Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

14 survey respondents

Location: 2351 N Forest Rd Ste 106, Getzville, 14068 NY

EIN: 16-6350753

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What was the overall relationship with the funder?

How many hours did the grant application process take?

8 hours

Median

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How would you rate this funder's accessibility?

95%

5%

How successfully do you think the funder is accomplishing its current philanthropic goals?

Important Information

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Top descriptors for this funder

14Builds relationships13Friendly13Responsive12"Gets" nonprofits and issues12Positive leader in the field11Gives more than money11Insightful10Culturally sensitive10Openminded9Risk taker7Likes site visits

Advice from a Friend

Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

Jul 28, 2023

Reviewer 6863 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2020

The Towers Foundation was our first foundation grant in our nonprofit journey. They truly want to help you succeed in your mission. We have received grants and been denied. We love the guidance they offer before, during, and after.
And especially loved how they stepped up during Covid to help us help our specific community of families who we believe were hit the hardest.
The Towers Foundation feels like family! We definitely encourage applying!

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive

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Aug 10, 2020

Grant Applicant - applied in 2020

The Tower Foundation is professional, transparent and caring in its process to apply and in its engagement with grantees. They ask great questions and really want to get to know you and your impact. They will tell you honestly where they seem alignment or if they don't to their philanthropy mission and if funded, they are a true partner in your work and impact.

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive

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Mar 20, 2019

Grant Applicant - applied in 2019

The Foundation works collaboratively to ensure a clear understanding of your proposed grant and is responsive and supportive. Oriented to making the process smooth and streamlined. A great experience!

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Culturally sensitive, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Responsive

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Response from Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

Mar 20, 2019

We're glad you felt supported throughout the application, and that it was a smooth process for you. Thanks for taking the time to write a review! We appreciate it very much.

Nov 05, 2018

Reviewer 8580 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2018

All the PM's at Tower are there to support you even at the LOI phase. Once you get past the LOI your assigned PM becomes part of your team and is an invested as you are in your success. Even if you don't get the grant (our LOI was rejected 3 times), they always give you the time you need to understand why and encouragement to try again. We did and on the 4th try we got the grant.

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Responsive

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Response from Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

Nov 05, 2018

Thanks for the thoughtful review, and we're glad you hung in there! You're not the first to identify problems with removing uploaded documents from the grants portal.

We're working on figuring out how to configure the settings so that applicants/grantees can remove documents without wiping out the attachments we'd like to retain (e.g., past financial statements; the history can be useful to us!).

Nov 02, 2018

Reviewer 1974 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2018

This is an exceptional foundation that is not adversarial and will work patiently with you to achieve success.

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive

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Response from Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

Nov 05, 2018

Thank you for the kind review! We're glad you had a positive experience working with us!

Jul 31, 2018

Reviewer 1549 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2016

The Tower Foundation is the only organization in the space that allows Executive Directors with learning disabilities to submit year-end-reports verbally (verses written). They are leading the way in practicing what they preach: They make accommodations to empower LD social entrepreneurs to successfully operate organizations that empower youth with LD. Tower is the gold standard.

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive

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Response from Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

Aug 01, 2018

You're too kind! (But we appreciate the compliments!) It took us a while to get there, but we realized that funding LD without making appropriate accommodations for people with LD was terribly hypocritical. Please let us know if you think of other ways we can streamline/improve our application and/or reporting processes!

Jul 13, 2018

Reviewer 3717 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2016

The Tower Foundation is highly committed to working with applicants and helping guide them through the application process. They seem genuinely interested in seeing the impact of projects they fund on the community and develop wonderful personalized relationships with grantees.

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive

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Response from Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

Aug 02, 2018

Thanks for the kind words! It's very important to us to develop strong and trusting relationships with our grant partners and to help them do the work that advances both of our goals! We do care deeply about the impact the projects we fund are having, we're working on how to measure our grants' contribution to the overall community's well-being. Stay tuned!

Jul 13, 2018

Reviewer 3883 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2016

Call and talk with them, they're extremely helpful in terms of listening to why you think you may be a fit, and providing guidance. They are unlike other funders in that they are true partners in both the application process and the reporting process. For our most recent report, we were allowed to do it through a conference call rather than a written report. This allowed us to have a program person, the CFO and the CDO on the call, resulting in a much richer discussion about grant implementation, including challenges. I never hesitate to call them with questions because I feel like they're part of our team.

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive

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Response from Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

Aug 01, 2018

Wow! Part of the team? We're blushing over here. :) Thank you so much for the high praise!

Jul 11, 2018

Reviewer 5850 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2018

The Tower Foundation Program Officers are very accessible and welcome opportunities to explore concepts and ideas in advance of submitting an application. I encourage potential applicants to take advantage of these opportunities to help with alignment of the proposal and grant guidelines.

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive

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Response from Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

Aug 02, 2018

Thank you for your review! We love talking over project ideas with people in advance of our submission deadlines. We can't always tell you what will make the cut (too many variables, such as the number of other grant request and their proposed projects, how many requests we get for each category, how much money we have available from year-to-year), but we can usually tell you when something's a non-starter. That can save everyone a bunch of time and frustration!

Jul 11, 2018

Reviewer 2986 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2016

The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation's Program Officers are among the most helpful and responsive professionals I have ever encountered. They also offer some amazing opportunities to meet with an officer of the foundation at coffee shops around the region. I received tremendous advice and direction during one of these meetings.

Pros

Positive leader in the field, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive

More Feedback

Response from Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr

Aug 02, 2018

Thank you for the kind review! We truly enjoy going out into the community and sharing conversation (and coffee -- except for Chuck; he's not a coffee drinker) with anyone who'd like to chat with us!

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Peter & Elizabeth C Tower Foundation Tr