Board of Directors & Staff

Seventeen Year Update (pdf)

Hear it from the Children

Message From the President

BISON 2010 990 form (pdf)

Message From the President

As we start our 17th year of - Giving Families a Choice and Children a Chance - I would like to report to you our investors on the progress of the BISON Scholarship Fund. While our political leaders are trying to figure out how to invest in our country and reduce unemployment, we in the Greater Buffalo area are doing our part by helping families who want to succeed - to have that chance. Children who do not graduate from high school are doomed to a life of poverty, at best, and at worst - a life of unemployment, welfare, crime and worse. Without a solid elementary experience, success in high school is difficult at best. Children who are deficient in Math and English from the early years most likely will not have a successful high school experience. BISON believes that each child should have the chance to succeed. Excellence lasts a life time.

With this school year we will have issued 17,700 awards since 1995 to economically disadvantaged families, the economic value of which exceeds $12,500,000. Our current annual cost for BISON is just over $1,900,000, mostly for scholarship awards.

When BISON started in 1995, we made awards only within the City of Buffalo. Five years ago we made suburban areas tangential to the City eligible. The BIG news for this year is that The Foundation of the Buffalo Diocese has made a large grant to BISON which allows us to now accept applications from all eight counties of Western New York. We are delighted to have this opportunity to help families in this larger geographic area.

I would like to highlight a few pertinent facts:

• Demand for BISON awards is at an all-time high, with over 700 families on the waiting list. This translates into approximately 1000 children.
• Children attend 77 different private schools
• We know that at least 65% of all BISON 8th grade graduates get into private high school, and 30% to well performing public high schools.
• We know that 95% of all 8th grade children who leave as BISON scholars graduate from high school. This is probably the most impressive statistic. The results for City public schools here and across the country is in the 50% range.

I am reading a book - That Used To Be Us, by Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandlebaum, that spends a lot of time on educational issues confronting the United States. I would like to read a paragraph:

Regarding education - they say in part - "We believe that six things are necessary: better teachers and principals; parents who are more involved in and demanding of their children's education; politicians who push to raise educational standards, not dumb them down; neighbors who are ready to invest in schools even though their children do not attend them; business leaders committed to raising educational standards in their communities; and - last but certainly not least - students who come to school prepared to learn, not to text."

There is much to be done to bring the US back to a leadership position in the world regarding the education of our children; we are dreadfully behind at all levels. Get involved; learn what is going on and see if you can't make a difference.

The economic uncertainty of the last three years continues to make our fundraising efforts challenging, to say the least. In addition, unemployment hits lower income earners very hard and our families have to pay at least $500 per year in tuition towards their children’s education. This is a large sacrifice for them.

The BISON Fund is making a huge difference in these families’ lives, giving them, through quality education, opportunities for a real chance to succeed. Again today, you will hear from the kids themselves of what this program has meant for them. Your financial support is necessary for us to keep assisting high levels of children so that we do not have to increase a waiting list due to lack of funds.

In conclusion, please feel a great sense of accomplishment in how you have positively impacted so many families in helping them break out of a potentially negative outcome, and at an amazingly low cost of about $900 per child. Another benefit is that the schools that these children attend are being helped by the increased enrollment and by the diversity that is brought to them. Please be an ambassador for BISON, read the 17th year report, check out our web site and Facebook and most importantly - stay with us in this worthy endeavor; thousands of kids are counting on us!! Education is the mandatory foundation for a successful life.

Paul D. Bauer
President