· Private foundation
Bignon Family Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k5 grants · $22k
- $10k–50k8 grants · $135k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES | $30,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION | $25,000 |
| PAWMETTO LIFELINE INC | $25,000 |
| SAMARITAN'S PURSE | $15,000 |
| SALVATION ARMY | $10,000 |
| SHRINERS HOSPITALS | $10,000 |
| GARNET TRUST FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| RICHLAND COUNTY SHERIFFS FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| NFB OF SC COLUMBIA CHAPTER | $5,000 |
| FAMILY PROMISE OF THE MIDLANDS | $5,000 |
| USO | $5,000 |
| PALMETTO FOUNDATION FOR PREVENTION & RECOVERY | $5,000 |
| SC ACADEMY OF SCIENCE | $1,500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those 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
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 15% of Bignon Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 72% of the giving stays in SC; by stated purpose, 70%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against +3% for those funded once.
20 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
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 FY2025, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- PLPAWMETTO LIFELINE6× · 2020–2025 · $263k · revenue +9%
- FOFELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES6× · 2020–2025 · $148k · revenue +87%
University of South Carolina Educational Foundation5× · 2021–2025 · $125k · revenue +20%
Funded once
- UOUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA ATHLETICSone grant, 2021 · $10k
- TBTRINITY BAPTIST CHURCHone grant, 2020 · $10k
- RBROCKY BOTTOM CAMP OF THE BLINDone grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue -44%
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.
Servants For Sight's mission is to help disadvantaged people, in South Carolina and in third world countries, get the eye care they need to lead productive lives. We provide eye exams, eyeglasses and surgery to poverty stricken and…
Promote pharmaceutical service
The foundation exists to support sc firefighters and their families. support includes scholarships, need-based assistance, emotional support, grants to support non-government funded fire suppression needs, and public education.
The Southern Palmetto Foundation works to drive positive economic Impact foster regional talent and improve overall quality of life throughout the CSRA with a focus on Barnwell and Allendale Counties.
To protect and preserve buildings of architectural and historial significance in South Carolina.
Serve needs of south carolina veterans
To develop, maintain, and promote the game of tennis.
By focusing on the mission to enhance the development and growth of south carolina's life sciences industry ecosystem and by strengthening the state's workforce, education, innovation, and research infracstructure, the foundation works to…
To provide effective stewardship of philanthropic assets entrusted to its care by donors who desire to advance the religious, charitable, and educational works of the catholic diocese of savannah and its schools, parishes, and agencies.
Promote & support students in agriculture in SC.
How this is measured
18 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 18 of the 35 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 PAWMETTO LIFELINE ↗
- Who funds FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES ↗
- Who funds University of South Carolina Educational Foundation ↗
- Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
- Who funds GARNET TRUST FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ALPHA TAU OMEGA FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds Palmetto Foundation for Prevention and Recovery ↗
- Who funds WELVISTA ↗
- Who funds RICHLAND COUNTY SHERIFF'S FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds LIVING WATER FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds HARVEST HOPE FOOD BANK ↗
- Who funds CALHOUN TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ROCKY BOTTOM CAMP OF THE BLIND ↗
- Who funds GOOD WORKS INC ↗
- Who funds Saluda Shoals Foundation ↗
- Who funds STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Fisher House of Columbia Sc Inc ↗
- Who funds FAMILY PROMISE OF THE MIDLANDS INC ↗
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: Central Carolina Community Foundation · Michael J Mungo Foundation · Kw Beverage Foundation Inc · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Bignon Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bignon Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Bignon Family’s filings →