How much does Balmer Foundation give?

Balmer Foundation reported 9 grants totaling $2,186,459 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 4 and 28 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.

What does Balmer Foundation fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Environment (68%), Philanthropy (15%), Arts & Culture (4%).

Who are Balmer Foundation's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Tyger River Foundation ($13M), Children's Museum of the Upstate Inc ($265k), Converse University ($250k).

Does Balmer Foundation fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 31% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Balmer Foundation?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Spartanburg County Foundation, J M Smith Foundation, Arkwright Foundation.

Where is Balmer Foundation based?

Balmer Foundation is based in SC.

Foundation Dossiers

South Carolina · Public charity

Balmer Foundation

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

$2.2M
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 9
Grants FY2025: 13
Organizations funded FY2024: 31%
First-time grantees FY2024

Read the full brief

Median grant, FY2025: $30,000
Largest grant, FY2025: $1,607,019
Organizations funded a year: 4 to 28; FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 1
Total assets, FY2025: $34M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 31% of the organizations Balmer Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 16% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $605k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

Arts & CultureAnimalsEnvironmentEducationFood & NutritionCommunity ImprovementOther

How this is measured

First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2025still arriving	8	$1.9M	0%
FY2024	13	$3.7M	31%
FY2023	9	$5.4M	22%
FY2022	8	$950k	13%
FY2021	5	$270k	20%
FY2020	28	$934k	75%
FY2019	4	$1.0M	75%
FY2018	9	$2.1M	78%

100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

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

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Tyger River Foundation	$13,160,075	9	98%
Children's Museum of the Upstate Inc	$265,000	2	6%
Converse University	$250,000	1	1%
Anderson Mill Memorial Inc	$250,000	1	n/a
Spartanburg Community College Foundation Inc	$230,000	3	12%
City of Spartanburg	$210,000	2	n/a
Upstate Forever	$200,000	2	3%
Animal Allies Inc	$195,000	4	8%
Spartanburg Area Conservancy Inc	$155,500	2	8%
Edward via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine	$155,000	2	0%

Show all 45 grantees

All grantees of Balmer Foundation by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Tyger River Foundation	$13,160,075	9	98%
Children's Museum of the Upstate Inc	$265,000	2	6%
Converse University	$250,000	1	1%
Anderson Mill Memorial Inc	$250,000	1	n/a
Spartanburg Community College Foundation Inc	$230,000	3	12%
City of Spartanburg	$210,000	2	n/a
Upstate Forever	$200,000	2	3%
Animal Allies Inc	$195,000	4	8%
Spartanburg Area Conservancy Inc	$155,500	2	8%
Edward via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine	$155,000	2	0%
A Spot of Pride Beautification Fund	$150,000	1	n/a
Spartanburg School Dist 7	$150,000	1	n/a
Spartanburg Philharmonic	$125,000	5	3%
Northside Development Corporation	$119,500	6	1%
Communityworks Inc	$100,000	1	1%
Spartanburg County	$100,000	1	n/a
Service Dogs for Veterans	$94,200	5	7%
Partners for Active Living	$73,800	3	2%
Wofford College	$55,000	1	0%
Chapman Cultural Center Inc	$50,000	2	1%
The Palmetto Trust For Historic Preservation Inc	$50,000	1	44%
Halter (Healing and Learning Through Equine Relationships)	$40,000	2	10%
Spartanburg Art Museum	$35,000	2	6%
Stone Soup Animal Rescue Inc	$32,500	2	13%
American Battlefield Trust	$30,000	1	0%
Spartanburg Humane Society Inc	$28,011	1	2%
Mobile Meals of Spartanburg County Inc	$25,000	1	1%
Children's Advocacy Center of Spartanburg Cherokee - Union Inc	$25,000	1	2%
The Spartanburg Soup Kitchen Inc	$25,000	1	4%
Noble Tree Foundation Org	$25,000	1	13%
Ballet Spartanburg Inc	$25,000	1	3%
Spartanburg Little Theatre	$25,000	1	3%
St Lukes Free Medical Clinic of Spartanburg Inc	$25,000	1	0%
University of South Carolina Upstate Foundation	$25,000	4	0%
Total Ministries of Spartanburg County Inc	$25,000	1	3%
Spartanburg County Historical Assoc	$20,000	1	9%
Hatcher Garden and Woodland Preserve In	$20,000	4	1%
Hub City Animal Project Inc	$11,000	2	8%
Hub City Writers Project	$10,000	2	1%
Spartanburg Science Center	$10,000	1	5%
Izzies Pond Inc	$5,000	1	2%
The Artists Guild of Spartanburg	$5,000	1	11%
Big Oaks Rescue Farm	$5,000	1	n/a
Trees Greenville	$5,000	1	1%
Speak for Animals	$5,000	1	3%

Plus 1 recipient with no EIN on record ($250k), not named here.

Balmer Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 39 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 39.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

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

How this is measured

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

Compare Balmer Foundation with peer funders

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.

About Balmer Foundation

How much does Balmer Foundation give?: Balmer Foundation reported 9 grants totaling $2,186,459 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 4 and 28 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Balmer Foundation fund?: By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Environment (68%), Philanthropy (15%), Arts & Culture (4%).
Who are Balmer Foundation's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Tyger River Foundation ($13M), Children's Museum of the Upstate Inc ($265k), Converse University ($250k).
Does Balmer Foundation fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 31% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Balmer Foundation?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Spartanburg County Foundation, J M Smith Foundation, Arkwright Foundation.
Where is Balmer Foundation based?: Balmer Foundation is based in SC.