In the Making TABLE of CONTENTS Message from Chair and President

2013 ANNUAL REPORT CHANG E in the making TABLE OF CONTENTS Message from Chair and President ................................................ 1 In Appreciation: Christopher T. Dunstan .......................................... 3 Outcomes ................................................................... 4 – 5 Staff Remarks ............................................................... 6 – 9 Grantee Highlights ........................................................ 10 – 23 Year in Review ............................................................ 24 – 27 Grant Listings ............................................................. 28 – 34 Financials ................................................................. 35 – 36 Board and Staff ................................................................. 37 For information on applying to the Foundation, visit www.oishei.org or call us at 716-856-9490. OUR MISSION STATEMENT The John R. Oishei Foundation strives to be a catalyst for change to enhance the economic vitality and quality of life for the Buffalo Niagara region through grantmaking, leadership and network building. message from THE chair AND PRESIDENT t is unquestionably difficult for an organization to get out of its own way to do significant assessment and future planning work and even more difficult to implement the kinds of tweaks and corrections that are called for when such work is completed. Perhaps the most apt analogy is ‘fixing the car while you’re driving.’ I Like many of our colleagues and grantee organizations, we have done a fair amount of this, and in 2013, much of it began to pay off in the form of reconfigured staff and priorities. Most significant is the addition of three full-time professionals to our staff. Sally Crowley and Curtis Robbins now embody what we are seeing as a department of communications and knowledge management which we expect to benefit not only this foundation, but our colleagues, grantees, and other stakeholders in the community. We recognize our role – given our capacity – of regional convener, but with that, we realize that the information and background data critical to successfully bringing people together is something that few organizations can provide. By appointing Sally as Communications Director and Curtis as Knowledge Management Officer, we expect to provide much more of the basic information and context within which many critical community conversations can take place. Our third staff addition is Karen Spaulding, former deputy director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, as our Vice President of Philanthropic Support. In the broad assessments that we had completed on our own work as an organization by the Center for Effective Philanthropy in 2005 and again in 2010, it was made clear to us that one of the significant areas needing improvement was post-grant support – help after the grant was made. 2013 Grants AWARDED BY CategorY We scored very well on the pre-grant work with applicants, but simply did not have Strengthening the Education Continuum $4,633,181 the capacity to work very closely with them after the fact. With the addition of Karen, Enhancing Options for Self-Sufficiency $2,395,115 we hope to begin to address this. In addition to working with grantees (and potential Building Livable, Stable Neighborhoods $684,046 grantees), Karen will work with the rest of the Oishei staff to help find and engage opportunities to convene key members of the community around areas of interest to Promoting Health and Improving the region. Much of that work will be supported by communications and knowledge Systems of Care $8,785,750 management as well. Expanding the Role of Arts, Culture, and Heritage in Regional Development $4,184,713 In terms of “rolling up our sleeves and getting into it up to our eyeballs,” we would note TOTAL $20,682,805 especially the work of our Senior Vice President of Programs Blythe Merrill with the www.oishei.org 2013 JOHN R. OISHEI ANNUAL REPORT 1 Buffalo Public Schools and the Foundation’s scholarship programs; Senior Program Officer Larry Cook’s work with the Mobile Safety-Net Team which is resulting in the production of some of the most comprehensive and useful datasets on various WNY communities ever compiled; and Executive Vice President Paul Hogan’s long-term work with the arts community and Oishei Leaders, as well as his work in looking for ways to improve the delivery of mental health services in the region. We expect all of these engagements to intensify as our new complement of staff members complete their ‘settling in’ process. So what? Well, in our view, the most significant response to the “So What?” question would be the recent national #1 ranking of affordable U.S. cities given to Buffalo by Forbes magazine. But beyond that, we’d point to a September 2013 article in Moody’s Analytics that demonstrated Buffalo’s general resurgence and much-better-than-average outlook, specifically as related to job growth and overall stability. Neither of these pieces are opinions; they are statements based on comparative data. We’ve turned the corner, and we can prove it! Last, we bid adieu to our long-time board member Christopher Dunstan, who was here before the beginning of the Foundation as Trico’s financial officer. Please see our tribute to him on the next page. And we welcome Luke Jacobs as his successor! As always, we are open to communication from anyone in the region with thoughts, comments, criticisms, or ideas. We have always seen the philanthropic undertaking as being – of necessity – a cooperative venture, built on trust, and recognizing the need for building relationships. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, James M. Wadsworth Robert D. Gioia Chairman President 2 2013 JOHN R. OISHEI ANNUAL REPORT www.oishei.org IN appreciation: Christopher T. Dunstan he year 2013 marked the retirement of Chris Dunstan from the Oishei Board of Directors. Chris is truly an innovator and avant-gardist. His long-time leadership at the Foundation included 16 years on the board with five years as the audit committee chair and five years as investment T committee chair. His ties with Oishei go way back…to the Trico Products company where he served as Vice Chairman, EVP and CFO. His impressive resume includes over 30 years of corporate, executive and turnaround management experience in over 10 countries spanning industries from food production, consumer products, cable and media services, to manufacturing. Chris is well known for his thirst for knowledge, keen business acumen and ability to tackle complicated issues with great finesse. He is the founding chair of Launch New York, a non-profit, venture development organization which awarded $5 million in the 2014 LaunchNY Business Plan Competition. He has also served on the boards of Blue Shield of Western New York, the Easter Seals, and the Botanical Society of Buffalo. Chris has been married for 35 years and has two daughters. He is an avid reader and enjoys traveling, listening to jazz and playing the piano. Thank you Chris, for sharing your exceptional array of talents with the Oishei Foundation and Western New York. www.oishei.org 2013 JOHN R. OISHEI ANNUAL REPORT 3 Outcomes MEASURING OUR Impact Our funding contributed to the following 2,400 grantee outcomes between 2012-2013. Attendees at the BPO’s iconic performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The event helped secure additional support, allowing the BPO to surpass its $500K fundraising goal. Number of visitors per month that access Buffalo ReformED’s 100online interactive school map. The non-profit serves 5,500 people through advocacy and research to inform and $1.4 MILLION Amount of full-time wages that went to residents of poverty-stricken neighborhoods empower local parents. in Buffalo. This was the indirect economic impact of the Center for Employment Opportunities’ training and placement of 228 high-risk participants in high-need employment sectors. Annual decrease in operating$325K expenses through consolidation of buildings and reassignment of staff on the Cantalician Academic Campus. Over 250 children with developmental disabilities are assisted by this Percentage point increase (89% to 96%) in the number of participants organization annually. who reported having a regular primary care physician after the Good for the Neighborhood Program. Relationships between Independent Health and the community have emerged Number of non-profit organizations in South Buffalo that are participating and continue to grow through ongoing events centered in “Sharing = Success”, a five-year strategic plan directed by the Cazenovia around healthy lifestyles. 30Community Resource Center Library. The plan focuses on advancing/ 7 implementing proposed shared services and improvements that lead to increased quality of service delivery. Number of visitors that have toured PUSH 500+Buffalo project sites in the past year, including MIT, which is interested in using it Number of low-income children who received a BISON as a national model. PUSH has renovated Scholarship. 95% of these graduates go on to 57 apartments on Buffalo’s West a top performing public, charter or private Side, addressing almost all of the high school in WNY. chronically vacant parcels within its 510 Green Development Zone. 4 2013 JOHN R. OISHEI ANNUAL REPORT www.oishei.org POWER OF LEVerage EXpanding OUR MISSION The outcomes highlighted on the previous pages are a snapshot of The John R. Oishei Foundation’s impact on Western New York $40.4 Million 15% Amount of total leveraged funding

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