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South Carolina · Private foundation

Helga Marston 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.

$586k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
40
Grants FY2025
42
Organizations funded FY2024
40%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$2,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$125,000
Organizations funded a year
16 to 42
FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
3
Total assets, FY2025
$6.9M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 40% of the organizations Helga Marston Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 38% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 62% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $289k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationEnvironmentCrime & LegalHousing & ShelterOther
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 yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving40$586k25%
FY202442$751k40%
FY202330$606k30%
FY202241$579k34%
FY202142$582k57%
FY202028$462k46%
FY201920$536k35%
FY201816$480kn/a
99% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Education$1.0MHuman Services$937kHousing & Shelter$757kReligion$432kHealth$290kArts & Culture$229kRecreation & Sports$185kEnvironment$155kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
IL
NY
CT
CA
AZ
NC
SC
AL
FL

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2018 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
The Benjamin Private School Inc$758,00070%
Place of Hope Inc$333,74781%
Temple Judea$300,3753n/a
Lead Academy$210,00024%
Mill Village Ministries$203,70652%
Live Like Jake Foundation Inc$170,09887%
Conestee Foundation Inc$126,96353%
Peace Center Foundation$64,89650%
Greenville Theatre$64,17343%
Project Host Inc$53,97532%
Show all 61 grantees
All grantees of Helga Marston Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
The Benjamin Private School Inc$758,00070%
Place of Hope Inc$333,74781%
Temple Judea$300,3753n/a
Lead Academy$210,00024%
Mill Village Ministries$203,70652%
Live Like Jake Foundation Inc$170,09887%
Conestee Foundation Inc$126,96353%
Peace Center Foundation$64,89650%
Greenville Theatre$64,17343%
Project Host Inc$53,97532%
Unity Health on Main$50,0361n/a
Jewish Federation of Upstate South Carolina$48,556535%
The Warehouse Theatre$40,99352%
Greater Good Greenville$36,03516%
Alliance for the Collaboration With the Hispanic Community$35,26521%
Big Dog Ranch Rescue Inc$24,50030%
Trees Greenville$20,72741%
Indiantown Baptist Church$20,0001n/a
Sustaining Way$20,00013%
Greenville Jewish Film Festival Inc$16,199420%
Redefining Refuge Inc$15,00031%
Homes of Hope Inc$12,00020%
United Way of Greenville County Inc$10,00020%
Boca Helping Hands Inc$10,00010%
The Everglades Foundation Inc$7,50010%
Compass of Carolina Inc$7,50020%
The Lord's Place Inc$7,50010%
Suncoast High School Foundation$5,00012%
Time Served$5,00011%
Heart of the Game Inc$5,0001n/a
Sc New Play Festival Inc$5,00012%
Young Survival Coalition Inc$4,30010%
League of Women Voters of South Carolina$3,48922%
Congregation Beth Israel$3,2843n/a
Metropolitan Arts Council$2,50050%
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces$2,44020%
Upstate International$2,38620%
Jupiter Medical Center Foundation Inc$2,00010%
Centre Stage-South Carolina Inc$1,93340%
The Unlimbited Foundation Inc$1,83811%
Upstate Circle of Friends$1,81830%
Meals on Wheels of Greenville Inc$1,80020%
Sandy Hook Promise Foundation$1,50010%
Pro Publica Inc$1,25250%
Gardens Jewish Experience Inc$1,1702n/a
Sigal Music Museum$1,07520%
Livewell Greenville$1,00020%
Southern Poverty Law Center Inc$1,00010%
Greenville Area Parkinsons Society$76520%
Jewish Center for Justice$64110%
Wikimedia Endowment$5393n/a
United Ministries$50010%
Furman University$50010%
Greenville Center for Creative Arts$50010%
South Carolina Children's Theatre$25010%
Anti-Defamation League$20810%
Legacy Early College$17610%
Meals on Wheels Inc$10010%
American Cancer Society Inc$10010%
Friends of Mounts Botanical Garden Inc$7510%
Northern Palm Beach County Jewish Community Center Inc$181n/a

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 49 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.9M), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Helga Marston Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 53 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe Benjamin Private School Inc: $758,000 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetPlace of Hope Inc: $333,747 over 8y, 1.1% of budgetLead Academy: $210,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetMill Village Ministries: $203,706 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetLive Like Jake Foundation Inc: $170,098 over 8y, 6.6% of budgetConestee Foundation Inc: $126,963 over 5y, 3.4% of budgetPeace Center Foundation: $64,896 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetGreenville Theatre: $64,173 over 4y, 2.7% of budgetProject Host Inc: $53,975 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetJewish Federation of Upstate South Carolina: $48,556 over 5y, 35% of budgetThe Warehouse Theatre: $40,993 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetGreater Good Greenville: $36,035 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetAlliance for the Collaboration With the Hispanic Community: $35,265 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetBig Dog Ranch Rescue Inc: $24,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTrees Greenville: $20,727 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetSustaining Way: $20,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetGreenville Jewish Film Festival Inc: $16,199 over 4y, 20% of budgetRedefining Refuge Inc: $15,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetHomes of Hope Inc: $12,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUnited Way of Greenville County Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBoca Helping Hands Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Everglades Foundation Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCompass of Carolina Inc: $7,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetThe Lord's Place Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSuncoast High School Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetTime Served: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetSc New Play Festival Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetYoung Survival Coalition Inc: $4,300 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLeague of Women Voters of South Carolina: $3,489 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetMetropolitan Arts Council: $2,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of the Israel Defense Forces: $2,440 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUpstate International: $2,386 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetJupiter Medical Center Foundation Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCentre Stage-South Carolina Inc: $1,933 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetThe Unlimbited Foundation Inc: $1,838 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetUpstate Circle of Friends: $1,818 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMeals on Wheels of Greenville Inc: $1,800 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSandy Hook Promise Foundation: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPro Publica Inc: $1,252 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSigal Music Museum: $1,075 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLivewell Greenville: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSouthern Poverty Law Center Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGreenville Area Parkinsons Society: $765 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetJewish Center for Justice: $641 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUnited Ministries: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFurman University: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGreenville Center for Creative Arts: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSouth Carolina Children's Theatre: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

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 53.

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.

The Jolley FoundationNV57.4× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Jolley Foundation · Scsymmes Foundation · Daniel-Mickel Foundation · Scansource Charitable Foundation · Elbert W Rogers Foundation · Charles Timmons Foundation · Hollingsworth Funds Inc · United Way of Greenville County Inc · United Community Bank Foundation · Jean T and Heyward G Pelham Foundation · John I Smith Charities Inc · Bill and Connie Timmons 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 Helga Marston Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Helga Marston Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Helga Marston 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 Helga Marston Foundation

How much does Helga Marston Foundation give?
Helga Marston Foundation reported 40 grants totaling $586,264 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 16 and 42 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Helga Marston Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (23%), Human Services (20%), Housing & Shelter (17%).
Who are Helga Marston Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2018 to FY2025: The Benjamin Private School Inc ($758k), Place of Hope Inc ($334k), Temple Judea ($300k).
Does Helga Marston Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 40% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Helga Marston Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as Helga Marston Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Jolley Foundation, Scsymmes Foundation, Daniel-Mickel Foundation.
Where is Helga Marston Foundation based?
Helga Marston Foundation is based in SC.

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 111 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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