Largest Charities in South Carolina: Top 10 Organizations to Donate & Volunteer (2026)

Harvest Hope Food Bank was founded in Columbia in 1981, born from a shared vision of business leaders and faith community members who wanted to feed hungry people in their city. Today it is South Carolina's largest food bank, distributing millions of pounds of food to 687,000 people annually across 20 counties in the Upstate, Midlands, and Pee Dee regions through food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, and schools. For every dollar donated, Harvest Hope provides four meals. Volunteers are so central to operations that dedicated volunteer labor saves the organization $1 million per year in salaries.

The average visitor to Harvest Hope's emergency food pantry comes just three times before regaining self-sufficiency — which tells a specific story about who uses food banks. In South Carolina, most food bank clients are working people, seniors, and families who've hit a sudden hardship — job loss, medical bills, a car repair that wipes out grocery money. In November 2025, Harvest Hope saw 500–600 new families per week come through its doors after the SNAP freeze. CEO Erinn Rowe was blunt about the structural limits: "There's no way we can logistically cover SNAP." Harvest Hope operates food pantries directly in Greenville and Columbia, in addition to its distribution network. Volunteers sort and pack food at locations in both cities.

Lowcountry Food Bank has served 10 coastal South Carolina counties from its Charleston headquarters since 1983, with a Southern Regional Distribution Center in Early Branch (Hampton County) and a Northern Regional Distribution Center in Myrtle Beach for Horry County. The Lowcountry's coastal communities face a distinctive food insecurity landscape: a tourism and hospitality economy where many workers are seasonal and low-wage, a large retiree population on fixed incomes squeezed by inflation, and the ongoing effects of hurricane exposure in vulnerable coastal communities.

In the spring and summer of 2025, Lowcountry lost 615,787 pounds of expected federal food — including 21,384 gallons of milk and 33,750 cartons of eggs — when USDA cut $500 million from TEFAP. Food insecurity in the Lowcountry's service area rose 30% over the past year. President Nick Osborne framed the SNAP relationship directly: "For every single meal a food bank provides, SNAP benefits cover nine meals. With robust support, food banks can provide only a fraction of the nutritional assistance that feeding programs like SNAP provide." Volunteers sort and distribute food at the Charleston headquarters and Myrtle Beach facility.

The South Carolina SPCA works to end animal cruelty and promote animal welfare statewide, operating adoption centers, cruelty investigation, community spay/neuter programs, and educational outreach. South Carolina's large rural population — much of the Pee Dee, the Lowcountry interior, and the Upstate outside Greenville — has limited access to low-cost veterinary care, and stray and feral animal populations in rural counties are significant. The SC SPCA coordinates with county animal control agencies and local rescue organizations to address placement needs across the state.

South Carolina's rapid population growth — particularly in the Greenville-Spartanburg metro, the Columbia metro, and the Charleston coastal corridor — has created new pressure on animal welfare organizations as suburban sprawl moves into previously rural areas. Animal surrender rates often spike during economic downturns. The food bank crisis of 2025 and the retirement community inflation squeeze both directly contribute to pet surrenders. Volunteer roles include animal care, dog walking, fostering, and cruelty investigation support.

Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County builds affordable homes and critical home repair in the Upstate, where Greenville has transformed from a textile manufacturing town into one of the South's fastest-growing metros. BMW, Michelin, and GE Power have made Greenville an economic success story, but that success has driven housing costs up sharply — median home prices in Greenville have more than doubled over the past decade. The gap between wages in manufacturing and service jobs and what homeownership requires in the Greenville market is now significant. Habitat's work provides pathways to ownership that the market doesn't.

South Carolina has Habitat affiliates in Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Spartanburg, Anderson, and many other communities. Greenville's affiliate is among the most active given the region's growth and corporate volunteer base — BMW, Michelin, and Furman University all run employee volunteer programs with Habitat. Build days run year-round. ReStore accepts building materials. For South Carolina's rural counties — where housing quality is poor but prices are low — critical repair programs in the Pee Dee and Lowcountry address different needs than the Upstate homeownership challenge.

The South Carolina Community Foundation manages charitable funds, scholarships, and grants statewide and coordinates the One SC Fund — the statewide philanthropic disaster relief fund that was activated during the November 2025 SNAP crisis. The One SC Fund had previously been activated for Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Ian, and other disasters; its activation for a food security crisis marked a new type of use. For donors who want to support South Carolina nonprofits broadly — or who want their disaster giving to be directed to vetted organizations — SCCF and the One SC Fund provide a reliable infrastructure.

SCCF also manages county-level community foundation affiliates and can help direct giving to specific regions of the state — the Pee Dee, the Lowcountry, the Upstate, or specific counties with the most need. For food security specifically, SCCF has directed One SC Fund resources to both Harvest Hope and Lowcountry Food Bank.

United Way of the Midlands manages workplace giving campaigns for major Columbia-area employers — BlueCross BlueShield of SC, Prisma Health, SCANA/Dominion, Benedict College, and state government agencies — and distributes grants to nonprofits across Richland and Lexington Counties. They operate 2-1-1 South Carolina, the statewide helpline connecting residents to food, housing, utility, and emergency resources. Richland County is the single highest-SNAP county in South Carolina — over 23,000 families received SNAP there in September 2025. United Way's 2-1-1 service saw sharp call volume increases during the SNAP disruption as residents sought pantry locations.

South Carolina has multiple United Way chapters — United Way of the Piedmont (Spartanburg/Gaffney), United Way of the Lowcountry (Beaufort), Tri-County United Way (Charleston/Berkeley/Dorchester), and others. The Midlands chapter is the largest by campaign scale given Columbia's role as state capital and healthcare hub.

The Red Cross South Carolina Region responds to home fires, hurricanes, flooding, and severe storms statewide. South Carolina's coastal counties — especially Horry (Myrtle Beach), Brunswick County-adjacent areas, and the Sea Islands — face hurricane risk annually. Hurricane Florence (2018) caused catastrophic flooding in Horry and other counties. Hurricane Ian (2022) and subsequent storms have continued to affect the Lowcountry. The Red Cross's long-term recovery case managers work in hurricane-affected communities for months after events. Inland areas like Columbia face flooding from the Congaree River and its tributaries — the 2015 thousand-year flood event displaced thousands of Columbia residents.

Blood collection serves Prisma Health, MUSC Health, and other SC hospital systems. Blood donation appointments are available within days. If you were displaced by a hurricane or other disaster in South Carolina and need immediate help, call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

Catholic Charities Diocese of Charleston covers all of South Carolina — the entire state is within the Diocese of Charleston — with refugee resettlement, immigration legal services, emergency food and housing, counseling, and disaster response programs. South Carolina has received refugees from Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, and other countries, particularly in Columbia and Greenville. The state's growing Latino population — primarily in construction, agriculture, and food processing — creates significant immigration legal services demand. Lowcountry communities along the coast have historically had African American and Gullah Geechee populations with specific cultural and economic needs that Catholic Charities serves alongside mainstream programs.

Catholic Charities' emergency food programs work alongside Harvest Hope and Lowcountry Food Bank as part of the broader food network. The November 2025 SNAP crisis increased emergency food demand at Catholic Charities programs statewide. Services are available to people of all faiths.

The Salvation Army operates across South Carolina — Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, Spartanburg, Florence, Myrtle Beach, and other communities. Programs include emergency food, rent and utility assistance, overnight shelter, after-school programs, and disaster canteens. After hurricanes, the Salvation Army deploys mobile kitchens and canteen trucks to coastal communities — after Florence and Ian, Salvation Army emergency feeding served tens of thousands of South Carolinians in communities without power or running water. November 2025 SNAP freeze: Salvation Army corps statewide activated emergency food distribution alongside food banks.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Upstate serves Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson Counties with youth mentoring. Despite Greenville's economic transformation — BMW, Michelin, international tech companies — child poverty remains significant in the city's older neighborhoods and in the rural parts of Greenville County. SC's 197,000 food-insecure children include a substantial portion in the Upstate's lower-income communities. BBBS research consistently shows matched youth are more likely to graduate high school and avoid the justice system. South Carolina also has BBBS affiliates in Columbia, Charleston, and other metro areas.