South Carolina · Nonprofit
EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST
EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST (South Carolina) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,367,303 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($950,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $2.4M
- Net assets
- $6.3M
What Edisto Island Open Land Trust does
Mission
The mission of the organization is to preserve the rural quality of life on edisto by protecting lands, waterways, scenic vistas, and heritage through conservation and education.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Edisto Island Open Land Trusts main goal is to preserve and protect the land that makes edisto island special. This is accomplished primarily by accepting conservation easement donations from concerned landowners or purchasing fee ownership of land. The organization currently protects over 4,200 acres of land. Most of that land is protected through conservation easements on private property. The organization follows land trust alliance practices to ensure ethical and responsible operations of the organization as a land trust, and is a nationally accredited land trust. The land trust also oversees the legacy live oak program, stewardship projects, and efforts towards improving water quality in edisto island creeks.
$622,513 spent83% of program spendingThe hutchinson house, constructed around 1885, is one of the oldest surviving houses built by african americans during the reconstruction era on edisto island. When the property went for sale, a community wide push was made to purchase the property to preserve the home. The Edisto Island Open Land Trust stepped up as the organization to purchase the home. With the financial assistance of the charleston county greenbelt program, the organization was able to purchase the adjacent 9 acre parcel in 2019 to buffer the home from residential development. Now the Edisto Island Open Land Trust owns the home and the land it sits on with the goal of restoring the home, interpreting the history of the land, and building a community driven public greenspace for edisto island.
$128,330 spent17% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $750,843.
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 2023 to 2024, from $4.2M to $6.5M (+53%).
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: 2024 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Board chair
Robert Hare
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $12k → $888k.
7 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 41% · 2019 52% · 2020 42% · 2021 45% · 2022 55% · 2023 65% — growing more concentrated.
“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
62% of EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST draws 65% of its grant income from funders outside South Carolina, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $320k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,187 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,187 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $202k on record.
- Department of the Interior$202k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Preserve Edisto LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST: 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 EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST?
- EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST (South Carolina) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,367,303 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($950,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $2,367,303 in grants to EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $950,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EDISTO ISLAND OPEN LAND TRUST 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 Edisto Island Open Land →
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 27 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