The City of Buffalo now has access to extra cash thanks to a partnership with a local foundation.
The City of Buffalo Transition and Transformation fund was established by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. It will accept donations from both philanthropic and corporate sources according to a letter signed by foundation President and CEO Betsy Constantine and filed with the Buffalo Common Council.
The new fund is intended to financially support initiatives like hiring consultants to streamline city systems, exploring how other cities achieve specific services and recruiting and retaining top personnel in City Hall.
"The city has long standing needs - technology, equipment, operating systems, data management, workforce capacity," Constantine said. "These are really critical to delivering services to the citizens of our community and the residents of our community."
The fund balance currently stands at approximately $800,000 according to Constantine. She said the cash was donated by three "founding partners" including the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo along with the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and the John R. Oishei Foundation.
To access portions of the cash, the incoming Ryan administration must submit a written request to the foundation outlining their intended use of the money. Funds are only released if that request complies with the foundation’s guidelines and relevant laws said Constantine.
The money will then be administered in accordance with the city's usual practices: the administration allocates the cash and it is only appropriated once signed-off by the common council.
It was revealed in the meeting those who donate to the foundation can opt to remain anonymous, prompting questions around transparency from council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope.
"If any of the donors - especially from the private sector - are going to be doing business with the City of Buffalo, that should be disclosed to us just to ensure there's transparency and there's no appearance of impropriety," Halton-Pope asserted.
Constantine said the foundation will "certainly encourage" donors to disclose their identity to the extent that they feel comfortable, but explained that the cash from the foundation is "essentially undesignated" and its specific use would be decided upon by the mayor and common council.
"So there's two opportunities to ensure that there isn't that kind of influence," Constantine said.
Incoming Deputy Mayor Ben Swanekamp argued anonymous donations mitigate the risk of undue influence because the City would not know the identity of the donor. Though when pressed by Halton-Pope, he conceded the administration would publicly reveal who was behind anonymous donations in the event their identity was privately disclosed to city officials.
It is fairly common for foundations to partner with government. The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City partners with dozens of New York City agencies to supplement government initiatives according to the foundation's website. At the federal level, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, established in 1990, is intended to support the U.S. government's public health research.
