South Carolina · Nonprofit
LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY
LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY (South Carolina) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,558,387 to it, the largest being BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation ($600,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $2.6M
What Lions Vision Services a South Carolina Charity does
Mission
Lions vision services empowers the under-served blind and visually- impaired in south carolina to live safe, meaningful and fulfilling lives.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The affordable eye surgery program represents the largest portion of lvs expenses and operations. Lvs maintains the most comprehensive, inclusive, and sustainable eye surgery program of its kind in the state of south carolina, providing access to critical sight-saving services that treat a number of eye diseases. Not included in the above figures is additional in-kind income and in-kind expense of 870,973 provided to and used by the organization for discounted surgery services achieved through partnership with over 80 ophthalmologists, anesthesiologists, and surgery centers around the state.
$501,715 spent$196,129 earned by the program63% of program spendingThe santee blind fishing event is a recreational, educational, quality-of- life enhancing event for individuals with blindness or vision loss and their caregivers. Lvs provides a weekend retreat in the santee region where blind and visually impaired individuals connect with others who have similar shared life experiences and participate in a catch-and-release fishing tournament. Expenses for the program cover food, lodging, transportation, and equipment for clients and volunteers.
$29,487 spent4% of program spendingThe affordable eyewear program provides eyeglasses to residents with a demonstratable financial need and no other resources, public or private, to pay for these services. Lvs will provide a basic pair of single or lined bifocal lenses at no cost to the client. Some other basis types of eyewear devices may also be obtained based on the recommendation of a licensed eyecare profressional. Clients will be referred to a local optometrist if they have not already established a provider to ensure an accurate prescription. The lvs eyeglasses program currently prioritizes applications from areas where there is no active lions club. Inquiries from residents in areas not currently supported by this program will be referred to the nearest lions club for assistance. In addition to the direct services we provide, lvs conducts an array of health awareness, public relations, and lions club related activities which align with our mission and elevate the role of eyecare in creating healthy communities for all south carolinians. These educational, supportive, coalition building, and public awareness efforts strengthen the core of all lvs programs in our pursuit of ending blindness in poverty.
$251,101 spent31% of program spendingThe vision technology program helps blind and visually impaired persons who need various forms of low vision equipment for household activities or workplace develoment. Lvs utilizes partnerships with vendors, doctors, and donors to build an inventory of vision technology solutions and a referral system for clients who may need these resources. Vision technology varies greatly in cost and functionality based on the individiual needs of each client. All clients meet with a physician to determine the exact needs and most practical prescritpions for each client after which lvs provides the equipment needed on either a long-term or permanent loan at no cost to the client.
$16,760 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $799,063.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $2.2M to $2.8M (+27%).
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: 2025 36%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 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
Everette Hair
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 13 funders, grant income rose $10k → $355k.
10 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY’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
LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 60%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
48% 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 LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 31% · 2021 34% · 2022 43% · 2023 28% — 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
67% of LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
84% of LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY's grant income comes from South Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $567k 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
LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,002 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,002 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY
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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY: 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 LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY?
- LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY (South Carolina) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,558,387 to it, the largest being BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation ($600,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $1,558,387 in grants to LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY?
- BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $600,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LIONS VISION SERVICES A SOUTH CAROLINA CHARITY 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 Lions Vision Services a South Carolina Charity →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 23 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