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Zemsky Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Zemsky Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$861k
Granted FY2024still arriving
32
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$240k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$747kPhilanthropy$639kHealth$566kHuman Services$371kReligion$296kInternational$219kEducation$181kCommunity Improvement$171kOther$0
02FY2024 · 32 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k18 grants · $26k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $279k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $556k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$6.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
KALEIDA HEALTH FOUNDATION$240,000
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM$115,000
TEMPLE BETH ZION$101,000
BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION$100,000
ELMWOOD FRANKLIN SCHOOL$43,334
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S MARTIN HOUSE$40,000
BUFFALO JEWISH FEDERATION$36,000
COLEBROOKDALE RAILROAD PRESERVATION TRUST$30,000
YMCA BUFFALO NIAGARA$25,000
NORTHLAND WORKFORCE TRAINING CENTER$25,000
HARVEST HOUSE BUFFALO INC$25,000
VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION$25,000
JEWISH DISCOVERY CENTER$20,000
DELAINE WARING AME CHURCH$10,000
BUFFALO URBAN LEAGUE$5,000
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 (FY17–24, $332k) 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%AQUINNAHGAY HEAD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $500 → 8%JEWISH ADOPTION & FAMILY CARE OPTIONS: $4k → 13%JEWISH ADOPTION & FAMILY CARE OPTIONS: $2k → 13%JEWISH ADOPTION & FAMILY CARE OPTIONS: $2k → 13%IBERO AMERICAN ACTION LEAGUE INC: $10k → 14%YMCA BUFFALO NIAGARA: $25k → 13%CANOPY OF NEIGHBORS: $2k → 13%YMCA BUFFALO NIAGARA: $25k → 13%YMCA BUFFALO NIAGARA: $25k → 13%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO: $3k → 13%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO: $3k → 13%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO: $3k → 13%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO: $3k → 13%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO: $3k → 13%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO: $3k → 13%BROADWAY-FILLMORE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES INC: $40k → 13%BROADWAY-FILLMORE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES INC: $25k → 13%BROADWAY-FILLMORE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES INC: $25k → 13%VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $25k → 13%VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $25k → 13%VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $25k → 13%BUFFALO URBAN LEAGUE: $5k → 13%THE FOUNDRY: $500 → 13%VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $25k → 13%YMCA BUFFALO NIAGARA: $25k → 13%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO: $1k → 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.

69%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.2M · 41 repeat orgs$981k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.

41 repeat relationships: 19 still active in FY2024, 22 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

41
41

Total granted

$2.2M
$696k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+18%

Still filing today

56%
49%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 65% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $285k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthPhilanthropyEducationInternationalOther
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

  • BF
    BUFFALO FINE ARTS ACADEMY
    4× · 2020–2023 · $377k · revenue +59%
  • KALEIDA HEALTH FOUNDATION
    3× · 2020–2024 · $270k · revenue +35%
  • RICHARDSON CENTER CORPORATION
    3× · 2017–2019 · $150k · revenue +45%

Funded once

  • CF
    CAMPAIGN FOR GREATER BUFFALO
    one grant, 2020 · $154k
  • BE
    BUFFALO & ERIE CO NAVAL & MILITARY PARK
    one grant, 2022 · $100k
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF GIVAT HAVIVA
    one grant, 2023 · $63k · revenue -62%
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
Invest Buffalo Niagara Foundation Inc

Invest buffalo niagara foundation, inc. is a vehicle to solicit charitable contributions to develop programs, collaborate with, and provide funding to organizations that advance and encourage economic development in western new york.

Community Improvement
2
Buffalo Niagara River Land Trust Inc

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

Environment
3
Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers Inc

To improve the quality of life of the people and neighborhoods we serve by preparing, equipping and empowering them to meet the challenges of contemporary urban life and realize their full potential.

—
4
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
5
Buffalo Erie Niagara Land Improvement Corporation

The buffalo erie niagara land improvement corporation (benlic) seeks to confront and alleviate the problems distressed properties cause to communities by supporting municipal and regional revitalization efforts and strategically acquiring,…

Community Improvement
6
Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy Inc

The organization was formed for the specific purpose of operating, maintaining and protecting parks and public spaces in the city of buffalo, new york, including but not limited to parks and public spaces owned or operated by the city of…

Recreation & Sports
7
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
8
Better Parks Buffalo Inc

Create new public golf and recreation amenities in the city of buffalo; assist in the restoration of frederick law olmsted's south park arboretum; and construct a new education center for underserved, minority youth.

—
9
Abny Foundation Inc

The abny foundation, inc. (the "foundation") was created to provide funds for social, educational, and civic initiatives that enhance the quality of life in the five boroughs of new york city.

Philanthropy
10
University at Buffalo Foundation Incubator Inc

The organization operates an incubator facility to identify and aid start-up businesses with a purpose of stimulating development and increasing interaction between the university at buffalo and such businesses.

Education
11
Zoological Society of Buffalo Inc

Building community; creating connections; saving wildlife through a collaboration for change: the buffalo zoo will be a center of conservation excellence, providing leadership to secure a future where wildlife thrives. we embody our…

Animals
12
Buffalo Urban Development Corporation

Support the urban economic development efforts of the region through the acquisition, remediation and management of distressed properties

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies Inc; the most unlike its peers is Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust. 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

56 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. 56 of the 98 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
56/56
Grantees still filing
32/56
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CAMPAIGN FOR GREATER BUFFALO: $154,238 · OtherCAMPAIGN FOR GREATER BUFFALOTEMPLE BETH ZION: $109,700 · OtherTEMPLE BETH ZIONTOURETTE SYNDROME ASSOCIATION INC: $107,500 · OtherTOURETTE SYNDROME ASSOCIATION INCBUFFALO & ERIE CO NAVAL & MILITARY PARK: $100,000 · OtherBUFFALO & ERIE CO NAVAL & MILITARY PARKJEWISH DISCOVERY CENTER: $100,000 · OtherJEWISH DISCOVERY CENTERHARVEST HOUSE: $77,500 · OtherHARVEST HOUSENORTHLAND WORKFORCE CENTER: $75,000 · OtherNORTHLAND WORKFORCE CENTERJEWISH FAMILY SERVICES OF WNY: $50,000 · OtherCAMPAIGN FOR BUFFALO HISTORY ARCH & CULTURE: $50,000 · OtherRESTORATION SOCIETY INC: $50,000 · OtherNIAGARA AEROSPACE MUSEUM: $50,000 · OtherRICHARDSON CENTER CORPORATION: $150,000 · OtherRICHARDSON CENTER CORPORATION+43 more: $257,350 · Other+43 moreJewish Federation Of Greater Buffalo Inc: $416,000 · PhilanthropyJewish Federation Of G…COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC: $120,750 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION F…ROSWELL PARK ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $106,000 · PhilanthropyROSWELL PARK ALLIANCE …UNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY: $50,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF BUFFALO …THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC: $25,000 · Philanthropy+5 more: $17,000 · PhilanthropyBUFFALO FINE ARTS ACADEMY: $377,000 · Arts & CultureBUFFALO FINE ARTS A…FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S MARTIN HOUSE CORPORATION: $120,000 · Arts & CultureFRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'…CENTRAL TERMINAL RESTORATION CORP: $35,000 · Arts & CultureCENTRAL TERMINAL RE…Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust: $30,000 · Arts & CultureMANN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $27,500 · Arts & CultureWESTERN NEW YORK PUBLIC BROADCASTING ASSOCIATION: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $21,000 · Arts & CultureYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUFFALO NIAGARA: $100,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'…THE VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INC: $100,000 · Human ServicesTHE VALLEY…Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood Housing Services Inc: $90,000 · Human ServicesBroadway-F…THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO: $16,500 · Human Services+6 more: $25,200 · Human Services+6 moreKALEIDA HEALTH FOUNDATION: $270,000 · Health+4 more: $3,700 · HealthAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $115,000 · InternationalFRIENDS OF GIVAT HAVIVA: $62,500 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF SOROKA MEDICAL CENTER INC: $60,000 · InternationalBUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 · EducationELMWOOD-FRANKLIN SCHOOL INC: $47,334 · EducationTHE GESU SCHOOL INC: $10,000 · Education+1 more: $4,500 · Education
Other$1,331,288Philanthropy$734,750Arts & Culture$635,500Human Services$331,700Health$273,700International$237,500Education$161,834

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 budgetJewish Federation Of Greater Buffalo Inc: $416,000 over 5y, 7.5% of budgetBUFFALO FINE ARTS ACADEMY: $377,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetKALEIDA HEALTH FOUNDATION: $270,000 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetRICHARDSON CENTER CORPORATION: $150,000 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC: $120,750 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S MARTIN HOUSE CORPORATION: $120,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $115,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetROSWELL PARK ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $106,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION BUFFALO NIAGARA: $100,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INC: $100,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetBroadway-Fillmore Neighborhood Housing Services Inc: $90,000 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF GIVAT HAVIVA: $62,500 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF SOROKA MEDICAL CENTER INC: $60,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetUNITED WAY OF BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY: $50,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetRESTORATION SOCIETY INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNIAGARA AEROSPACE MUSEUM: $50,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetELMWOOD-FRANKLIN SCHOOL INC: $47,334 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetTHE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GROUP INC: $35,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCENTRAL TERMINAL RESTORATION CORP: $35,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetColebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust: $30,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMANN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $27,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWESTERN NEW YORK PUBLIC BROADCASTING ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHARVEST HOUSE BUFFALO INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetTHE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUFFALO: $16,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetTHE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF BUFFALO INC: $10,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetTHE GESU SCHOOL INC: $10,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEXPLORE BUFFALO INC: $9,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetBUFFALO STRING WORKS INC: $7,500 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetJewish Adoption and Family Care Options Inc: $7,200 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetBUFFALO NIAGARA WATERKEEPER INC: $5,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBUFFALO URBAN LEAGUE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBACK TO BASICS OUTREACH MINISTRIES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNICHOLS SCHOOL OF BUFFALO: $4,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBURCHFIELD PENNEY ART CENTER: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBUFFALO RENAISSANCE FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetKIDNEY FOUNDATION OF WNY INC: $2,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetPRESERVATION BUFFALO NIAGARA: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NATIONAL FEDERATION FOR JUST COMMUNITIES OF WNY INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetBuffalo Evening News Charity Fund: $2,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetCanopy of Neighbors Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTHE 11 DAY POWER PLAY INC: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBuffalo Green Fund Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetCHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRIVERSIDE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% 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 …First Niagara Foundat…The Baird FoundationFoundation for Jewish…The Western New York …The John R Oishei Fou…Cullen FoundationIndependent Health As…The Frank G Raichle F…Rich Family FoundationThe Peter and Elizabe…The Ralph C Wilson Jr…
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo IncNY61.9× affinity30 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 · First Niagara Foundation · The Baird Foundation · Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies Inc · The Western New York Foundation · The John R Oishei Foundation · Cullen Foundation · Independent Health Association Inc · The Frank G Raichle Foundation · Rich Family Foundation · The Peter and Elizabeth C Tower Foundation · The Ralph C Wilson Jr 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 Zemsky Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Zemsky Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    25report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 98 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-PF 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 Zemsky Family’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