New York · Nonprofit
SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC
SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC (New York) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,331,029 to it, the largest being WEISS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($5,631,258). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $18M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $56M
What Say Yes Buffalo Scholarship Inc does
Mission
The mission of the say yes buffalo partnership is to remove barriers to educational attainment, workforce participation and economic mobility for students in public and charter schools in buffalo and niagara falls, ny. Our collective impact partnership, centered on racial equity and inclusion, provides a postsecondary tuition promise and cradle to career comprehensive supports to increase the rates of high school and postsecondary completion and the achievement of fulfilling professional employment. Our vision is a more equitable and thriving western new york economy in which all students will have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Say yes buffalo scholarship, inc. Raises funds to support college tuition and related educational expenditures through the provision of scholarships and opportunity grants. Funds raised are transferred to a scholarship fund at a community foundation for administration of the scholarship programs. The scholarship fund provides scholarships for all graduates of buffalo and niagara falls public and charter schools to pursue a post-secondary education. This scholarship program serves to articulate the possibility and expectation of post-secondary completion for all students and gives hope to students and families who may not otherwise have thought that college is an option. The graduation rate for buffalo public school students increased to 79% during the 2021/2022 fiscal year. Say yes buffalo scholarship, inc. Has initiated a $65 million endowment fund campaign to continue to support the scholarship program into the future.
$3,179,759 spentof which $3,748,506 as grants$3,395,201 earned by the program19% of program spendingSay yes buffalo scholarship, inc. Has entered into contracts and grants to provide school based wrap around support services in the buffalo and niagara falls public schools.
$13,737,481 spent$14,696,266 earned by the program81% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $16,917,240.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $35M to $57M (+65%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 47% · 2022 30% · 2023 47% · 2024 62% · 2025 57%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
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
David Rust
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 17 funders, grant income rose $10k → $2.8M.
8 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $11M from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Say Yes to Education Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC raised.
From the IRS filings of SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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
SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 39% · 2021 78% · 2022 36% · 2023 59% — 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
13% of SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.
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
SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC draws 77% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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.
Against its field
SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP 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.
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 SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC?
- SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC (New York) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,331,029 to it, the largest being WEISS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($5,631,258). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $18,331,029 in grants to SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP INC?
- WEISS FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,631,258 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAY YES BUFFALO SCHOLARSHIP 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 35 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