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Balmer Foundation

Charitable and philanthropic endeavors in support of and in conjunction with the Spartanburg county foundation.

$2.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.6M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.

Environment$14MPhilanthropy$3.1MArts & Culture$890kEducation$865kAnimals$384kHuman Services$275kPublic Benefit$244kHousing & Shelter$220kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $105k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $200k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.9M
$30,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$34M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Tyger River Foundation$1,607,019
Spartanburg County Foundation$256,000
Spartanburg Community College Foundation$100,000
Upstate Forever$100,000
Partners for Active Living dba PAL Play Advocate Live Well$30,000
Spartanburg Philharmonic$25,000
Northside Development Group$20,000
Service Dogs for Veterans$20,000
University of South Carolina Upstate Foundation$10,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 97% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%SERVICE DOGS FOR VETERANS: $42k → 10%STONE SOUP ANIMAL RESCUE: $25k → 15%PALMETTO TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION: $50k → 17%AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD TRUST: $30k → 14%CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF THE UPSTATE: $250k → 10%The Tyger River Foundation: $5.2M → 15%Walnut Grove Plantation Fund: $250k → 15%Upstate Forever: $100k → 10%SPARTANBURG COUNTY PARKS DEPARTMENT: $100k → 15%The Tyger River Foundation: $3.0M → 15%Upstate Forever: $100k → 10%The Tyger River Foundation: $1.6M → 15%TYGER RIVER FOUNDATION: $1.4M → 15%THE TYGER RIVER FOUNDATION: $950k → 15%THE TYGER RIVER FOUNDATION: $625k → 15%The Anderson Mill Historical Fund: $250k → 15%THE TYGER RIVER FOUNDATION: $150k → 15%THE TYGER RIVER FOUNDATION: $100k → 15%TYGER RIVER FOUNDATION: $90k → 15%SPARTANBURG HUMANE SOCIETY: $28k → 15%THE ANDERSON MILL HISTORICAL FUND: $750k → 15%THE ANDERSON MILL HISTORICAL FUND: $750k → 15%SPARTANBURG COUNTY FOUNDATION: $264k → 15%SPARTANBURG AREA CONSERVANCY: $150k → 15%Spartanburg County Foundation: $256k → 15%Spartanburg Philharmonic: $25k → 15%THE ANDERSON MILL HISTORICAL FUND: $250k → 15%CHAPMAN CULTURAL CENTER: $25k → 15%CENTER FOR PHILANTHROPY CAPITAL CAMPAIGN FUND: $250k → 15%THE SPARTANBURG LITTLE THEATRE: $25k → 15%A SPOT OF PRIDE BEAUTIFICATION FUND: $250k → 15%Spartanburg Philharmonic: $25k → 15%CONVERSE COLLEGE: $250k → 15%SPARTANBURG COUNTY FOUNDATION: $204k → 15%A SPOT OF PRIDE BEAUTIFICATION FUND: $156k → 15%A Spot of Pride Beautification Fund: $150k → 15%COMMUNITY WORKS CAROLINA: $100k → 15%A SPOT OF PRIDE BEAUTIFICATION FUND: $100k → 15%A SPOT OF PRIDE BEAUTIFICATION FUND: $100k → 15%HUB CITY ANIMAL PROJECT (HCAP) FUND: $30k → 15%ED VIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE: $105k → 15%SPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $100k → 15%WOFFORD COLLEGE: $55k → 15%ED VIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE: $50k → 15%ANIMAL ALLIES: $50k → 15%SPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $30k → 15%SPARTANBURG COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT SEVEN: $150k → 15%ANIMAL ALLIES INC: $100k → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$15M · 20 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

20 repeat relationships — 8 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
26

Total granted

$15M
$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+33%

Still filing today

95%
81%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureAnimalsEnvironmentEducationFood & NutritionPublic BenefitOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • TR
    TYGER RIVER FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $13M · revenue ×16 · 98% of their budget
  • CM
    CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF THE UPSTATE INC
    2× · 2017–2020 · $265k · revenue +11%
  • SPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    3× · 2018–2025 · $230k · revenue +9%

Funded once

  • CONVERSE UNIVERSITYgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $250k · revenue +54%
  • WG
    Walnut Grove Plantation Fund
    one grant, 2024 · $250k
  • AM
    ANDERSON MILL MEMORIAL INC
    one grant, 2024 · $250k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Hub City Roots

The hub city farmers' market is a nonprofit community organization that aims to increase supply, demand, and access to healthy, local foods in spartanburg, south carolina.

Food & Nutrition
2
Upcountry History Museum

The upcountry history museum connects people, history and culture.

Arts & Culture
3
South Carolina Public Interest Foundation
Crime & Legal
4
Rebuilding Together Spartanburg Inc

Repair/rehabilitate homes of disadvantaged homeowners in the upstate of sc through rebuilding days as well as special projects with various community groups.

Human Services
5
Strategic Spartanburg Inc

To report on data and engage the community in dialogue and strategy that leads to positive change in spartanburg county.

Community Improvement
6
South Carolina Wildlife Partnership

Our mission is to protect our state's hunting heritage and ensure this sports future for generations to come.

Animals
7
South Carolina National Heritage Corridor

The organization's primary mission is a grassroots initiative that advances sustainable development of natural, cultural and historic resources for enhanced quality of life and economic revitalization of communities in south carolina.

Arts & Culture
8
Saving Saluda Strays
Animals
9
South Carolina Urban Entomology Charitable Alliance
Education
10
Upper Savannah Land Trust

The mission of the upper savannah land trust is to encourage and support conservation of natural and scenic lands, farms, forests, waterways, and open spaces on our eight-county area: abbeville, anderson, edgefield, greenwood, laurens,…

Environment
11
Spartanburg Methodist College

SMC Delivers an exceptional education that fuses the empowerment of the liberal arts with crucial career skills. Our mission is to equip our students with the knowledge, skills, virtues, and mindset needed to thrive personally, create…

Education
12
South Carolina Business & Industry Political Education Committee

Promoting and protecting the free private and competitive enterprise system through research and education.

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children's Advocacy Center of Spartanburg Cherokee - Union Inc and the most unlike its peers is Hub City Writers Project. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 32 years old; the field is 19. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number24%0%<5yr12%6%5–10yr16%20%10–20yr13%29%20–35yr10%23%35–55yr26%23%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value24%0%<5yr12%0%5–10yr16%70%10–20yr13%5%20–35yr10%2%35–55yr26%22%55yr+

The field is 24% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/46
the rest of the field
12%
150/1,251

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

41 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 41 of the 47 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
41/41
Grantees still filing
34/41
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

TYGER RIVER FOUNDATION — $13,160,075 · EnvironmentTYGER RIVER FOUNDATION+4 more — $250,000 · EnvironmentSpartanburg County Foundation — $3,467,850 · PhilanthropySpartanburg County …Walnut Grove Plantation Fund — $250,000 · OtherWalnut Grov…ANDERSON MILL MEMORIAL INC — $250,000 · OtherANDERSON MI…CITY OF SPARTANBURG — $210,000 · OtherCITY OF SPA…SPARTANBURG AREA CONSERVANCY INC — $155,500 · OtherSPARTANBURG…A Spot of Pride Beautification Fund — $150,000 · OtherA Spot of P…SPARTANBURG SCHOOL DIST 7 — $150,000 · OtherSPARTANBURG…SPARTANBURG PHILHARMONIC — $125,000 · OtherSPARTANBURG…SPARTANBURG COUNTY — $100,000 · OtherCOMMUNITYWORKS INC — $100,000 · OtherSERVICE DOGS FOR VETERANS — $94,200 · OtherPARTNERS FOR ACTIVE LIVING — $73,800 · Other+13 more — $343,011 · Other+13 moreCONVERSE UNIVERSITY — $250,000 · EducationSPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $230,000 · EducationEDWARD VIA VIRGINIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE — $155,000 · EducationCHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF THE UPSTATE INC — $265,000 · Arts & CultureThe Palmetto Trust For Historic Preservation Inc — $50,000 · Arts & CultureCHAPMAN CULTURAL CENTER INC — $50,000 · Arts & CultureAmerican Battlefield Trust — $30,000 · Arts & CultureSPARTANBURG LITTLE THEATRE — $25,000 · Arts & CultureBALLET SPARTANBURG INC — $25,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $10,000 · Arts & CultureANIMAL ALLIES INC — $195,000 · AnimalsSTONE SOUP ANIMAL RESCUE INC — $32,500 · AnimalsHUB CITY ANIMAL PROJECT INC — $11,000 · Animals+3 more — $15,000 · AnimalsNORTHSIDE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $119,500 · Community Improvement
Environment$13,410,075Philanthropy$3,467,850Other$2,001,511Education$635,000Arts & Culture$455,000Animals$253,500Community Improvement$119,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTYGER RIVER FOUNDATION — $13,160,075 over 9y, 98% of budgetSpartanburg County Foundation — $3,467,850 over 8y, 3.6% of budgetCHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF THE UPSTATE INC — $265,000 over 2y, 6.3% of budgetCONVERSE UNIVERSITY — $250,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $230,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetUPSTATE FOREVER — $200,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetANIMAL ALLIES INC — $195,000 over 4y, 7.9% of budgetSPARTANBURG AREA CONSERVANCY INC — $155,500 over 2y, 8.3% of budgetEDWARD VIA VIRGINIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE — $155,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSPARTANBURG PHILHARMONIC — $125,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetNORTHSIDE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $119,500 over 6y, 1.4% of budgetCOMMUNITYWORKS INC — $100,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSERVICE DOGS FOR VETERANS — $94,200 over 5y, 6.7% of budgetPARTNERS FOR ACTIVE LIVING — $73,800 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetWOFFORD COLLEGE — $55,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Palmetto Trust For Historic Preservation Inc — $50,000 over 1y, 44% of budgetCHAPMAN CULTURAL CENTER INC — $50,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetHALTER (HEALING AND LEARNING THROUGH EQUINE RELATIONSHIPS) — $40,000 over 2y, 9.5% of budgetSPARTANBURG ART MUSEUM — $35,000 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetSTONE SOUP ANIMAL RESCUE INC — $32,500 over 2y, 13% of budgetAmerican Battlefield Trust — $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSPARTANBURG HUMANE SOCIETY INC — $28,011 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetSPARTANBURG LITTLE THEATRE — $25,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetST LUKES FREE MEDICAL CLINIC OF SPARTANBURG INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMOBILE MEALS OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTOTAL MINISTRIES OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY INC — $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetCHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER OF SPARTANBURG CHEROKEE - UNION INC — $25,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA UPSTATE FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetNOBLE TREE FOUNDATION ORG — $25,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetTHE SPARTANBURG SOUP KITCHEN INC — $25,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetBALLET SPARTANBURG INC — $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetSPARTANBURG COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOC — $20,000 over 1y, 9.0% of budgetHATCHER GARDEN AND WOODLAND PRESERVE IN — $20,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetHUB CITY ANIMAL PROJECT INC — $11,000 over 2y, 8.5% of budgetHUB CITY WRITERS PROJECT — $10,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetSPARTANBURG SCIENCE CENTER — $10,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetIzzies Pond Inc — $5,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetTHE ARTISTS GUILD OF SPARTANBURG — $5,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetSPEAK FOR ANIMALS — $5,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetTREES GREENVILLE — $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Spartanburg County Fo…J M Smith FoundationArkwright FoundationMilliken & Company Ch…Anna M Black Charitab…Black & Phillips Foun…Mary Black Foundation…Harry H Gibson Family…Barnet FoundationUnited Community Bank…Betty & James K Stone…Wr & Eh Floyd Foundat…
Spartanburg County FoundationSC74.5× affinity34 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Spartanburg County Foundation · J M Smith Foundation · Arkwright Foundation · Milliken & Company Charitable Foundation · Anna M Black Charitable Foundation · Black & Phillips Foundation Inc · Mary Black Foundation Inc · Harry H Gibson Family Foundation · Barnet Foundation · United Community Bank Foundation · Betty & James K Stone Foundation · Wr & Eh Floyd Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Balmer Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    15report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Balmer Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Balmer Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 47 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines