY — $4,477,047 · OtherCHILD AND FAMILY S…COMMUNITY ACTION ORGANIZATION OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC — $455,041 · OtherCOMMUNITY ACTION O…MEDAILLE UNIVERSITY — $407,750 · OtherMEDAILLE UNIVERSIT…+25 more — $355,100 · Other+25 moreAMERICA'S PROMISE THE ALLIANCE FOR YOUTH — $1,025,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF NORTHEAST OHIO — $70,369 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BUFFALO INC — $50,380 · Youth Development+3 more — $58,740 · Youth DevelopmentTHE CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE — $159,116 · Arts & CultureBUFFALO WIND SYMPHONY INC — $33,880 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $5,060 · Arts & CulturePOLISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF BUFFALO INC — $25,280 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUFFALO NIAGARA — $19,360 · Human ServicesTrue Community Development Corporation — $8,800 · Human ServicesTHE TEACHERS DESK INC — $7,000 · Human ServicesTRU WAY COMMUNITY CENTER — $25,740 · Recreation & SportsMetro Community Development Corporation — $19,800 · Recreation & Sports
Education$14,651,779Philanthropy$12,215,209Other$5,694,938Youth Development$1,204,489Arts & Culture$198,056Human Services$60,440Recreation & Sports$45,540

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTHE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION — $5,412,825 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetWEISS FAMILY FOUNDATION — $5,180,191 over 2y, 43% of budgetSAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC — $4,914,551 over 3y, 36% of budgetCHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES OF ERIE COUNTY — $4,477,047 over 1y, 15% of budgetGUILFORD EDUCATION ALLIANCE — $3,292,220 over 4y, 67% of budgetTeachers College Columbia University — $2,572,917 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSHIFT EDUCATION — $1,951,324 over 1y, 55% of budgetCENTRAL NEW YORK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $1,083,758 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetAMERICA'S PROMISE THE ALLIANCE FOR YOUTH — $1,025,000 over 2y, 9.2% of budgetCOLLEGE NOW GREATER CLEVELAND INC — $879,076 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetPROMISE PATHWAYS INC — $865,837 over 1y, 98% of budgetMEDAILLE UNIVERSITY — $407,750 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER GREENSBORO INC — $296,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC — $242,435 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE — $159,116 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetCENTER FOR ARTS-INSPIRED LEARNING — $76,144 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetBUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $74,710 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF NORTHEAST OHIO — $70,369 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetVILLA MARIA COLLEGE OF BUFFALO — $60,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BUFFALO INC — $50,380 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetERIE REGIONAL HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPOR — $31,460 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetMT OLIVE DEVELOPMENT CORP — $25,960 over 1y, 43% of budgetPOLISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF BUFFALO INC — $25,280 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE FELLOWSHIP BMEC INC — $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetMetro Community Development Corporation — $19,800 over 1y, 8.5% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUFFALO NIAGARA — $19,360 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPOLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE OF BUFFALO — $16,500 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetThe Boys & Girls Club Of The Northtowns Inc — $16,280 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetUniversity District Community Developmen — $15,620 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetBUFFALO PREP INC — $11,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDIVERSITY CENTER OF NORTHEAST OHIO — $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetEL EDUCATION INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTrue Community Development Corporation — $8,800 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetTHE TEACHERS DESK INC — $7,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetJuneteenth Festival Inc — $5,060 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetGRANTMAKERS FOR EDUCATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Community Foundation …United Way of Buffalo…Cullen FoundationThe John R Oishei Fou…First Niagara Foundat…The Peter and Elizabe…Cullen Foundation of …James H Cummings Foun…Buffalo Bills Foundat…Rich Family FoundationFeedmore Western New …Buffalo Sabres Founda…
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo IncNY39.1× affinity18 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 · United Way of Buffalo and Erie County · Cullen Foundation · The John R Oishei Foundation · First Niagara Foundation · The Peter and Elizabeth C Tower Foundation · Cullen Foundation of Western New York Inc · James H Cummings Foundation Inc · Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc · Rich Family Foundation · Feedmore Western New York Inc · Buffalo Sabres Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Say Yes to Education Inc funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 59 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines