South Carolina · Nonprofit
Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation
Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation (South Carolina) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,003,500 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($634,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $615k
What Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation does
Mission
We are connecting the sustainability goals of business in South Carolina with local solutions for the benefit of our economy, environment, and people.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Sustain SC exists to build and grow a more sustainable future for South Carolina at the intersection of commerce and conservation. To do this, Sustain SC works with businesses to help them meet their sustainability goals.Sustain SC focuses on four pillars: grow our economy through economic development and recruitment; help organizations flourish in South Carolina; assist municipalities in improving resiliency; and educate decision makers on the economic importance of sustainability.
$981,882 spent$302,025 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $981,882.
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 2021 to 2022, from $133k to $1.4M (+955%).
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 26% · 2025 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
72% of Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as 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 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.
Chief executive
Leslie Skardon
CEO
Board chair
Dale Threatt-Taylor
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $205k → $167k.
4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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: $590k from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Waccamaw Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation raised.
From the IRS filings of Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation’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
Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
77% 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 Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 73% · 2021 45% · 2022 82% · 2023 60% — 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
100% of Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 58% 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
70% of Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $305k that is directly attributable, 67% of it comes from funders outside South Carolina, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $699k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation
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
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation: 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 Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation?
- Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation (South Carolina) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,003,500 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($634,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $1,003,500 in grants to Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation?
- TIDES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $634,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation 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 Sustain South Carolina Intersection of Commerce and Conservation →
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 12 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing