While the Foundation maintains a strong interest in our local community, we also take interest in selected projects from throughout the region that typically have a connection to the founder’s community.

 

The Foundation provides support to a wide array of qualified organizations. We do not allocate our funding based upon predetermined categories (e.g., education, youth, etc.). Rather, our grant making is responsive to those opportunities that present as the most compelling and impactful and, at any given point in time, the most sustainable investment.

 

We are particularly interested in innovative projects and initiatives that address an identified need and which have the potential to achieve outcomes that can be replicated.

 

We believe strongly in the value of challenge grants as a way to motivate other funders and build stronger relationships.

 

We prefer to support projects that involve other funders. From our perspective, multiple funding partners help validate the worthiness of a project and reduce risk.

 

We are interested in projects that can be shown to maintain or improve the sustainability of an organization.

 

We seek proposals that address the highest priority of an organization and where it can be shown our investment will make a critical and significant difference.

 

We do not make grants to individuals or for-profit organizations and we do not sponsor fundraising events or political activities.

 

The Foundation has a long tradition of supporting private higher education in Upstate New York. This continues to be an area of interest to the Foundation. We invite colleges and universities to review our Grant Guidelines for Higher Education.

 

Proposals seeking support solely for recurring operating expenses of an organization are strongly discouraged.

 

Grant recipients will be expected to provide the Foundation with an evaluation report upon completion of the project for which funding was provided. This report requests information regarding the specific impact of the project, how our grant helped leverage additional funding/establish new partnerships, benefits and challenges experienced during the project, and an updated income and expense budget. Interim reports may also be requested on a case-by-case basis.

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Additional Information