· Private foundation
The Vera B Arrison 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k11 grants · $45k
- $10k–50k10 grants · $100k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE TEACHER'S DESK | $10,000 |
| GLIDING STARS INC | $10,000 |
| PKD FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| HOME OF MY OWN - WNY | $10,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $10,000 |
| BUFFALO PEACE HOUSE | $10,000 |
| YMCA BUFFALO NIAGARA | $10,000 |
| OPPORTUNITIES COLLABORATIVE FOR SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS | $10,000 |
| CLEMENT AND KAREN ARRISON LEGACY FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| DAEMEN UNIVERSITY | $10,000 |
| FEEDMORE WNY FOUNDATION | $8,000 |
| CAMP GOOD DAYS AND SPECIAL TIMES WNY | $5,000 |
| SPCA | $5,000 |
| WINGS FLIGHTS OF HOPE | $5,000 |
| ST LUKE'S MISSION OF MERCY | $5,000 |
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 (FY20–25, $252k) 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.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
28 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (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 FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- YMYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUFFALO NIAGARA6× · 2020–2025 · $83k · revenue +74%
- TTTHE TEACHERS DESK INC6× · 2020–2025 · $55k · revenue +33%
- OCOpportunities Collaborative for Students with Special Needs Inc5× · 2021–2025 · $35k · revenue +256%
Funded once
- BEBUFFALO & ERIE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETYgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +63%
- NRNATIONAL ROWING FOUNDATION INCone grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +14%
Fairfield Universitygraduatedone grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +34%
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.
Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.
Niagara university educates its students and enriches their lives through programs in the liberal arts and through career preparation, informed by the catholic and vincentian traditions.
Molloy university, an independent catholic university, rooted in the dominican tradition of study, spirituality, service, and community, is committed to academic excellence with respect for each person. through transformative education,…
Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…
Alfred University's mission is helping students realize their purpose. People living a life of purpose enjoy longer and happier lives. Alfred University promotes its mission through three core strengths - Intersections, Mentorship, and…
With an unrelenting focus on academic excellence, the york academy regional charter school's mission is to challenge students in a diverse learning environment that opens doors for growth, opportunity and global citizenship.
New york institute of technology (nyit) offers various degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; (continued on…
Promote educational excellence, leadership, & service via a strong commitment to our students.
The school engages the student in a diverse and creative community that nurtures the joy and responsibility of active learning in all, from our youngest learners to our graduates, who leave with the skills essential to college success and…
To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.
How this is measured
18 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. 18 of the 33 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
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 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUFFALO NIAGARA ↗
- Who funds GLIDING STARSINC ↗
- Who funds THE TEACHERS DESK INC ↗
- Who funds PKD Foundation ↗
- Who funds Opportunities Collaborative for Students with Special Needs Inc ↗
- Who funds FEEDMORE WNY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds NICHOLS SCHOOL OF BUFFALO ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO & ERIE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds CLEMENT AND KAREN ARRISON LEGACY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WINGS FLIGHTS OF HOPE ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO PEACE HOUSE INC ↗
- Who funds DAEMEN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds CANISIUS UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds The Rural Outreach Center Inc ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL ROWING FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds WNY HEROES INC ↗
- Who funds Fairfield University ↗
- Who funds KIDNEY FOUNDATION OF WNY 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 · The Margaret L Wendt Foundation · The Baird Foundation · First Niagara Foundation · Mother Cabrini Health Foundation Inc · Scott Bieler Foundation Inc · Foundation 214 Inc · Nfada Charitable Foundation · Tower Family Fund Inc · Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc · The Western New York Foundation · The John R Oishei Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Vera B Arrison Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Vera B Arrison Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Fairfield University: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Vera B Arrison’s filings →