FundersSouth Carolina

Stephens Family Foundation

Piedmont, SC · EIN 58-6424620. Reported 43 grants totalling $372,252 to 28 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,500median grant
$372,252granted, 2021-2024
28organizations funded
36%of grantees funded again the next year
$494,795assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Stephens Family Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $2,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $4,200; the smallest was $275 and the largest $108,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
4 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
31 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
4 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
1 grant
$50,000 - $100,000
2 grants
$100,000 and Up
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Rocco's Heartland Rescue IncPiedmont, SC$108,000112024
Rocco's Hilltop RanchPiedmont, SC$90,000112023
Rocco's Hilltop RanchColumbus, NC$60,000112022
Foothills Humane SocietyColumbus, NC$21,000222022
Save a PetForsyth, GA$18,200442024
Too Broke Girls Animal RescueLaurens, SC$13,027442024
Michael Norris Scholarship FundForsyth, GA$11,700332023
Rock on RescueForsyth, GA$9,000442024
Sandra's Rescue PupsAlbany, GA$8,000332024
Simply Grace RescueTifton, GA$6,000112023
Lake Oconee AcademyGreensboro, GA$4,000112024
Little Beans Orphan Ark RescueLaplata, MD$3,000112023
Reid RescueForsyth, GA$3,000222022
Luck of the IrishRound Hill, VA$2,500112022
Sfc VirginiaSpotsylvania, VA$2,500112024
Paws Forever HomeTifton, GA$2,000112022
Rockin R Ranch RescueKosciusko, MS$1,300112022
Best Friends Animal RescueWarwick, GA$1,250112023
Forever Changed RescuePatomac, MD$1,000112022
Labor of Love Transport RescueHorseshoe, NC$1,000112022
Middleburg Humane FoundationMarshall, VA$1,000112023
Precious Paws Rescue IncWarrior, AL$1,000112024
Rosie RescueMount Pleasant, SC$1,000112024
The Hope HighwayAppleton, WI$1,000112024
Homeward Trails Animal RescueArlington, VA$500112022
Lucky Dog Rescue RanchUvalda, GA$500112024
Miracle Hill MinistriesGreenville, SC$500112023
Diamonds in the RuffSoperton, GA$275112023

7 of 28 (25%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 36%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 20 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Animal Welfare
19 grants
Human Services
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20216$14,027$2,263
202214$102,700$2,000
202312$121,025$2,750
202411$134,500$3,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 57% of this one's giving went to organizations in South Carolina. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

South Carolina
$213K
North Carolina
$82K
Georgia
$64K
Virginia
$6K
Maryland
$4K
Mississippi
$1K
Wisconsin
$1K
Alabama
$1K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Paypal Charitable Giving Fund9 shared recipientsNetwork for Good6 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund4 shared recipientsPetco Love4 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program4 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in South Carolina.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Stephens Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 245 Abenaki Way, Piedmont, SC, 29673. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 58-6424620 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.