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Helga Marston Foundation at a glance

· 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 FY2025still arriving
40
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$125k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% 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
02FY2025 · 40 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k27 grants · $36k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $224k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $326k
$2,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$6.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Benjamin School$125,000
Habitat for Humanity Greenville$100,000
Mill Village Ministeries$50,596
Unity Health on Main$50,036
Greater Good Greenville$36,035
Individual grant recipient$35,246
Hispanic Alliance$30,265
Conestee Foundation$25,133
Live Like Jake Foundation$25,000
Greenville Theater$20,897
ACLU of S Carolina$20,000
The Warehouse Theatre$19,579
Big Dog Ranch$12,000
Place of Hope$5,000
Redefining Refuge$5,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY18–25, $547k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Jewish Center for Justice: $641 → 14%Upstate Circle of Friends: $1k → 10%Upstate Circle of Friends: $525 → 10%Upstate Circle of Friends: $293 → 10%Mill Village Ministeries: $51k → 10%Time Served: $5k → 10%Mill Village Ministeries: $51k → 10%Mill Village Ministeries: $51k → 10%Mill Village Ministeries: $50k → 10%Mill Village Ministeries: $513 → 10%Place of Hope: $103k → 11%Place of Hope: $55k → 11%Place of Hope: $50k → 11%Place of Hope: $45k → 11%Place of Hope: $26k → 11%Place of Hope: $25k → 11%Place of Hope: $25k → 11%Place of Hope: $5k → 11%Upstate International: $2k → 10%Upstate International: $768 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
IL
NY
CT
CA
AZ
NC
SC
AL
FL
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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.0M · 56 repeat orgs$611k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +64% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

56 repeat relationships: 30 still active in FY2025, 26 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

56
44

Total granted

$4.0M
$419k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+64%
+17%

Still filing today

48%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 67% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $193k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationEnvironmentHealthCrime & LegalOther
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

  • TB
    THE BENJAMIN PRIVATE SCHOOL INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $758k · revenue +85%
  • PO
    PLACE OF HOPE INC
    8× · 2018–2025 · $334k · revenue +126%
  • MV
    MILL VILLAGE MINISTRIES
    5× · 2021–2025 · $204k · revenue +112%

Funded once

  • LA
    LEAD ACADEMY
    2× · 2024–2025 · $210k · revenue +5%
  • FP
    Feeding Palm Beach County
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $21k
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
Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont Inc

Goodwill builds pathways that help people pursue the life they want to achieve. goodwill exists to help people see possibilities, seize opportunities, and prosper. we partner with individuals to identify their strengths, interests and…

Employment
2
Greenville Theatre Arts Center
—
3
Upstate Sc Alliance Inc

To market the upstate sc region to attract business investment. to support economic development efforts of the upstate alliance investors. to build cohesive relationships among the region's private and public sectors.

Community Improvement
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
Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Southern coalition for social justice partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities across the south to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights. through an intersectional and…

Crime & Legal
6
Greenville Area Development Corporation

Promoting and enhancing the economic growth and development of greenville county south carolina; gadc was formed by greenville county council.

Community Improvement
7
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
8
South Carolina Policy Council Education Foundation

The south carolina policy council was founded in 1986 as an independent, private, non-partisan research organization to promote the principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty and responsibility in the state…

—
9
South Carolina Council On Competitiveness

The south carolina council on competitiveness is a nonpartisan, business-led non-profit organization committed to advancing the long term competitiveness of south carolina through actionable research, support of industry clusters and…

Community Improvement
10
South Carolina Public Interest Foundation
Crime & Legal
11
Liberty Fellowship of South Carolina

The organization is a network of values-based leaders committed to the betterment of life and opportunity for all citizens of south carolina. through a rigorous, 18-month seminar series, a cohort of approximately 20 established leaders…

Public Benefit
12
Upstate Mediation Center

The mission of the upstate mediation center is to provide high quality, affordable mediation and conflict resolution services to residents of the upstate of south carolina.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Way of Greenville County Inc; the most unlike its peers is Trees Greenville. 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

56 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. 56 of the 111 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
56/56
Grantees still filing
41/56
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Habitat for Humanityof Greenville: $402,200 · OtherHabitat for Humanityof GreenvilleTEMPLE JUDEA: $300,375 · OtherTEMPLE JUDEAIndividual grant recipient: $272,260 · OtherIndividual grant recipientHabitat for Humanity of PBC: $235,000 · OtherHabitat for Humanity of PBCMake A Wish Foundation: $160,000 · OtherMake A Wish FoundationHabitat for Humanity Greenville: $100,000 · OtherMomentum Bike Club: $81,400 · Other+70 more: $835,137 · Other+70 moreTHE BENJAMIN PRIVATE SCHOOL INC: $758,000 · EducationTHE BENJAMIN PRIVATE SCH…LEAD ACADEMY: $210,000 · EducationLEAD ACADEMY+4 more: $13,176 · EducationPLACE OF HOPE INC: $333,747 · Human ServicesPLACE OF HOPE INCMILL VILLAGE MINISTRIES: $203,706 · Human ServicesMILL VILLAGE MINIS…LIVE LIKE JAKE FOUNDATION INC: $170,098 · Human ServicesLIVE LIKE JAKE FOU…ALLIANCE FOR THE COLLABORATION WITH THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY: $35,265 · Human Services+4 more: $9,845 · Human ServicesPEACE CENTER FOUNDATION: $64,896 · Arts & CultureGREENVILLE THEATRE: $64,173 · Arts & CultureTHE WAREHOUSE THEATRE: $40,993 · Arts & CultureGREENVILLE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL INC: $16,199 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $10,010 · Arts & CultureCONESTEE FOUNDATION INC: $126,963 · EnvironmentTREES GREENVILLE: $20,727 · EnvironmentTHE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC: $7,500 · Environment+1 more: $75 · EnvironmentUNITY HEALTH ON MAIN: $50,036 · HealthYOUNG SURVIVAL COALITION INC: $4,300 · Health+2 more: $1,938 · HealthGREATER GOOD GREENVILLE: $36,035 · Community ImprovementSUSTAINING WAY: $20,000 · Community Improvement
Other$2,386,372Education$981,176Human Services$752,661Arts & Culture$196,271Environment$155,265Health$56,274Community Improvement$56,035

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 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
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 BENJAMIN PRIVATE SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds PLACE OF HOPE INC ↗
  • Who funds LEAD ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds MILL VILLAGE MINISTRIES ↗
  • Who funds LIVE LIKE JAKE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CONESTEE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds PEACE CENTER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GREENVILLE THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds PROJECT HOST INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITY HEALTH ON MAIN ↗
  • Who funds Jewish Federation of Upstate South Carolina ↗
  • Who funds THE WAREHOUSE THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds GREATER GOOD GREENVILLE ↗
  • Who funds ALLIANCE FOR THE COLLABORATION WITH THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY ↗
  • Who funds BIG DOG RANCH RESCUE INC ↗
  • Who funds TREES GREENVILLE ↗
  • Who funds SUSTAINING WAY ↗
  • Who funds GREENVILLE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL INC ↗
  • Who funds REDEFINING REFUGE 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.

The Jolley FoundationScsymmes FoundationDaniel-Mickel Foundat…Scansource Charitable…Elbert W Rogers Found…Charles Timmons Found…Hollingsworth Funds I…United Way of Greenvi…United Community Bank…Jean T and Heyward G …John I Smith Charitie…Bill and Connie Timmo…
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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • The Lord's Place Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Sandy Hook Promise Foundation: 0% of income from government
  • Big Dog Ranch Rescue Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Place of Hope Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
9get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 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.

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

Play a game based on Helga Marston’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