Skip to content
Canal Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Canal Charitable Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$4.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$3.8M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Recreation & Sports$3.8MPhilanthropy$330kArts & Culture$241kEducation$143kReligion$80kHealth$30kCommunity Improvement$13kPublic Safety & Disaster$5kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k10 grants · $154k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
  • $250k+1 grant · $3.8M
$15,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$249k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Furman University - Timmons Arena Renovations$3,833,333
United Way of Greenville County$50,000
Charleston Day School$50,000
Grace Church Cathedral$25,000
Wofford College co Nayef H Samhat$21,667
Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church$15,000
Philip Simmons Elementary School PTA$15,000
Philip Simmons Middle School PTSA$15,000
Kind of the Upstate$15,000
Metropolitan Arts Council$15,000
Greenville Symphony Association$12,500
Harbor Historical Association of Georgetown$10,000
United Ministries$10,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 3% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Philip Simmons Elementary School PTA: $15k → 9%Furman University - Timmons Arena Renovations: $3.8M → 10%Charleston Day School: $50k → 12%Wofford College co Nayef H Samhat: $22k → 15%Philip Simmons Middle School PTSA: $15k → 9%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS - UPSTATE SC: $5k → 10%Grace Church Cathedral: $25k → 12%GATEWAY: $10k → 10%Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church: $15k → 12%SOUTH CAROLINA CHILDREN'S THEATRE: $3k → 10%AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: $5k → 12%PRISMA HEALTH: $25k → 10%Metropolitan Arts Council: $15k → 10%METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL: $13k → 10%METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL: $13k → 10%Greenville Symphony Association: $13k → 10%METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL: $13k → 10%Metropolitan Arts Council: $13k → 10%Greenville Symphony: $13k → 10%METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL: $10k → 10%METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL: $10k → 10%United Ministries: $10k → 10%METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL: $10k → 10%United Ministries: $10k → 10%GREENVILLE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $8k → 10%PEACE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $8k → 10%GREENVILLE SYMPHONY: $8k → 10%PEACE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $8k → 10%PEACE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $8k → 10%PEACE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $8k → 10%PEACE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $8k → 10%PEACE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $8k → 10%GREENVILLE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $6k → 10%GREENVILLE SYMPHONY: $6k → 10%GREENVILLE SYMPHONY: $6k → 10%GREENVILLE SYMPHONY: $6k → 10%UNITED MINISTRIES: $5k → 10%UNITED MINISTRIES: $5k → 10%UNITED MINISTRIES: $5k → 10%GREENVILLE CHAMBER FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%ARTISPHERE: $3k → 10%UNITED WAY OF GREENVILLE COUNTY: $75k → 10%UNITED WAY OF GREENVILLE COUNTY: $70k → 10%United Way of Greenville County: $50k → 10%United Way of Greenville County: $50k → 10%UNITED WAY OF GREENVILLE COUNTY 2018 SUPPORT: $30k → 10%UNITED WAY OF GREENVILLE COUNTY: $30k → 10%UNITED WAY OF GREENVILLE COUNTY: $25k → 10%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

13%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$600k · 7 repeat orgs$4.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +59% since the first grant, against +33% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
8

Total granted

$600k
$84k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+59%
+33%

Still filing today

100%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 2% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.0M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHealthReligionOther
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.

Backed again, and grew

  • MA
    METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL
    8× · 2017–2024 · $95k · revenue +82%
  • GS
    GREENVILLE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $57k · revenue +26%
  • PC
    PEACE CENTER FOUNDATION
    7× · 2017–2023 · $48k · revenue +79%

Funded once

  • PH
    Prisma Healthgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue +654%
  • GT
    GREENVILLE TECH FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue -28%
  • G
    GATEWAY
    one grant, 2017 · $10k
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.

04Its field

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.

1
Greenville Theatre Arts Center
—
2
Greenville Art Guild
Arts & Culture
3
Greenville Educational Enrichment Foundation
—
4
Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art

The mission of green hill center for nc art is to promote the visual arts of north carolina by engaging a broad community of artists, adults and children through dynamic exhibitions and educational programs while providing a platform for…

Arts & Culture
5
Greenville Center for Creative Arts

The greenville center for creative arts exists to enrich the cultural fabric of the communities we serve by providing a nurturing environment for art-education, appreciation and enjoyment, and by establishing a lasting legacy in the visual…

Arts & Culture
6
Greenville Theatre

To be a significant regional theatre and a leading arts institution which enhances the cultural landscape of upstate sc; to create a unique theatrical experience that ignites the imagination, lifts the spirits, and informs the patron of…

Arts & Culture
7
Pta South Carolina Congress

A non profit organization for greenville county pta , to provide an excellent experience within their community and families to join one another.

—
8
The Museum - Greenwood Sc

The mission of the museum is to save, share, and celebrate greenwood history. to that end, the board and staff of the museum are charged to administer, operate and maintain a nonprofit museum in the professional and fiscally responsible…

Arts & Culture
9
Greenville College

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.

Education
10
Visitgreenvillesc

Vgsc is organized to foster improved business conditions for the tourism and convention industry in the upstate of sc with the vision of becoming one of the most visited travel destinations in the southeast.

—
11
Foundation for a Greater Greenwood County Inc

Providing leadership to enhance the quality of life in greenwood through strategic long-term vision and collaborative community development initiatives.

Philanthropy
12
Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce

Promote upstate development. 2024 goals included increasing educational attainment for adults aged 25-64, drive entrepreneurial ecosystem growth, deliver 21st century talent and workforce, and inform and influence decisions with data.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greenville Tech Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Harbor Historical Association of Georgetown. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

16 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. 16 of the 24 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
11/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Furman University - Timmons Arena Renovations: $3,833,333 · OtherFurman University - Timmons Arena RenovationsUNITED WAY OF GREENVILLE COUNTY INC: $329,692 · OtherUNITED WAY OF GREENVILLE COUNTY INC+10 more: $214,667 · OtherGREENVILLE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $57,000 · Arts & CulturePEACE CENTER FOUNDATION: $47,500 · Arts & CultureSOUTH CAROLINA CHILDREN'S THEATRE: $23,500 · Arts & CultureGREENVILLE ARTS FESTIVAL: $7,500 · Arts & CultureCHARLESTON DAY SCHOOLINC: $50,000 · EducationGREENVILLE TECH FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · EducationKIND OF THE UPSTATE: $15,000 · EducationHARBOR HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OF GEORGETOWN: $10,000 · Education+1 more: $1,000 · EducationUNITED MINISTRIES: $40,000 · ReligionPrisma Health: $25,000 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc: $5,000 · Health
Other$4,377,692Arts & Culture$135,500Education$101,000Religion$40,000Health$30,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNITED WAY OF GREENVILLE COUNTY INC: $329,692 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetMETROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL: $95,000 over 8y, 0.6% of budgetGREENVILLE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $57,000 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetCHARLESTON DAY SCHOOLINC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPEACE CENTER FOUNDATION: $47,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED MINISTRIES: $40,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetPrisma Health: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGREENVILLE TECH FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA CHILDREN'S THEATRE: $23,500 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetPhilip Simmons Elementary PTA: $15,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetKIND OF THE UPSTATE: $15,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetHARBOR HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OF GEORGETOWN: $10,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetGREENVILLE ARTS FESTIVAL: $7,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREENVILLE CHAMBER FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budget
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.

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.

Daniel-Mickel Foundat…The Jolley FoundationJean T and Heyward G …Charles Timmons Found…John I Smith Charitie…Bill and Connie Timmo…Scansource Charitable…Charity Ball Board of…Hayne Hipp FoundationHollingsworth Funds I…Elbert W Rogers Found…The Maddrey Foundation
Daniel-Mickel FoundationSC24.2× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Daniel-Mickel Foundation · The Jolley Foundation · Jean T and Heyward G Pelham Foundation · Charles Timmons Foundation · John I Smith Charities Inc · Bill and Connie Timmons Foundation · Scansource Charitable Foundation · Charity Ball Board of Greenville · Hayne Hipp Foundation · Hollingsworth Funds Inc · Elbert W Rogers Foundation · The Maddrey 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Canal Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Canal Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Canal Charitable Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Canal Charitable 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 24 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Canal’s filings →

    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 endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home