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New York · Nonprofit

BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC

BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,611,905 to it, the largest being THE RALPH C WILSON JR FOUNDATION ($1,450,200). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$12M
Funders on record
61
Grants received
$7.6M
Net assets
$125M
30/61 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 12%
01What it does

What Buffalo State College Foundation Inc does

Mission

To advance the welfare and development of the state university of new york at buffalo state university (the university) and to support its goals of excellence in teaching and scholarship, cultural enrichment and service. The foundation furthers its mission by fostering private sector participation in the university's endeavors, particularly in the areas of philanthropy and fundraising, and by providing various support services to the university.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Providing financial assistance to the university and its affiliated organizations, faculty, staff and students, including, but not limited to, scholarships, fellowships, and loans to students; supporting research programs, conferences, seminars, art exhibitions and cultural events, acquiring equipment for educational and research projects, library holdings, art-related and literary collections, academic chairs, athletic programs, the buffalo state college alumni association, college-community programs, faculty and staff travel, college-related publications, campus beautification; and providing expense funds for university officials.

    $6,078,403 spentof which $2,113,345 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $6,078,403.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($10M) Expenses 100 ($5.3M) Net assets 100 ($57M)2018 Revenue 70 ($7.1M) Expenses 73 ($3.9M) Net assets 109 ($63M)2019 Revenue 45 ($4.6M) Expenses 79 ($4.2M) Net assets 115 ($66M)2020 Revenue 75 ($7.6M) Expenses 72 ($3.8M) Net assets 119 ($68M)2021 Revenue 153 ($16M) Expenses 72 ($3.8M) Net assets 165 ($95M)2022 Revenue 132 ($13M) Expenses 92 ($4.8M) Net assets 168 ($96M)2023 Revenue 70 ($7.2M) Expenses 109 ($5.8M) Net assets 172 ($99M)2024 Revenue 139 ($14M) Expenses 104 ($5.5M) Net assets 197 ($113M)2025 Revenue 119 ($12M) Expenses 134 ($7.1M) Net assets 217 ($125M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (119)Expenses (134)Net assets (217)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $70M to $97M (+38%).

$60M
$65M
$69M
$70M
$97M
$99M
$102M
$116M
$127M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

66% of BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,251 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$4.9M
’17
$3.3M
’18
$349k
’19
$3.8M
’20
$12M
’21
$8.6M
’22
$1.4M
’23
$8.7M
’24
$5.0M
’25
9.0
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Chief executive

James M Finnerty

Executive director

Board chair

Judy L Elliott

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed363132353529292828
Joined·+2+8+7+2+3+12+0+5
No longer listed·774291215
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 20 funders, grant income fell $1.1M → $548k.

12 of 61 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 61 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left

44% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC.

19%
largest funder
40%
top three
~11
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 50% · 2019 40% · 2020 20% · 2021 35% · 2022 51% · 2023 24% — diversifying over time.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

32% of BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

55% of BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from New York funders.

MI
NY
WY
OH
NJ
CT
CA
MO
VA
MD
DE
NC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin42% · top quartile
Months of reserve9.0mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)2% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In New York

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

86% of spending goes to programs.

Program 86%Management 10%Fundraising 4%

Governance

27
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

63%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NY

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Buffalo State College Foundation Housing Corporation · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

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Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC?
BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,611,905 to it, the largest being THE RALPH C WILSON JR FOUNDATION ($1,450,200). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC have?
IRS filings report 61 organizations giving $7,611,905 in grants to BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC?
THE RALPH C WILSON JR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,450,200 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 61 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing