South Carolina · Nonprofit
HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION
HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION (South Carolina) receives grants from 77 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,514,365 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($368,979). 56 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.8M
- Funders on record
- 77
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $34M
What Historic Charleston Foundation does
Mission
The mission of Historic Charleston Foundation is to advocate for a future for charleston that honors and protects its people, places, culture, and community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Preservation services - Historic Charleston Foundation (hcf) is one of the nation's oldest and most respected historic preservation organizations. Founded in 1947 by a group of concerned local citizens, the foundation continues its vital role in managing growth in charleston and preserving the city's historic architecture and neighborhoods. Hcf is currently one of the most innovative and effective preservation advocacy organizations in the united states.the foundation created the nation's first revolving fund for neighborhoods, saving and protecting over 140 historic structures, and stressing the importance of revitalizing entire neighborhoods rather than just individual buildings. Hcf credits its ansonborough project with inspiring community-based conservation efforts in historic neighborhoods throughout the nation. Through the revolving fund, hcf purchased a historic gas station at 80 ashley avenue that was at risk of demolition by neglect. After embarking on a significant masonry restoration project that stabilized the structure, hcf listed the property for sale. With restrictive covenants in place, hcf is looking for preservation-minded buyers to revitalize this historic…
$3,502,967 spent$1,774,876 earned by the program100% of program spendingPublic programs - as part of hcf's mission to educate the public about the benefits of historic preservation, the foundation holds its annual charleston festival (formerly the festival of houses and gardens). Each march and april the monthlong festival allows visitors to learn about and visit the city's finest historic private houses and gardens, as well as attend workshops, lectures, educational concerts, and other cultural and social events, morning history walks, as well as specialty tours educating guests about the history, preservation, and advocacy issues around the city. For 2024, the foundation was able to host over 5,000 guests at one hundred individual events and enabled access to seventy-five private historic homes and gardens to better highlight the benefits of preserved spaces. The foundation continued its adult education in the art & architecture study series for 2023-2024, the thirteenth year of providing participants with in-depth studies of charleston's cultural heritage. This year's series of programs included a discussion on designing new buildings in the city's urban core that are beautiful, humane, and generous in detailing as well as an expert lecture about…
Museums - hcf fulfills its educational mission through the interpretation of its collections and two outstanding museum houses: the nathaniel russell house, c. 1808, at 51 meeting street, one of america's most significant neoclassical federal townhouses; and the aiken-rhett house, c. 1820, at 48 elizabeth street, where visitors can step back in time to better understand life in antebellum charleston. Historic Charleston Foundation purchased the nathaniel russell house, c. 1808, a national historic landmark, in 1955. Visitors continue to admire the grand federal-style townhouse of prominent merchant, nathaniel russell. Completed in 1808 when russell was 70 years old, the lavishly ornamented house serves as a testament to the great wealth he accumulated over his distinguished lifetime. Then, as now, the nathaniel russell house is among the finest dwellings in charleston. The house also stands in contrast to other contemporary charleston residences with a unique geometric floor plan and fine architectural detailing. The interior boasts a spacious reception room with intricate glazed doors, an elegant free-flying staircase, and elaborate trompe-l'oeil decoration from the first to the…
Licensed products - Historic Charleston Foundation began its licensed products program in 1972 as an innovative way to extend the foundation's preservation efforts beyond historic architecture and interiors to charleston's material culture as well. Items selected for inclusion are those whose origins reflect charleston's history, culture, decorative arts, and architecture.the licensed products of the Historic Charleston Foundation previously ranged from furniture, mirrors, jewelry, porcelain, decorative accessories, and historic paint colors. Many of the original objects, either reproduced or used as inspiration, can be seen in the historic house museum collections and other museum collections in charleston. While currently a much smaller program than in years past, the program is enjoying renewed focus and strives to keep charleston historic designs alive and make those products available to a broad audience while generating revenue to support our mission.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,502,967.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $30M to $33M (+10%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Winslow W Hastie
President/CEO
Board chair
Anne H Blessing
Chair, board of trustees
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 24 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $323k → $614k.
17 of 77 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 77 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
HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
55% 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 HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 46% · 2018 22% · 2019 40% · 2020 14% · 2021 29% · 2022 13% · 2023 25% — 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
57% of HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION draws 84% of its grant income from funders outside South Carolina, across 21 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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.
Government funding HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.8M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$1.3M
- Department of the Interior$534k
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 HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 3 related entities
- 80 Ashley LLC · disregarded
- Hcf Realty LLC · disregarded
- Santee Delta Cultural Resource Project LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION: 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 HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION?
- HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION (South Carolina) receives grants from 77 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,514,365 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($368,979). 56 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 77 organizations giving $3,514,365 in grants to HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION, 56 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $368,979 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HISTORIC CHARLESTON FOUNDATION 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.
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 77 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