Buffalo Next: Why the Wilson Foundation is funding the Buffalo Niagara startup ecosystem |

Why invest philanthropic dollars in startups?

The foundation’s investment is aimed at making Western New York a place where innovative startup founders can successfully start or grow a business.

If that’s not possible in Buffalo, people will either “let their ideas die on the vine or leave the area and take those jobs elsewhere,” Launch NY President and CEO Marine LaVigne said. 

In 2020, there were around 18,330 jobs available in Western New York at startup companies funded by venture capital, according to a study from the National Venture Capital Association, Venture Forward, and the University of North Carolina Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise & Research. That’s about 1 of every 28 jobs across the Buffalo Niagara region.

That same study found that employment at venture capital-backed companies grows eight times faster than employment at traditional, corporate companies.

That’s why the Wilson Foundation is making it a priority to invest in organizations like Launch NY, 43North and Endeavor Western New York, foundation officials said.

“When you have growth of business, then you have employment,” said Jim Boyle, who is the foundation’s vice president of programs and communications.