Magnolia Foundation Donates $90K

The Magnolia Plantation Foundation, the non-profit arm of Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, has awarded $90,000 in grants to 21 local and national organizations that support a variety of causes.
The foundation gave grants to selected non-profit groups involved with animal welfare, nature conservation, history, youth activities, education, horticulture and the arts.
This year’s list of 21 grant recipients is the largest number of grants given to local and national non-profit groups since the foundation was established in 1988 by Magnolia’s former owner the late John Drayton Hastie Sr., who wanted a way to give back to the Tri-county community.
Today, seven trustees, consisting of Hastie’s children and grandchildren, direct the foundation. Grants for 2015 were recently approved during the trustees’ annual meeting. The foundation was reorganized in 2004, two years after Hastie’s death. Since then its giving has totaled about $90,000 annually.
“The foundation is delighted to carry on our father’s legacy,” said. J.D. Hastie Jr. “We expect that in the future, as Magnolia Gardens continues to grow, we will continue to support worthy causes that benefit our community.”
Richard Hendry, a program officer with the Coastal Community Foundation in Charleston, said he was aware of Magnolia’s foundation. He was surprised, however, at the amount of the contributions. “It is impressive,” he added. “I thought the Magnolia Foundation supported the Magnolia property.”
Hastie said the Magnolia Foundation’s mission sets it apart from foundations like those that support Middleton Place and Drayton Hall, two other historic properties that flank Magnolia. “We hope more people will come to understand the differences between us and them.”
“The Magnolia Foundation gives to the community and does not support the Magnolia property,” Hastie said, “ but the foundations at Drayton Hall and Middleton only support their properties, and they do not make gifts to the community.”
Berkeley County First Steps, based in Hanahan, is a newcomer to the Magnolia Foundation’s list of recipients. The foundation gave the state-funded, early childhood education program a grant for its literacy program. The Magnolia Foundation this year also awarded grants to the Charleston Animal Society in North Charleston, Francis R. Willis Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Summerville and Pet Helpers on James Island.
This year, the Slave Dwelling Project, founded by historic preservationist Joseph McGill, was awarded its second grant in two years. McGill said the grant will be combined with other contributions to match a $50,000 grant the project received from the S.C. Department of Archives and History.
“This donation puts us closer to matching the funds necessary for assessing slave dwellings in South Carolina,” said McGill, who launched the slave dwelling project four years ago at Magnolia. “I am often asked how many extant slave dwellings exist in South Carolina,” he said. “Four years into the slave dwelling project, that’s a question I still can’t answer. But this assessment will help us to begin to answer that question.”