The Edward H Butler Foundation
Buffalo, NY · EIN 16-6019785. Reported 87 grants totalling $971,000 to 41 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. The Edward H Butler 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $50,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elmwood Franklin School | Buffalo, NY | $196,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| One Symphony Circle | Buffalo, NY | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens | Buffalo, NY | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Water Compass | Boston, MA | $80,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Buffalo Zoological Gardens | Buffalo, NY | $57,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Nardin Academy - Montessori Early Childhood Program | Buffalo, NY | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| West Side Community Services | Buffalo, NY | $37,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center | Buffalo, NY | $31,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Grassroots Garden Wny | Buffalo, NY | $22,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| 716 Squash Inc | Buffalo, NY | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Adirondack Historical Association | Blue Mountain Lake, NY | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo | Buffalo, NY | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Zoological Society of Buffalo Foundation Inc | Buffalo, NY | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Buffalo State College Butler Library | Buffalo, NY | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute | Buffalo, NY | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Old Forge Fire Department | Old Forge, NY | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Old Forge Volunteer Ambulance Corps | Old Forge, NY | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Roswell Park Alliance Foundation | Buffalo, NY | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Buffalo Museum of Science | Buffalo, NY | $13,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Town of Webb Health Center Fund Inc | Old Forge, NY | $12,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Assembly House 150 | Buffalo, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society | Buffalo, NY | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Library of American Landscape History | Amherst, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lupus Foundation of America | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Richardson Center Corporation | Buffalo, NY | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| SPCA of Erie County | West Seneca, NY | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| The Tool Library | Buffalo, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Cardigan Mountain School | Canaan, NH | $8,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Danceability | Depew, NY | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Roswell Park Cancer Institute | Buffalo, NY | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bertrand Chaffee Hospital | Springville, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Buffalo City Mission | Buffalo, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| First Presbyterian Church of Buffalo | Buffalo, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Nichols School | Buffalo, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Summit Center | Getzville, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Via (formerly Olmstead Center for Sight) | Buffalo, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| West Side Rowing Club Inc | Buffalo, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks | Tupper Lake, NY | $4,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Salvation Army | Buffalo, NY | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Old Forge Volunteer Fire Department | Old Forge, NY | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Nature Conservancy of Western and Central New York | Rochester, NY | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
26 of 41 (63%) 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 62%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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.
- Nardin Academy - Montessori Early Childhood Program
CONSTRUCTION OF OUTDOOR MONTESSORI EDUCATION FACILITY - Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN - EXPANSION PROJECT - Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo
BUTLER MITCHELL HOUSE RENOVATION - Assembly House 150
TO SUPPORT THE MODERN CITY BUILDERS PROGRAM - The Tool Library
DESIGNATION - TO SUPPORT CAPACITY-BUILDING PROJECTS TO IMPROVE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY - Danceability
TO COMPLETE AND FACILITATE NEW CURRICULUM IN THEIR SPECIAL NEEDS DANCE STUDIO
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 63 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | $216,500 | $5,000 |
| 2022 | 29 | $272,000 | $5,000 |
| 2023 | 16 | $242,000 | $5,000 |
| 2024 | 20 | $240,500 | $7,000 |
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. The Edward H Butler Foundation has 10 of them, worth $530,000. 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.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Elmwood Franklin School | Buffalo, NY | $250,000 |
| One Symphony Circle | Buffalo, NY | $100,000 |
| One Symphony Circle | Buffalo, NY | $50,000 |
| Water Compass | Boston, MA | $30,000 |
| Water Compass | Boston, MA | $25,000 |
| Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens | Buffalo, NY | $20,000 |
| West Side Community Services | Buffalo, NY | $20,000 |
| Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center | Buffalo, NY | $15,000 |
| Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo | Buffalo, NY | $15,000 |
| Adirondack Historical Association | Blue Mountain Lake, NY | $5,000 |
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 89% of this one's giving went to organizations in New York. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in New York.
- 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.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Edward H Butler 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: 369 Franklin St, Buffalo, NY, 14202. 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 16-6019785 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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