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Virginia B Gourdin Char Tr at a glance

· Private foundation

Virginia B Gourdin Char Tr

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$51k
Granted FY2025still arriving
14
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$7k
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.

Education$334kHealth$67kAnimals$33kReligion$33k
02FY2025 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$3,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION$7,143
CHARLESTON SCHOOL OF LAW$7,143
TRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE FND INC$7,143
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY$4,000
FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH$3,571
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA$3,000
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA$3,000
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA$3,000
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA$3,000
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA$3,000
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA$3,000
CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY$1,786
PEOPLE FOR THE ETH TRTMNT OF ANIMALS$893
INTL PRIMATE PROTECTION LEAGUE$893
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 15% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%INTL PRIMATE PROTECTION LEAGUE: $1k → 11%FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $4k → 12%CLEMSON UNIV FBO OLIVIA WIDEMAN: $6k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: $3k → 16%P E T A: $893 → 19%INTL PRIMATE PROTECTION LEAGUE: $1k → 11%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION: $9k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: $3k → 16%P E T A: $893 → 19%FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $4k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: $3k → 16%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION: $8k → 12%UNIV OF SOUTH CAROLINA FBO GABRIELLE: $3k → 16%CLEMSON UNIVERSITY: $4k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: $3k → 16%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: $3k → 16%FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $4k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: $3k → 16%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $4k → 12%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $4k → 12%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $4k → 12%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $4k → 12%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $4k → 12%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SC FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%FIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $4k → 12%CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FBO MARY STUCKEY: $2k → 12%CHARLESTON SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $9k → 12%CHARLESTON SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $8k → 12%CHARLESTON SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%CHARLESTON SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%CHARLESTON SCHOOL OF LAW: $7k → 12%CHARLESTON SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%CHARLESTON SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%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.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$315k · 11 repeat orgs$152k to everyone else

11 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
37

Total granted

$315k
$152k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+107%
+118%

Still filing today

55%
5%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EducationAnimalsHealthOther
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

  • CS
    Charleston School of Law
    9× · 2017–2025 · $67k · revenue ×254
  • MU
    MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $67k · revenue +107%
  • CA
    CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $17k · revenue +87%

Funded once

  • CF
    CENTER FOR SCHOLARSHIP ADMIN
    one grant, 2017 · $21k
  • SS
    SARAH SMITH CO CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2020 · $8k
  • SM
    SARAH MILEY CO CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2021 · $8k
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
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
2
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
3
Clemson University Research Foundation

To generate research funding opportunities for clemson university to support research initiatives that advance university discoveries to create new products and services for public use and benefit.

Education
4
The South Carolina Historical Society

The schs mission is to expand, preserve, and make accessible our invaluable collection, and to encourage interest and pride in the rich history of our state.

Arts & Culture
5
Anderson University

The university is a comprehensive university affiliated with the south carolina baptist convention offering bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees. located on approximately 398 acres in the upstate region of south carolina near the…

Education
6
Panthera Corporation

Panthera's mission is the conservation of the world's 40 wild cat species, many of which are endangered or threatened. panthera develops, implements and oversees wild cat conservation strategies on a global scale.

Animals
7
Coastal Educational Foundation

To provide support to coastal carolina university through charitable donations received primarily from individual donors.

—
8
Central Piedmont Community College Foundation Inc

The foundation's mission is to generate private financial support to further the mission of central piedmont community college.

Education
9
The Carolina Trust
Philanthropy
10
Savannah College of Art and DesignInc

Scad prepares talented students for creative professions through engaged teaching and learning in a positively oriented university environment.

Education
11
Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University, a 501(c)(3) institution of higher education, is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. The organization is comprised of seven constituent parts: Wake…

Education
12
The Central European University

Ceu is committed to promoting the values of open society and self-reflective critical thinking. it aims at excellence in the mastery of established knowledge, courage to pursue the creation of new knowledge in the humanities, the social…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Clemson University Foundation; the most unlike its peers is International Primate Protection League. 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

8 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. 8 of the 48 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
7/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: $39,428 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINAFIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $33,283 · OtherFIRST SCOTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHCENTER FOR SCHOLARSHIP ADMIN: $21,428 · OtherCENTER FOR SCHOLARSHIP ADMINTRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE FND INC: $14,286 · OtherTRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE FND INCCLEMSON UNIVERSITY: $9,357 · Other+35 more: $123,785 · Other+35 moreCharleston School of Law: $66,574 · EducationCharleston School of LawTRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $52,287 · EducationTRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUND…CLEMSON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,357 · EducationCOLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION: $5,357 · EducationMEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA FOUNDATION: $66,573 · HealthMEDICAL UNIVERSI…CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $16,645 · AnimalsINTERNATIONAL PRIMATE PROTECTION LEAGUE: $8,323 · AnimalsPEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS INC: $4,465 · Animals
Other$241,567Education$129,575Health$66,573Animals$29,433

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCharleston School of Law: $66,574 over 9y, 12% of budgetMEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA FOUNDATION: $66,573 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $52,287 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetCHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $16,645 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL PRIMATE PROTECTION LEAGUE: $8,323 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetCLEMSON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,357 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION: $5,357 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS INC: $4,465 over 5y, 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 Charleston School of Law ↗
  • Who funds MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds INTERNATIONAL PRIMATE PROTECTION LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds CLEMSON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS INC ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Virginia B Gourdin Char Tr funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Virginia B Gourdin Char Tr. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%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
    1report 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 48 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 Virginia B Gourdin Char Tr’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