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The South Carolina Bar Foundation Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

The South Carolina Bar Foundation Inc

To fund the advancement of justice by improving civil legal services, law- related education, administration of justice, and legal services for community redevelopment and foreclosure prevention.

$3.8M
Granted FY2025still arriving
40
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$1.5M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Crime & Legal$20MHuman Services$2.6MHousing & Shelter$1.0MSocial Science$656kEducation$380kScience & Tech$330kEnvironment$325kHealth$324kOther$0
02FY2025 · 40 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k19 grants · $407k
  • $50k–250k20 grants · $1.9M
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.5M
$53,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$34M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SC LEGAL SERVICES$1,496,890
SC BAR LAW RELATED EDUCATION$201,108
SC ACCESS TO JUSTICE COMMISSION$164,961
LOWCOUNTRY LEGAL VOLUNTEERS$131,000
ONE80 PLACE$125,018
SC COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC$120,750
EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS$112,000
PROJECT REST$108,737
CENTER FOR HEIRS PROPERTY$100,000
CATHOLIC CHARITIES OFFICE OF$96,548
CHARLESTON PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES$90,617
SC VICTIM ASSISTANCE NETWORK INC$80,887
CHARLESTON LEGAL ACCESS$78,000
SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES$75,000
SC ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROJECT$60,300
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 (FY17–25, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 83% 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 REST: $109k → 15%TIME SERVED: $54k → 10%PROJECT REST: $7k → 15%PROJECT REST: $7k → 15%CHARLESTON TRIDENT URBAN LEAGUE: $53k → 12%SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $123k → 16%CHARLESTON URBAN LEAGUE: $50k → 12%SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $83k → 16%SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $75k → 16%CHARLESTON URBAN LEAGUE: $37k → 12%SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $61k → 16%SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $61k → 16%SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $60k → 16%SC YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: $15k → 10%SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $60k → 16%SC YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: $15k → 10%SC YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: $15k → 10%SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $60k → 16%SC YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: $15k → 10%SC YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: $15k → 10%SC CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $35k → 16%SC YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: $15k → 10%SC YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: $15k → 10%SC YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: $15k → 10%SC YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: $8k → 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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$26M · 33 repeat orgs$360k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +36% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

33 repeat relationships: 28 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
2

Total granted

$26M
$33k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+36%
0%

Still filing today

85%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $327k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Crime & LegalHuman ServicesCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentHousing & 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.

Backed again, and grew

  • SC
    South Carolina Legal Services
    9× · 2017–2025 · $12M · revenue +30%
  • SC
    SOUTH CAROLINA BAR
    9× · 2017–2025 · $3.1M · revenue +19%
  • CF
    Center for Heirs' Property Preservation
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.2M · revenue +577%

Funded once

  • GB
    GREENVILLE BAR PRO BONO FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $18k
  • CD
    CHARLESTON DIGITAL MEDIA INITIATIVE INC
    one grant, 2019 · $15k
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
South Carolina Public Interest Foundation
Crime & Legal
2
Charleston Legal Access

To expand access to legal representation and rights in South Carolina.

Crime & Legal
3
Southern Center for Human Rights

The Southern Center for Human Rights is working for equality, dignity, and justice for people impacted by the criminal legal system in the Deep South. SCHR fights for a world free from mass incarceration, the death penalty, the…

Civil Rights
4
Carolina Immigration Law

Provides immigration legal services to persons who are otherwise financially incapable of obtaining such services.

Crime & Legal
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
South Carolina Association for Justice

The mission of scaj is to protect the rights of the individual; to seek justice through open and fair courtrooms; to resist unjust laws; to support policies that hold wrongdoers accountable; to strengthen the justice system through…

—
7
Legal Aid Justice Center

The legal aid justice center partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty.

Crime & Legal
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
Sc Chamber of Commerce

Enhancing the quality of life for all south carolinians, achieving global competiteveness and ultimately increasing prosperity for sc citizens.

—
10
South Jersey Legal Services Inc

South jersey legal services, inc. is a non-profit organization created to provide quality legal representation and advocacy to low-income individuals in atlantic, burlington, camden, cape may, cumberland, gloucester, monmouth, ocean and…

Crime & Legal
11
South Carolina Network of Children's Advocacy Centers

Empowering south carolina communities and children's advocacy centers to deliver a best practice response to child abuse

Youth Development
12
South Coastal Counties Legal Services Inc

To achieve equal justice for the poor and disadvantaged through community based legal advocacy.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is South Carolina Legal Services; the most unlike its peers is Midlands Mediation Center. 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

37 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. 37 of the 43 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)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/37
Grantees still filing
22/37
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

South Carolina Legal Services: $11,849,873 · Crime & LegalSouth Carolina Legal ServicesCenter for Heirs' Property Preservation: $1,222,700 · Crime & LegalCenter for Heirs' Property PreservationLOWCOUNTRY LEGAL VOLUNTEERS: $775,000 · Crime & LegalPRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES INC: $663,625 · Crime & Legal+5 more: $507,000 · Crime & LegalSOUTH CAROLINA BAR: $3,092,404 · OtherSOUTH CAROLINA BARSouth Carolina Research Foundation: $996,600 · OtherSouth Carolina Research FoundationSOUTH CAROLINA COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT: $990,750 · OtherSOUTH CAROLINA COALITION AGAINST DO…PALMETTO PROJECT INC: $618,903 · OtherPALMETTO PROJECT INCCatholic Charities of South Carolina: $455,048 · OtherCatholic Charities of South Carolin…ANTIOCH EDUCATIONAL CENTER: $365,000 · OtherHOPEFUL HORIZONS: $324,101 · OtherSOUTH CAROLINA VICTIM ASSISTANCE NETWORK: $303,732 · Other+9 more: $929,440 · Other+9 moreSOUTH CAROLINA CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $616,900 · Human ServicesTRIDENT URBAN LEAGUE: $140,000 · Human ServicesYMCA OF GREENVILLE: $127,500 · Human ServicesPROJECT REST: $122,737 · Human ServicesSERVE AND CONNECT: $100,000 · Human ServicesTIME SERVED: $54,400 · Human ServicesOne-Eighty Place: $896,788 · Housing & ShelterSOUTH CAROLINA APPLESEED LEGAL JUSTICE CENTER: $313,000 · Civil RightsDISABILITY RIGHTS SOUTH CAROLINA INC: $70,000 · Civil RightsNORTH CAROLINA CENTER ON ACTUAL INNOCENCE: $50,000 · Civil RightsJUSTICE 360: $18,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $15,000 · Civil RightsSOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROJECT INC: $308,300 · EnvironmentSouth Carolina Coastal Conservation League Inc: $16,587 · EnvironmentMidlands Mediation Center: $52,650 · Community ImprovementCHARLESTON DIGITAL MEDIA INITIATIVE INC: $15,000 · Community ImprovementLOWCOUNTRY MEDIATION CENTER: $15,000 · Religion
Crime & Legal$15,018,198Other$8,075,978Human Services$1,161,537Housing & Shelter$896,788Civil Rights$466,000Environment$324,887Community Improvement$67,650Religion$15,000

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 budgetSouth Carolina Legal Services: $11,849,873 over 9y, 16% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA BAR: $3,092,404 over 9y, 4.1% of budgetCenter for Heirs' Property Preservation: $1,222,700 over 9y, 10% of budgetSouth Carolina Research Foundation: $996,600 over 9y, 3.4% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT: $990,750 over 8y, 12% of budgetOne-Eighty Place: $896,788 over 9y, 1.2% of budgetLOWCOUNTRY LEGAL VOLUNTEERS: $775,000 over 9y, 31% of budgetPRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES INC: $663,625 over 9y, 15% of budgetPALMETTO PROJECT INC: $618,903 over 9y, 7.3% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES: $616,900 over 9y, 1.7% of budgetCatholic Charities of South Carolina: $455,048 over 9y, 2.8% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA APPLESEED LEGAL JUSTICE CENTER: $313,000 over 9y, 5.5% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROJECT INC: $308,300 over 7y, 4.7% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA VICTIM ASSISTANCE NETWORK: $303,732 over 9y, 4.0% of budgetUPSTATE MEDIATION CENTER: $252,500 over 9y, 15% of budgetSISTERCARE INC: $235,000 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetTRIDENT URBAN LEAGUE: $140,000 over 3y, 7.0% of budgetYMCA OF GREENVILLE: $127,500 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetPROJECT REST: $122,737 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMidlands Housing Alliance Inc: $120,000 over 8y, 0.6% of budgetTHE NATIONAL JUDICIAL COLLEGE: $102,490 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetSERVE AND CONNECT: $100,000 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetTURN90: $82,000 over 8y, 2.0% of budgetRichland County Court Appointed Special Advocates: $76,000 over 8y, 5.0% of budgetDISABILITY RIGHTS SOUTH CAROLINA INC: $70,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetTIME SERVED: $54,400 over 1y, 12% of budgetMidlands Mediation Center: $52,650 over 6y, 12% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA CENTER ON ACTUAL INNOCENCE: $50,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetRainy Day Fund: $46,500 over 1y, 17% of budgetJUSTICE 360: $18,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetSouth Carolina Coastal Conservation League Inc: $16,587 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY: $15,000 over 1y, 8.5% of budgetLOWCOUNTRY MEDIATION CENTER: $15,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetCHARLESTON DIGITAL MEDIA INITIATIVE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetROOT & REBOUND: $14,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetPROVIDENCE HOME: $13,749 over 2y, 1.6% 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 South Carolina Legal Services ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH CAROLINA BAR ↗
  • Who funds Center for Heirs' Property Preservation ↗
  • Who funds South Carolina Research Foundation ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH CAROLINA COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT ↗
  • Who funds One-Eighty Place ↗
  • Who funds LOWCOUNTRY LEGAL VOLUNTEERS ↗
  • Who funds PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds PALMETTO PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH CAROLINA CENTER FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES ↗
  • Who funds Catholic Charities of South Carolina ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH CAROLINA APPLESEED LEGAL JUSTICE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH CAROLINA VICTIM ASSISTANCE NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds UPSTATE MEDIATION CENTER ↗
  • Who funds SISTERCARE INC ↗
  • Who funds TRIDENT URBAN LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds YMCA OF GREENVILLE ↗
  • Who funds PROJECT REST ↗
  • Who funds Midlands Housing Alliance Inc ↗
  • Who funds EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS ↗
  • Who funds THE NATIONAL JUDICIAL COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds SERVE AND CONNECT ↗
  • Who funds TURN90 ↗
  • Who funds Richland County Court Appointed Special Advocates ↗
  • Who funds DISABILITY RIGHTS SOUTH CAROLINA INC ↗
  • Who funds TIME SERVED ↗
  • Who funds Midlands Mediation Center ↗
  • Who funds NORTH CAROLINA CENTER ON ACTUAL INNOCENCE ↗
  • Who funds Rainy Day Fund ↗
  • Who funds JUSTICE 360 ↗
  • Who funds South Carolina Coastal Conservation League Inc ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH CAROLINIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY ↗
  • Who funds LOWCOUNTRY MEDIATION CENTER ↗

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.

Central Carolina Comm…Coastal Community Fou…Sisters of Charity Fo…Dominion Energy Chari…Post and Courier Foun…Community Foundation …The Sunshine Foundati…Frances P Bunnelle Fo…Truist Foundation IncThe Nord Family Found…Duke Energy FoundationCharleston County Bar…
Central Carolina Community FoundationSC40.2× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Central Carolina Community Foundation · Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina Inc · Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · Post and Courier Foundation · Community Foundation of the Lowcountry · The Sunshine Foundation Inc · Frances P Bunnelle Foundation Coastal Community Foundation of Sc · Truist Foundation Inc · The Nord Family Foundation · Duke Energy Foundation · Charleston County Bar Association

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 South Carolina Bar Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The South Carolina Bar Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%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
    13report 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.

    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 43 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 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 South Carolina Bar’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