South Carolina · Nonprofit
AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER
AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER (South Carolina) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,363,867 to it, the largest being CENTRAL CAROLINA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($287,500). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $1.4M
- Net assets
- $5.2M
What Avian Conservation Center does
Mission
To identify and address vital environmental issues by providing medical care to injured birds of prey and shorebirds, and through educational, research and conservation initiatives.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The center founded out of an acute awareness for the need of an Avian Conservation Center in south carolina, the charleston raptor center was formally incorporated as a 501(c)3 organization in september 1991. The centers name was changed to the south carolina center for birds of prey in 1995 to better reflect an expanded scope of programs and services. With continued growth and reach, the Avian Conservation Center was established in 2004 as an umbrella organization to accommodate distinctive educational, medical, scientific and conservation disciplines within the organization. These operating divisions are: the center for birds of prey; the avian medical center; and the south carolina oil spill treatment facility. The Avian Conservation Centers medical clinic operates 365 days a year with support from more than 60 trained and dedicated volunteer staff members. This state-of-the-art medical facility treats more than 600 injured birds of prey and shorebirds each year. Since its founding, the center has admitted over 7,000 birds for treatment and release. The sc oil spill treatment facility is among the most distinctive facilities housed at the Avian Conservation Center. In 2005 u.s.…
$1,020,327 spent$402,215 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,020,327.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $5.5M to $5.8M (+5%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 68% · 2021 51% · 2022 46% · 2023 48% · 2024 38%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
58% of AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
James D Elliot Jr
Executive director
Board chair
Peter A Mckellar Iv
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $109k → $178k.
12 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
64% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 20% · 2019 25% · 2020 23% · 2021 28% · 2022 21% · 2023 20% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
53% of AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
59% of AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $555k that is directly attributable, 58% of it comes from South Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $809k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,559 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,559 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In South Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
60%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER?
- AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER (South Carolina) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,363,867 to it, the largest being CENTRAL CAROLINA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($287,500). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $1,363,867 in grants to AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER?
- CENTRAL CAROLINA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $287,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AVIAN CONSERVATION CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Carolina. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Avian Conservation Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 39 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing