FundersNew York

Ferguson Electric Foundation

Buffalo, NY · EIN 20-1084040. Reported 146 grants totalling $386,300 to 57 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,000median grant
$386,300granted, 2021-2024
57organizations funded
79%of grantees funded again the next year
$974,414assets, 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
13 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
110 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
19 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
4 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Roswell Park Alliance FoundationBuffalo, NY$40,000442024
Feedmore WnyBuffalo, NY$26,000442024
Buffalo State CollegeBuffalo, NY$20,000332024
Children's Hospital of Buffalo FoundationBuffalo, NY$20,000442024
Kaleida Health FoundationBuffalo, NY$20,000442024
United Way of Buffalo & Erie CountyBuffalo, NY$18,500442024
Catholic Health FoundationBuffalo, NY$14,000442024
Buffalo City MissionBuffalo, NY$13,000442024
St Joseph's Collegiate InstituteBuffalo, NY$10,500442024
United Way of Niagara CountyNiagara Falls, NY$10,500442024
Buffalo Philharmonic OrchestraBuffalo, NY$10,000442024
Hospice Foundation of Western New YorkBuffalo, NY$10,000442024
Cradle Beach CampAngola, NY$9,000442024
Catholic CharitiesBuffalo, NY$7,500442024
Kevin Guest HouseBuffalo, NY$7,500332024
Lothlorien Therapeutic Riding CenterEast Aurora, NY$7,500332023
Olv CharitiesLackawanna, NY$7,500222024
Zoological Society of BuffaloBuffalo, NY$7,000442024
Bison Children's Scholarship FundBuffalo, NY$6,000442024
Buffalo Suzuki StringsNorth Tonawanda, NY$6,000442024
St Luke's Mission of MercyBuffalo, NY$6,000332024
Villa Maria CollegeBuffalo, NY$6,000222022
National Federation of Just Communities of WnyBuffalo, NY$5,500332024
Crisis ServicesBuffalo, NY$5,000332024
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
43NORTHBuffalo, NY$4,300112024
American Cancer SocietyAmherst, NY$4,000442024
Aquarium of NiagaraNiagara Falls, NY$4,000222024
Explore & More Children's MuseumEast Aurora, NY$4,000222024
Camp Good Days & Special TimesDepew, NY$3,500222023
Canisius UniversityBuffalo, NY$3,500222024
Cystic Fibrosis FoundationWilliamsville, NY$3,500332024
Alzheimer's AssociationWilliamsville, NY$3,000442024
Leukemia SocietyAmherst, NY$3,000332024
Multiple Sclerosis SocietyRochester, 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
American Diabetes AssociationBuffalo, NY$2,500332024
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
Kids Escaping DrugsWest Seneca, NY$1,000112021
SabahBuffalo, NY$1,000112021
Salvation ArmyBuffalo, NY$1,000112021
Muscular Dystrophy Association BuffaloBuffalo, NY$500112023

39 of 57 (68%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

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 recipient's own IRS classification, for the 79 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Philanthropy & Grantmaking
20 grants
Human Services
15 grants
Health Care
11 grants
Arts & Culture
6 grants
Education
5 grants
Recreation & Sports
5 grants
Mental Health
4 grants
Animal Welfare
4 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

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 -- and it also tells you how much of the next year's budget is already spoken for.

OrganizationLocationApproved
Villa Maria CollegeBuffalo, NY$3,000

Where its money goes

Buffalo, NY
$302K
Niagara Falls, NY
$18K
East Aurora, NY
$12K
Williamsville, NY
$10K
Angola, NY
$9K
Lackawanna, NY
$8K
Amherst, NY
$7K
North Tonawanda, NY
$6K

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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 the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo28 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund24 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc17 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc12 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program12 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  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 group, rankedFoundations funding health care in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in New YorkEvery funder in this group, ranked

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 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.