Funders › New York

Ferguson Electric Foundation

Buffalo, NY · EIN 20-1084040. Reported 175 grants totalling $467,800 to 61 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,000median grant
$467,800granted, 2021-2025
61recipients, as named on its returns
79%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,046,316assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Ferguson Electric Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,500 and $3,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $15,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
20 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
127 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
21 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
7 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Roswell Park Alliance FoundationBuffalo, NY$55,000552025
Buffalo State CollegeBuffalo, NY$30,000442025
Feedmore WnyBuffalo, NY$26,000442024
Children's Hospital of Buffalo FoundationBuffalo, NY$25,000552025
Kaleida Health FoundationBuffalo, NY$25,000552025
Catholic Health FoundationBuffalo, NY$24,000552025
United Way of Buffalo & Erie CountyBuffalo, NY$18,500442024
Buffalo City MissionBuffalo, NY$16,000552025
St Joseph's Collegiate InstituteBuffalo, NY$13,500552025
Buffalo Philharmonic OrchestraBuffalo, NY$12,500552025
Hospice Foundation of Western New YorkBuffalo, NY$12,500552025
United Way of Niagara CountyNiagara Falls, NY$10,500442024
Kevin Guest HouseBuffalo, NY$10,000442025
Olv CharitiesLackawanna, NY$10,000332025
Catholic CharitiesBuffalo, NY$9,000552025
Cradle Beach CampAngola, NY$9,000442024
Zoological Society of BuffaloBuffalo, NY$9,000552025
St Luke's Mission of MercyBuffalo, NY$8,000442025
Lothlorien Therapeutic Riding CenterEast Aurora, NY$7,500332023
Bison Children's Scholarship FundBuffalo, NY$7,000552025
Buffalo Suzuki StringsNorth Tonawanda, NY$7,000552025
Crisis ServicesBuffalo, NY$7,000442025
Canisius UniversityBuffalo, NY$6,000332025
Explore & More Children's MuseumEast Aurora, NY$6,000332025
Villa Maria CollegeBuffalo, NY$6,000222022
National Federation of Just Communities of WnyBuffalo, NY$5,500332024
Aquarium of NiagaraNiagara Falls, NY$5,000332025
Mount Saint Mary's HospitalLewiston, NY$5,000332023
Richardson Center CorporationBuffalo, NY$5,000112021
Sisters Hospital FoundationBuffalo, NY$5,000332023
The Tool LibraryBuffalo, NY$5,000112023
American Cancer SocietyAmherst, NY$4,500552025
43NORTHBuffalo, NY$4,300112024
Cystic Fibrosis FoundationWilliamsville, NY$4,000442025
Alzheimer's AssociationWilliamsville, NY$3,500552025
Camp Good Days & Special TimesDepew, NY$3,500222023
Multiple Sclerosis SocietyRochester, NY$3,500442025
American Diabetes AssociationBuffalo, NY$3,000442025
Leukemia SocietyAmherst, NY$3,000332024
Niagara Falls AquariumNiagara Falls, NY$3,000222022
St Josephs CathedralBuffalo, NY$3,000332023
St Louis ChurchBuffalo, NY$3,000332023
Albright-Knox Art GalleryBuffalo, NY$2,500112021
Buffalo Akg Art MuseumBuffalo, NY$2,500112022
Connectlife Blood & Organ Donor NetworkWilliamsville, NY$2,500112021
Cornerstone ManorBuffalo, NY$2,500112021
Harvest HouseBuffalo, NY$2,500112021
Wings Flight of HopeOrchard Park, NY$2,500112021
Buffalo SeminaryBuffalo, NY$1,500112021
Canisius CollegeBuffalo, NY$1,500112022
Christian Central AcademyWilliamsville, NY$1,500112021
YMCA Buffalo NiagaraBuffalo, NY$1,500112021
Young LifeBuffalo, NY$1,500112021
American Heart AssociationDallas, TX$1,000112025
Kids Escaping DrugsWest Seneca, NY$1,000112021
SabahBuffalo, NY$1,000112021
Salvation ArmyBuffalo, NY$1,000112021
Say Yes BuffaloBuffalo, NY$1,000112025
Leukemia & Lymphoma SocietyAmherst, NY$500112025
Linking Hands for LearningHoneoye Falls, NY$500112025
Muscular Dystrophy Association BuffaloBuffalo, NY$500112023

39 of 61 (64%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 79%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 97 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Philanthropy & Grantmaking
24 grants
Human Services
17 grants
Health Care
14 grants
Arts & Culture
8 grants
Diseases & Disorders
6 grants
Education
6 grants
Recreation & Sports
5 grants
Mental Health
5 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202145$107,500$2,000
202230$76,000$2,250
202339$102,500$2,000
202432$100,300$2,000
202529$81,500$2,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Already committed for future years

Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Ferguson Electric Foundation has 1 of them, worth $3,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.

OrganizationLocationApproved
Villa Maria CollegeBuffalo, NY$3,000

Where its money goes

100% of its giving went to organizations in New York. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

New York
$467K
Texas
$1K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo30 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund26 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc19 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc18 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program14 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust13 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in New York.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding human services in New YorkEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding health care in New YorkEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding arts & culture in New YorkEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Ferguson Electric Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 333 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY, 14203. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 20-1084040 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.