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South Carolina · Nonprofit
South Carolina Aquarium (South Carolina) is funded by 112 grantmakers whose IRS filings report $7,366,411 in grants to it, the largest being COASTAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTH ($957,775). 75 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
South Carolina Aquarium holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 211 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 211 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Revenue, expenses and net assets — each indexed to 100 at its first filing year, so you read the trajectory, not the magnitude. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
The funding model — what share of revenue comes from contributions, programs, investments and other sources — and whether it's shifting.
26% of South Carolina Aquarium’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (65% for the typical peer).
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
$61k from 6 funders in 2025, up from $199k and 16 in 2017.
23 of 112 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 South Carolina Aquarium’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 112 funders by total. Association, not causation.
South Carolina Aquarium has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 23% · 2019 21% · 2020 36% · 2021 14% · 2022 29% · 2023 19% · 2024 28% · 2025 33% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration.
41% of South Carolina Aquarium's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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.
South Carolina Aquarium draws 76% of its grant income from funders outside South Carolina — its reputation reaches beyond the state, across 31 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 112 funders put you typical among the 400 organizations that share them.
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $641k on record.
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.
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
75% of spending goes to programs.
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Operates in 1 state
Every figure is read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML — this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 112funders 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. view filing