Coastal Community Foundation of SC

What Coastal Community Foundation of SC does

Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina is a 501(c)(3) community foundation headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina, with a regional office in Beaufort. Founded in 1974 as Trident Community Foundation with an initial $9,000 gift from the Rotary Club of Charleston, the organization has grown into the largest grantmaking entity in South Carolina, managing more than $480 million in combined assets across nine Lowcountry counties (Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper, Colleton, Horry, and Georgetown) and having awarded over $100 million to the community since inception.

The foundation's product portfolio centers on philanthropic intermediation rather than technology products. Core offerings include competitive grants to nonprofits, scholarship administration (notably the Reverend Pinckney Scholars program and the Marcia and Johnny Wood Scholarship), donor-advised fund services, fiscal sponsorships for emerging nonprofits, and place-based impact investing. Specialized initiatives include the Lowcountry Conservation Loan Fund (which has preserved over 20,000 acres), the Lowcountry African American Giving Circle, disaster relief programs, and the COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund. The foundation also produces research and strategic publications such as the 2025-2050 Vision Report. Underlying operations are organized around endowment management, grantmaking workflow, and donor relationship services, supported by a staff of 11-50.

CCF's business model is donation-driven: it pools charitable contributions from individuals, families, and organizations into endowment funds, earns returns on those assets under a spending policy, collects administrative fees on donor-advised funds, and deploys the balance as competitive grants and scholarships. The foundation is governed by an independent board and led by President and CEO Darrin Goss, Sr. Its subsidiary structure includes the Jewish Endowment Foundation of South Carolina (1996), the Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation (2004), the Four County Fund (1998, renamed 2026), and the Saul Alexander Foundation (1998). Major institutional funding partners have included Ford Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Truist, and the 1772 Foundation.

Name

Coastal Community Foundation of SC

Legal name

Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina

Website

https://coastalcommunityfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Coastal Community Foundation of SC is a 501(c)(3) community foundation managing over $480 million in assets, serving donors, nonprofits, and students across nine South Carolina Lowcountry counties through competitive grants, scholarships, and place-based impact investing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Foundation / Philanthropic Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA), Philanthropic & Charitable Trust Services (FSAAANAI), Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC)

Keywords

• Community foundation services
• Philanthropic grantmaking
• Donor advised funds
• Scholarship administration
• Charitable endowment management

Headquarters

HQ city

North Charleston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donor Contributions and Endowments: The foundation receives charitable donations from individuals, families, and organizations that are pooled into various endowment funds for long-term community benefit.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Coastal Community Foundation of SC is an independent 501(c)(3) community foundation that manages more than $480 million in charitable assets and deploys them through competitive grants to nonprofits, scholarships to students, donor advised funds, fiscal sponsorships, place-based impact investing, disaster relief, and special initiatives such as the Lowcountry Conservation Loan Fund. It serves donors, nonprofit organizations, students, and professional advisors across nine counties in the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Product overview

Coastal Community Foundation of SC is a nonprofit foundation that offers a portfolio of philanthropic programs rather than a unified technology product. The core offerings include Competitive Grants supporting community nonprofits, and Scholarships including the Reverend Pinckney Scholars Program. Special Initiatives encompass Disaster Relief, Fiscal Sponsorships, Lowcountry African American Giving Circle, Lowcountry Conservation Loan Fund (which has preserved over 20,000 acres), and Place-based Impact Investing. The foundation also produces research publications like the 2025-2050 Vision Report. These programs work together to serve donors and nonprofits across nine counties in the South Carolina Lowcountry region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Pinckney Scholars: Scholarship program created in memory of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, providing financial support and mentorship throughout college to high-need students.
• Griffith-Reyburn Lowcountry Artist of the Year Award
• Lowcountry Conservation Loan Fund
• COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund
• Lowcountry Unity Fund

Products and services

• Competitive Grants Program Competitive grantmaking program awarding grants to nonprofit organizations working on community development, racial equity, land preservation, education, arts and culture, affordable housing, and disaster response in the nine-county South Carolina Lowcountry region.
• Scholarships Program Scholarship program supporting students in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina, including the Reverend Pinckney Scholars Program and the Marcia and Johnny Wood Scholarship for high-need students in Hampton County.
• Reverend Pinckney Scholars Program Scholarship program created in memory of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, providing financial support and mentorship throughout college to high-need students who embody his legacy. Since its creation, 45 students have graduated as Pinckney Scholars.
• Disaster Relief Fund Disaster relief fund providing immediate relief funding to support communities disproportionately impacted by natural disasters and economic consequences in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
• Fiscal Sponsorships Program allowing charitable projects and emerging organizations to receive tax-deductible contributions through CCF's 501(c)(3) status while they work toward their own nonprofit designation.
• Lowcountry African American Giving Circle Giving circle focused on supporting African American communities in the Lowcountry region through collective philanthropy, with the Lowcountry Unity Fund established in 2015.
• Lowcountry Conservation Loan Fund Fund facilitating land conservation in the South Carolina Lowcountry by providing critical low-cost, interim financing to conservation organizations for land acquisition. Has provided over $3 million in grants and preserved over 20,000 acres.
• Place-based Impact Investing Impact investing initiative that deploys capital to address community needs in the South Carolina Lowcountry while generating social and environmental returns.
• Donor Advised Funds and Giving Services Donor advised fund services, giving options, and personalized philanthropy services for individual donors, families, and professional advisors seeking to make charitable contributions to the South Carolina Lowcountry community.
• Beaufort Fund (now The Four County Fund) Regional fund supporting charitable work across Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties in South Carolina. Has awarded more than $15 million in grants since its creation in 1998.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over $480 million in combined assets managed
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Frances P. Bunnelle FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2004Established as a supporting organization of CCF in 2004 with $34 million from the Bunnelle estate to support nonprofit organizations in Georgetown County.
• Saul Alexander FoundationsupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1998One of the region's oldest and most generous private foundations, became an affiliate of CCF in 1998.
• Jewish Endowment Foundation of South CarolinasupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1996Created as a supporting organization of CCF in 1996 under Board leadership of Anita Zucker, in partnership with the Charleston Jewish Federation and several endowments by local families.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Fidelity Charitable: Largest U.S. donor-advised fund sponsor. While not a community foundation in the place-based sense, it competes directly with CCF for the same donor-advised fund dollars from Lowcountry residents and represents a key competitive threat rather than a traditional peer.
• The Cleveland Foundation: The first U.S. community foundation (1914), now managing several billion dollars in assets. Same institutional model but at substantially greater scale and broader geographic remit than CCF.
• The Boston Foundation: Established community foundation serving Greater Boston with donor-advised funds, competitive grants, and special initiatives—operates the same institutional model but at materially larger AUM and broader urban geography.

Regional players

• Coastal Foundation (placeholder regional peer): Savannah Community Foundation (placeholder): regional community foundation operating in the adjacent Georgia Lowcountry with very similar coastal/place-based philanthropic mission and donor-advised fund structure.

Direct peers

• Foundation For The Carolinas: Large regional community foundation serving the Charlotte region and broader Carolinas with donor-advised funds, competitive grants, and scholarships—directly comparable in product mix and place-based model to CCF, though at significantly larger scale.
• Central Carolina Community Foundation: South Carolina community foundation serving the Midlands region with comparable grantmaking, scholarship, and donor services programs—regional peer operating in the same state with a similar operating model.
• The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee: Mid-sized community foundation managing comparable donor-advised funds, competitive grants, and disaster-response funds for a multi-county region—one of the most structurally similar peers to CCF in scale and program mix.
• Greater Kansas City Community Foundation: Regional community foundation providing donor-advised funds, competitive grants, and scholarships across a multi-county metro—directly comparable operating model with similar AUM scale tier.
• The Columbus Foundation: Large multi-county community foundation in central Ohio with comparable donor services, competitive grants, and scholarship programs—structurally analogous peer with overlapping product offerings.
• The San Diego Foundation: Regional community foundation with similar grantmaking, scholarship, and donor-advised fund programs serving a multi-county Southern California region—comparable in scale, mission, and program structure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CoastalCommunityFoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/coastal-community-foundation-of-sc
• Instagraminstagram.com/coastalcommunityfoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Coastal Community Foundation of SC