· Public charity
United Way of Buffalo and Erie County
Our mission: we bring people, organizations and resources together to create systemic community change.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
The 90 grants below total $6,389,519 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $6,691,319 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $301,800 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k11 grants · $80k
- $10k–50k47 grants · $1.1M
- $50k–250k29 grants · $2.7M
- $250k+3 grants · $2.5M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| DONOR DESIGNATIONS TO AGENCIES | $1,552,897 |
| BPS ADULT LEARNING CENTERBUFFALO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION | $576,619 |
| VIA - VISUALLY IMPAIRED ADVANCEMENT | $363,297 |
| BELMONT HOUSING RESOURCES FOR WNY | $166,600 |
| BELMONT HOUSING RESOURCES FOR WNY | $166,266 |
| LT COLONEL MATT URBAN HUMAN SERVICES CENTER OF WNY | $154,303 |
| JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF BUFFALO & ERIE COUNTY | $132,149 |
| BESTSELF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH | $131,700 |
| YWCA OF WNY | $122,123 |
| BUFFALO FEDERATION OF NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS INC (BFNC) | $120,000 |
| BUFFALO PRENATAL PERINATAL SERVICES | $119,400 |
| NORTHWEST BUFFALO COMMUNITY CENTER INC | $113,202 |
| ERIE REGIONAL HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORP (BELLE CENTER) | $111,056 |
| VIA - VISUALLY IMPAIRED ADVANCEMENT | $100,000 |
| CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES OF ERIE COUNTY | $96,500 |
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.
Your human-services grants (FY17–25, $15.9M) 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 your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
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
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.
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.
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +27% since the first grant, against 0% for the ones you funded once.
122 repeat relationships — 68 still active in FY2025, 54 since wound down; 10 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, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $269k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
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
VIA VISUALLY IMPAIRED ADVANCEMENT9× · 2017–2025 · $3.1M · revenue +59%- BHBELMONT HOUSING RESOURCES FOR WNY INC9× · 2017–2025 · $2.6M · revenue +23%
JERICHO ROAD MINISTRIES INC9× · 2017–2025 · $2.6M · revenue +269%
Funded once
- CACHILD & ADOLESCENT TREATMENT SERVICESone grant, 2017 · $435k
- CECOOPERATIVE EXTENSION ASSOCIATION IN THE STATE OF N Yone grant, 2018 · $183k
- TETHRIVE EMERGENCY SERVICESone grant, 2020 · $121k
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
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.
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…
Lawny increases access to justice through excellent legal representation, advocacy and service.
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.
To improve the quality of life for all residents of its primary service areas by focusing on meeting the needs of the low-income and disadvantaged population, and to promote the personal and family growth of its constituents as they move…
To bring businesses, job seekers and training providers together to provide skilled workers for every business and employment for every job seeker.
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,…
Founded in 1987, leadership buffalo, inc conducts programs designed to enhance development of long-term leadership in the greater buffalo, ny community. the organization develops and unites leaders of diverse backgrounds and perspectives…
To facilitate both the creation and retention of jobs within erie county and increase economic opportunities for individuals and businesses through comprehensive economic development programs.
To improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of our community.
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…
Central ny quest has been established to serve the needs of persons with intellectual, developmental and mental health disorders in the central new york region.
The specific mission of the organization is to coordinate resources to inspire and empower people to acheive their full potential.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Connections of Ny Inc and the most unlike its peers is Hope Totes Inc. 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.
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 31 years old; the field is 22. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 16% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 1% lost their exemption, against 8% of the field you don’t fund.
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.
134 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. 134 of the 195 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.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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.
- Who funds BUFFALO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds VIA VISUALLY IMPAIRED ADVANCEMENT ↗
- Who funds BELMONT HOUSING RESOURCES FOR WNY INC ↗
- Who funds JERICHO ROAD MINISTRIES INC ↗
- Who funds BESTSELF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH INC ↗
- Who funds POLISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF BUFFALO INC ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO FEDERATION OF NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS INC ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC ↗
- Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF BUFFALO ↗
- Who funds FAMILY HELP CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES OF ERIE COUNTY ↗
- Who funds NORTHWEST BUFFALO COMMUNITY CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds UNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY ↗
- Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF BUFFALO INC ↗
- Who funds ERIE REGIONAL HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPOR ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO URBAN LEAGUE INC ↗
- Who funds THE VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds FAMILY JUSTICE CENTER OF ERIE COUNTY INC ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO PRENATAL-PERINATAL NETWORK INC ↗
- Who funds THE YWCA OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC ↗
- Who funds KING URBAN LIFE CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds COMPASS HOUSE ↗
- Who funds EPIC - EVERY PERSON INFLUENCES CHILDREN INC ↗
- Who funds READ TO SUCCEED BUFFALO INC ↗
- Who funds CRADLE BEACH INC ↗
- Who funds SENECA BABCOCK COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO ↗
- Who funds BUFFALO & ERIE COUNTY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT CONSORTIUM INC ↗
- Who funds University District Community Developmen ↗
- Who funds BE-A-FRIEND PROGRAM INC ↗
- Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
- Who funds JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES OF WESTERN NEW YORK ↗
- Who funds The Boys & Girls Club Of The Northtowns Inc ↗
- Who funds WESTERN NEW YORK UNITED AGAINST DRUG & ALCOHOL ABUSE INC ↗
- Who funds GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF WESTERN NEW YORK ↗
- Who funds COMPEER WEST INC ↗
- Who funds CHILD CARE COALITION OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC ↗
- Who funds NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Inc · The John R Oishei Foundation · The Western New York Foundation · Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc · First Niagara Foundation · Cullen Foundation · James H Cummings Foundation Inc · The Peter and Elizabeth C Tower Foundation · The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation · Children's Foundation of Erie County Inc · Cullen Foundation of Western New York Inc · The Frank G Raichle 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 United Way of Buffalo and Erie County 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.
- Reach Out and Read Inc — 9% of income from government
- Classroom Champions Inc — 1% of income from government
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.