WATER BUFFALO CLUB INC

The Water Buffalo Club envisions a Los Angeles where each child can experience a sense of well-being and have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

In a sense, The Water Buffalo Club (WBC) is an incubator for charities that are doing great things but are too small to garner the attention of most donors or foundations. Our goal is to help these charities grow to the point where they no longer need our support. Since 1989, we have assisted more than 300 charities, many of which have since outgrown the WBC.

Not only do we help fund organizations that are “under the radar” due to their small size (budgets of less than $350,000), the WBC goes a step further – through its members giving of their time. Our belief has been, from the very start, that our time is perhaps just as important as funding any grant proposal.

Our members participate in a variety of ways, from sourcing and vetting the organizations and programs we support, to accompanying the kids who participate in our field trips, to sorting and shelving books at the libraries we refurbish in Title 1 elementary schools, to giving out food at Thanksgiving at selected schools in some of Los Angeles’ most challenged neighborhoods. In doing so, WBC members, along with their families, have an impact on our community far more than the funds that we provide.

The WBC is funded by its members, donations from private foundations, corporations and generous individuals. However, unlike most charitable organizations that use a portion of the donations they receive to pay for overhead expenses, 100 percent of all donations received by the WBC go directly to the charities we support. Our members pay all of the WBC’s overhead and administrative costs through their annual membership dues!

The Water Buffalo Club's strategies for making this happen include but are not limited to increasing stakeholder engagement, securing additional funding from private donations, increasing the impact our members make through volunteering and raising funds, and strategically increasing the awareness of our Organization with the planned impact of raising more funds to increase our ability to provide programming and offer grants.

The Water Buffalo Club works hard to raise funds annually to support its programming and grant awarding capabilities. Annually the WBC hosts a Birthday Gala as well as a Poker Tournament. Additionally we raise funds to support our Library Refurbishment Programs and our Thanksgiving Basket Give Away Program. We are consistently seeking out new sources of private funding to accomplish our goals. Over the last thirty years the Water Buffalo Club has increased its impact and our plan is to work to grow the Organization over our net thirty years.

In our first thirty years, the Water Buffalo Club has impacted the greater Los Angeles community by working with local elementary schools to refurbish libraries, take children on free field trips to expose them to the world around the, and provides grants to smaller charities. The WBC has awarded over $4,500,000 in grants since 1989 and is poised to continue to grow that number. Our grants and direct programming have accomplished many things. We have donated over 500,000 books and refurbished 33 elementary school libraries. We have donated twenty-two passenger vans, two busses, one homework trailer and one food truck . We have taken over 26,000 students on free field trips. We have given over 125,000 free meals to needy families. We established twenty-five Little Libraries, We have sponsored over 6,000 student athletes, donated over 550 musical instruments and donated over 50,000 pieces of clothing for foster and homeless youth.

Over the coming years we intend to expand our grant giving process which will allow us to further expand our reach..