South Carolina · Nonprofit
South Carolina Aquarium
South Carolina Aquarium (South Carolina) receives grants from 103 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,441,259 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,058,246). 70 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 103
- Grants received
- $6.4M
- Net assets
- $48M
What South Carolina Aquarium does
Mission
Our mission is to inspire conservation of the natural world by exhibiting and caring for animals, by excelling in education and research, and by providing an exceptional visitor experience.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Facilities program services include all costs associated with the maintenance, security, and operation of a 20+ year-old Aquarium facility, exhibits, and animal life support systems. The 93,000 square foot facility offers a state-of-the-art environmental learning center that encompasses the entire spectrum of the southeast Appalachian watershed as found in South Carolina: mountain, piedmont, coastal plain, coast and the ocean. In 2016, the Aquarium completed a major energy performance project to replace current natural gas and electric power infrastructure, which resulted in significant energy and cost savings.The Aquarium's state-of-the-art Zucker Family Sea Turtle Recovery Center provides guests with an interactive learning experience so they can observe the care and rehabilitation and education related to these threatened and endangered species.
$3,099,284 spent$9,904,706 earned by the program24% of program spendingGuest program services include admissions and environmental services. Providing new and exciting exhibits and installations to enhance the visitor experience, the SCA both educates and entertains. From interactive daily programming with hands on experiences to upgraded technology throughout the Aquarium, we have developed an exciting interpretive journey to guide guests from the mountains to the sea. The Aquarium today is the Charleston region's most visited attraction, with an average annual attendance of 500,000 (including approximately 22,000 students).2024 was a productive year which emphasized our ongoing engagement of our mission and the diverse array of projects that make our institution so unique. We saw record numbers in revenue, including incredible success of our holiday lights experience within our walls, Aquarium Aglow.An expanded partnership with the local tri-county library system brought almost 8,000 additional community members into the Aquarium free of charge in 2024.The Aquarium continues to enjoy "best of class" scores among peer Aquariums in the categories of hospitality and cleanliness. In a 2022 study, it was estimated by the College of Charleston Office of…
$3,864,798 spent30% of program spendingAnimal care (husbandry) program services are designed to continuously collect and maintain animals for the exhibits that are displayed in the Aquarium facilities. Currently the Aquarium cares for approximately 5,000 specimens of animals within 250 species.The professional biologists and aquarists at the South Carolina Aquarium deliver excellent care for every animal, maintaining a population that encompasses the diversity of wildlife in our state. The Aquarium's staff and volunteers demonstrate a passion for, and responsibility to, these animals, providing comfort, nourishment, and enrichment for each species in accordance with accrediting standards established by the association of zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
$2,623,065 spent20% of program spendingEducation:Over the years, the education program has served more than one million students with educational programming and enriched the careers of more than five thousand teachers. The SCA serves as a complementary science education institution providing hands-on learning opportunities for students of all ages. Themed interpretive programs are presented daily by the staff, and are informative and fun for all visitors. The Aquarium has developed a standards-based structure school program that allows k-12 students to participate in hands-on activities to reinforce the standards-based concepts introduced in the classroom. Last school year, the Aquarium welcomed approximately 5,600 students through this program and trained 111 SC teachers.In addition, the Aquarium invested in our distance learning program, hosting virtual programs that have reached over 50,000 participants. A robot has allowed young patients in the MUSC and Prisma Children's hospitals to engage with our staff and exhibits from their hospital room. Meanwhile, our rovers outreach program continued to bring science to life for students throughout South Carolina, reaching 15,435 participants in schools, libraries and…
$3,466,032 spentof which $13,100 as grants$3,522,490 earned by the program27% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $13,053,179.
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 2021 to 2022, from $30M to $44M (+46%).
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 5% · 2020 12% · 2021 27% · 2022 29% · 2023 9% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
26% of South Carolina Aquarium’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (67% 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.
Chief executive
Kevin Mills
President and CEO
Board chair
Jonathan M Zucker
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 54 funders, grant income rose $280k → $1.0M.
15 of 103 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.6M from 12 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money South Carolina Aquarium raised.
From the IRS filings of South Carolina Aquarium’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 103 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
South Carolina Aquarium has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
46% 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 South Carolina Aquarium.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 31% · 2019 33% · 2020 47% · 2021 17% · 2022 37% · 2023 24% — 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
46% of South Carolina Aquarium's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
South Carolina Aquarium draws 89% of its grant income from funders outside South Carolina, across 27 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.4M 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.
Against its field
South Carolina Aquarium holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding South Carolina Aquarium receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $641k on record.
- Department of Commerce$388k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$253k
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 South Carolina Aquarium
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
88%
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 South Carolina Aquarium: 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 South Carolina Aquarium?
- South Carolina Aquarium (South Carolina) receives grants from 103 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,441,259 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,058,246). 70 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does South Carolina Aquarium have?
- IRS filings report 103 organizations giving $6,441,259 in grants to South Carolina Aquarium, 70 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of South Carolina Aquarium?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,058,246 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like South Carolina Aquarium 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 103 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