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The Fullerton Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Fullerton Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
54
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Health$4.1MEducation$3.1MHuman Services$531kFood & Nutrition$257kArts & Culture$251kYouth Development$213kHousing & Shelter$210kScience & Tech$207kOther$0
02FY2025 · 54 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k14 grants · $56k
  • $10k–50k25 grants · $377k
  • $50k–250k15 grants · $1.1M
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$36M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC$100,000
GREENWOOD GENETIC CENTER$100,000
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (CHAPEL HILL)$99,919
ANDERSON UNIVERSITY$99,558
SPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION$98,528
GARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY$83,500
PRISMA HEALTH UPSTATE FOUNDATION$80,099
UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION$65,590
GREENVILLE TECH FOUNDATION$63,975
NEXT STEP RECOVERY$60,000
PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE$56,250
KIDS UPSTATE$50,000
SPARTANBURG REGIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM FOUNDATION$50,000
HEALTHY LEARNERS$50,000
DECISIONSORG$50,000
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 (FY20–25, $700k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 77% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PROJECT HOPE FOUNDATION: $95k → 15%HEALTHY LEARNERS: $50k → 18%HEALTHY LEARNERS: $50k → 18%PROJECT HOPE FOUNDATION: $100k → 15%ACADEMIC TECHNOLOGY AND WELLNESS ACADEMY: $10k → 17%PEACH CENTER MINISTRIES: $6k → 17%PROJECT HOPE FOUNDATION: $100k → 15%MIRACLE HILL MINISTRIES INC: $10k → 10%PROJECT HOPE FOUNDATION: $100k → 15%SAFE HOMES - RAPE CRISIS COALITION: $4k → 15%CHEROKEE COUNTY FAMILY YMCA INC: $10k → 17%UPSTATE FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $15k → 15%UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTIONS: $50k → 10%UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTIONS: $50k → 10%UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTIONS: $50k → 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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$8.2M · 55 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

55 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2025, 28 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

55
37

Total granted

$8.2M
$908k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+21%

Still filing today

42%
51%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $254k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesHealthYouth DevelopmentHousing & ShelterRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • AU
    ANDERSON UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $600k · revenue +74%
  • GG
    GREENWOOD GENETIC CENTER INC
    4× · 2020–2025 · $400k · revenue +18%
  • PH
    PROJECT HOPE FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $395k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • SS
    SILAS STEPS
    one grant, 2020 · $97k · 40% of their budget
  • SL
    ST LUKE'S HOSPITAL
    one grant, 2022 · $75k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $75k
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 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
2
Charleston Southern University

Charleston southern university (csu) is a private, four-year co-educational institution organized under the laws of the state of south carolina as a non-profit organization and sponsored by the south carolina baptist convention. the…

Education
3
Spalding University Inc

Spalding university is a diverse community of learners dedicated to meeting the needs of the times in the tradition of the sisters of charity of nazareth through quality undergraduate and graduate liberal and professional studies, grounded…

Education
4
Coker University

Coker university is a student-centered, comprehensive university. it is dedicated to providing every student an academic curriculum based upon a uniformly excellent liberal arts core that enhances the structured development of key personal…

Education
5
Southern California University of Health Sciences

The mission of southern california university of health sciences (scu) is to educate students as competent, caring and successful practitioners of integrative healthcare. the university is committed to providing excellence in academics,…

Education
6
Mountain Area Health Education Center Inc

The nc ahec program provides and supports educational activities and services with a focus on primary care in rural communities and those with less access to resources to recruit, train, and retain the workforce needed to create a healthy…

Education
7
Musc Strategic Ventures

To promote and support the educational, medical, scientific, and research purposes of the medical university of south carolina "musc", and university medical associates of the medical university of south carolina "uma", including their…

Health
8
University of the South

The College of Arts and Sciences is committed to the development of the whole person through a liberal arts education of the highest quality. The School of Theology educates women and men to serve the broad whole of the Episcopal Church in…

Education
9
Spartanburg Methodist College

SMC Delivers an exceptional education that fuses the empowerment of the liberal arts with crucial career skills. Our mission is to equip our students with the knowledge, skills, virtues, and mindset needed to thrive personally, create…

Education
10
University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina Inc

To improve the health and well-being of eastern north carolina.

Health
11
East Carolina Health

To improve the health and well-being of eastern north carolina.

Health
12
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children's Advocacy Center of Spartanburg Cherokee - Union Inc; the most unlike its peers is Next Step Recovery Inc. 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

48 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. 48 of the 97 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
47/48
Grantees still filing
29/48
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (CHAPEL HILL): $434,558 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (CHAPEL HILL)USC School of Medicine Greenville: $397,333 · OtherUSC School of Medicine GreenvilleMEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC: $347,500 · OtherMEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SCWAKE FOREST SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $259,784 · OtherDUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: $200,000 · OtherUSC ARNOLD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: $192,000 · Other+55 more: $3,358,277 · Other+55 moreANDERSON UNIVERSITY: $600,058 · EducationANDERSON UNIVERSITYLIMESTONE UNIVERSITY: $290,000 · EducationLIMESTONE UNIVERSIT…GARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY: $167,000 · EducationGARDNER-WEBB UNIVER…NORTH GREENVILLE UNIVERSITY: $138,000 · EducationNORTH GREENVILLE UN…EDWARD VIA VIRGINIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE: $115,604 · EducationEDWARD VIA VIRGINIA…CHEROKEE HISTORICAL & PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $101,000 · EducationCHEROKEE HISTORICAL…SPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $98,528 · EducationSPARTANBURG COMMUNI…GREENVILLE TECH FOUNDATION INC: $63,975 · Education+5 more: $52,000 · EducationGREENWOOD GENETIC CENTER INC: $400,000 · HealthGREENWOOD G…Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Foundation: $260,000 · HealthSpartanburg…SILAS STEPS: $97,000 · HealthSILAS STEPSAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $96,600 · HealthAMERICAN CA…HEALTHY SMILES OF SPARTANBURG INC: $40,000 · Health+3 more: $46,350 · HealthPROJECT HOPE FOUNDATION INC: $395,000 · Human ServicesUPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION INC: $150,000 · Human ServicesHEALTHY LEARNERS: $100,000 · Human Services+6 more: $63,500 · Human ServicesPRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE: $206,250 · Housing & ShelterMARY SUNSHINE HOUSE: $150,000 · Housing & ShelterHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY INC: $50,000 · Housing & ShelterCleveland County Family YMCA Inc: $198,000 · Recreation & SportsGUIDING REINS: $47,875 · Recreation & SportsCHEROKEE COUNTY MEALS ON WHEELS: $223,500 · Food & Nutrition
Other$5,189,452Education$1,626,165Health$939,950Human Services$708,500Housing & Shelter$406,250Recreation & Sports$245,875Food & Nutrition$223,500

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 budgetANDERSON UNIVERSITY: $600,058 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetGREENWOOD GENETIC CENTER INC: $400,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetPROJECT HOPE FOUNDATION INC: $395,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetLIMESTONE UNIVERSITY: $290,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetSpartanburg Regional Healthcare System Foundation: $260,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetCHEROKEE COUNTY MEALS ON WHEELS: $223,500 over 2y, 20% of budgetPRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE: $206,250 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCleveland County Family YMCA Inc: $198,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetGARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY: $167,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMARY SUNSHINE HOUSE: $150,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetUPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION INC: $150,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetNORTH GREENVILLE UNIVERSITY: $138,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetEDWARD VIA VIRGINIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE: $115,604 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPrisma Health-Upstate Foundation: $105,099 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCHEROKEE HISTORICAL & PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $101,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetKIDS UPSTATE: $100,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetHEALTHY LEARNERS: $100,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetSPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $98,528 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetSILAS STEPS: $97,000 over 1y, 40% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $96,600 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER OF SPARTANBURG CHEROKEE - UNION INC: $78,300 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY INC: $50,000 over 2y, 93% of budgetGUIDING REINS: $47,875 over 2y, 34% of budgetBLUE RIDGE COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES INC: $43,200 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHEALTHY SMILES OF SPARTANBURG INC: $40,000 over 1y, 7.9% of budgetCONVERSE UNIVERSITY: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDREN'S CANCER PARTNERS OF THE CAROLINAS INC: $27,198 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetSIGHT SAVERS OF AMERICA INC: $25,350 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY: $20,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetPEACHCENTER MINISTRIES INC: $15,000 over 2y, 8.5% of budgetUniversity of South Carolina Educational Foundation: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKNOW2: $13,068 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetCHEROKEE CO FAMILY YMCA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetNANCYS COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetMIRACLE HILL MINISTRIES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCANCER ASSOCIATION OF SPARTANBURG & CHEROKEE COUNTIES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS INC: $6,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCLEMSON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT REST: $3,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOSPICE OF THE PIEDMONT INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSERGE GLOBAL INC: $1,000 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 ANDERSON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds GREENWOOD GENETIC CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds PROJECT HOPE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds LIMESTONE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Foundation ↗
  • Who funds CHEROKEE COUNTY MEALS ON WHEELS ↗
  • Who funds PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Cleveland County Family YMCA Inc ↗
  • Who funds GARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MARY SUNSHINE HOUSE ↗
  • Who funds UPSTATE WARRIOR SOLUTION INC ↗
  • Who funds NORTH GREENVILLE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds EDWARD VIA VIRGINIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE ↗
  • Who funds Prisma Health-Upstate Foundation ↗
  • Who funds CHEROKEE HISTORICAL & PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds KIDS UPSTATE ↗
  • Who funds HEALTHY LEARNERS ↗
  • Who funds SPARTANBURG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SILAS STEPS ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY 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.

Spartanburg County Fo…Foundation for the Ca…United Way of the Pie…Duke Energy FoundationTimken Foundation of …Mary Black Foundation…Spartanburg Regional …J M Smith FoundationArkwright FoundationSisters of Charity Fo…South Carolina Christ…Central Carolina Comm…
Spartanburg County FoundationSC45.9× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Spartanburg County Foundation · Foundation for the Carolinas · United Way of the Piedmont Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · Timken Foundation of Canton · Mary Black Foundation Inc · Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Foundation · J M Smith Foundation · Arkwright Foundation · Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina · South Carolina Christian Foundation · Central Carolina Community 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 The Fullerton Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Fullerton Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    14report 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 The Fullerton Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Fullerton 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 97 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 Fullerton’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