· Private foundation
Betty James and Walter S Montgomery Jr Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
Read this first · the figures below need context
56% of Betty James and Walter S Montgomery Jr Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Spartanburg County Foundation, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 4 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year Betty James and Walter S Montgomery Jr Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 9 organizations, $19k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CHRIST SCHOOL | $3,000 |
| SPARTANBURG METHODIST COLLEGE | $2,500 |
| NOBLE TREE FOUNDATION | $2,400 |
| THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY | $2,000 |
| THE GROUP OF 100 INC | $1,000 |
| AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY | $1,000 |
| HATCHER GARDEN | $1,000 |
| UPSTATE FOREVER | $1,000 |
| MEN'S GARDEN CLUB | $1,000 |
| SPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE | $1,000 |
| ADULT LEARNING CENTER | $1,000 |
| PARDEE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION | $1,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $200 |
| Individual grant recipient | $200 |
| HENDERSON COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD INC | $200 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 6%. 83% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
15 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2020, 5 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call). Read against FY2020, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TGTHE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC7× · 2017–2024 · $15k · revenue +109%
SPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC3× · 2018–2024 · $7k · revenue +9%- GOGROUP OF 100 INC4× · 2019–2024 · $4k · revenue +31%
Funded once
- NTNOBLE TREE FOUNDATION ORGgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $1k · revenue +364%
- HSHEJAZ SHRINERSgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $600 · revenue +51%
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Southern wesleyan university is a christ-centered, student-focused learning community devoted to transforming lives by challenging students to be dedicated scholars and servant-leaders who impact the world for christ.
Greenville college d/b/a greenville university empowers students for lives of character and service through a transforming christ-centered education in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies.
Scicu seeks to advance higher education in south carolina through fundraising, scholarships, research, as well as facilitating collaborative activities among the member institutions. scicu also enhances a positive public image and…
Columbia college provides educational opportunities that develop students' capacity for critical thought and expression, life-long learning, acceptance of personal responsibilty, and commitment to service and social justice.
Columbia college improves lives by providing quality education to both traditional and nontraditional students, helping them achieve their true potential.
Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.
The purpose of wofford college is to function as a liberal arts institution of superior quality. its chief concern is the development of an intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic atmosphere in which serious and inquiring minds of students…
The board of control for southern regional education shall be devoted to the task of assisting states, institutions and agencies concerned with higher education in their efforts to advance knowledge and to improve the social and economic…
Scu is a catholic and jesuit institution that makes student learning its central focus, promotes faculty and staff learning in its various forms, and exhibits organizational learning.
Erskine College exists to glorify God as a Christian academic community where students are equipped to flourish as whole persons for lives of service through the pursuit of undergraduate liberal arts and graduate theological education.
Spelman college, a historically black college and global leader in the education of women of african descent, is dedicated to the academic excellence of its students.
North greenville university exists to glorify god by cultivating graduates who are equipped to serve as transformational leaders for church and society.
How this is measured
17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 33 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC ↗
- Who funds Spartanburg County Foundation ↗
- Who funds SPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds GROUP OF 100 INC ↗
- Who funds SPARTANBURG DAY SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds SPARTANBURG METHODIST COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds CONVERSE UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds CHRIST SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds UPSTATE FOREVER ↗
- Who funds TREES COALITION ↗
- Who funds PARDEE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds NOBLE TREE FOUNDATION ORG ↗
- Who funds ADULT LEARNING CENTER ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds HEJAZ SHRINERS ↗
- Who funds TOTAL MINISTRIES OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY INC ↗
- Who funds HENDERSON COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Spartanburg County Foundation · J M Smith Foundation · Arkwright Foundation · Rose and Walter Montgomery Foundation · Betty & James K Stone Foundation · Anna M Black Charitable Foundation · Black & Phillips Foundation Inc · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Duke Energy Foundation · Balmer Foundation · Foundation for the Carolinas · Harry H Gibson Family Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Betty James and Walter S Montgomery Jr Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Betty James and Walter S Montgomery Jr Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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