Celebrating progress at WNY Impact Investment Fund 2025 annual reception

The Western New York Impact Investment Fund was thrilled recently to celebrate another year of social impact investing with board members, portfolio companies and supporters from the community.

The Oct. 9 event took place at Buffalo FilmWorks, a portfolio company that brought life back a formerly vacant industrial building while supporting the growth of a new industry in Buffalo. The program included presentations by board chair Brigid Doherty and CEO Tom Quinn, both of whom underscored the Fund’s important mission in Western New York.

The Fund makes place-based social impact investments that are weighed evenly for their commercial promise and potential to improve the lives of Western New Yorkers.

Quinn detailed the Fund’s strategy in identifying entrepreneurs with ambitious, impactful projects and giving them the resources to make those dreams a reality.

He called particular attention to the catalytic role the Fund is playing in important neighborhood revitalization projects such as Viridi, Top Seedz, Buffalo FilmWorks, CleanFiber, Package Design & Supply, The Rookery and others. Leadership teams for all of the Fund's portfolio companies were in attendance..

“We're pleased to look across our portfolio and seeing many companes that are scaling while making Western New York a better place," Quinn told the assembled crowd. "We plan to continue doing this important work for years to come."

The Fund has invested more than $13 million in 16 local companies since it debuted in 2017.

Led by CEO Jennifer O’Neill, Buffalo FilmWorks received a $750,000 investment in July 2022 to support the construction of Stage 4, the largest production stage in the northeastern U.S.

Buffalo FilmWorks is revitalizing a formerly vacant industrial building at Babcock and Clinton streets in Buffalo. It is also contributing to the emergence of a film production industry in Buffalo, supporting hundreds of local jobs and hosting.

The company has endured struggles with labor strife in Hollywood and delayed New York state tax credits. But with those projects in the rearview, Buffalo FilmWorks now has a growing backlog of high-profile projects normally associated with Hollywood or Atlanta.