South Carolina · Nonprofit
CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY
CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY (South Carolina) receives grants from 159 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,941,404 to it, the largest being THE RACHAEL RAY FOUNDATION ($1,215,000). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 159
- Grants received
- $8.9M
- Net assets
- $37M
What Charleston Animal Society does
Mission
Since its founding, our mission has always stayed the same: the prevention of cruelty to animals. In 1874, Charleston Animal Society became the first animal organization in south carolina and one of the first in the nation and has never turned our local animals away.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Contracted to run operations for berkeley animal center.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
No kill charlestonin 2013, Charleston Animal Society built the first community in the southeast where every healthy and treatable dog and cat has a home. We call it a no kill community. This project is intended to continually save all healthy and treatable dogs and cats in charleston county through 3 impact areas: (1) ending unnecessary euthanasia of companion animals, (2) ending overpopulation of companion animals, and (3) ending animal cruelty. In the greater charleston area alone, over 15,000 animals benefit from 15 strategies including (a) finding homes for homeless animals through 5,040 adoptions, (b) containing outbreaks of deadly diseases through 35,961 vaccinations, (c) sheltered unwanted and stray animals through 112,934 days of care, (d) preventing the births of unplanned litters through 15,406 spay/neuter sterilizations, (e) fostering 2,616 of the most at-risk animals through 70,624 round-the-clock days of in-home animal care & rehabilitation, (f) providing permanent refuge for threatened community cats through over 56,000 days of sanctuary care, (g) growing 11,671 children into humanitarians through 34,384 compassion education lessons, and (h) preventing/responding to…
$5,396,978 spent$3,843,735 earned by the program56% of program spendingNo kill south carolinain 2016, this project was launched to build the first no kill state in the southern united states, from atlantic to pacific ocean, and america's heartland, to create a place where every healthy and treatable dog and cat has a home. This project is intended to save healthy and treatable animals throughout south carolina as measured by achieving a 10% or less euthanasia rate across sc's 46 counties. Since its inception, upward of 1 million lives have been saved in sc's animal shelters. In 2024, this statewide initiative (1) organized the largest annual statewide dog and cat adoption event in the country resulting in over 2,500 adoptions, various (2) emergency shelter transports that moved 598 animals from 63 emergency rescue operations, (3) shelter health consultations, and (4) assistance with large cruelty law enforcement operations, all of which resulted in a statewide no kill south carolina lifesaving rate of 90%.
$1,582,360 spent$1,433,865 earned by the program16% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$2,640,092 spent27% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,619,430.
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 2024 to 2025, from $34M to $39M (+17%).
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: 2017 19% · 2018 20% · 2019 24% · 2020 23% · 2021 22% · 2022 21% · 2023 15% · 2024 19% · 2025 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 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
Joe Elmore
President and CEO
Board chair
Walter Martin Deputy
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 40 funders to 64 funders, grant income rose $929k → $982k.
21 of 159 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 159 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
CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
49% 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 CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 36% · 2019 27% · 2020 20% · 2021 19% · 2022 32% · 2023 22% — 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
43% of CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY draws 90% of its grant income from funders outside South Carolina, across 31 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: 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 CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY?
- CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY (South Carolina) receives grants from 159 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,941,404 to it, the largest being THE RACHAEL RAY FOUNDATION ($1,215,000). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 159 organizations giving $8,941,404 in grants to CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY, 95 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY?
- THE RACHAEL RAY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,215,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY 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 Charleston Animal Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 159 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