community involvement

The thousands of visitors who pass through Magnolia Plantation and Gardens each year help fund our work in the Charleston community.

Magnolia Plantation Foundation

The Magnolia Plantation Foundation was created in 1985. It is fully funded by garden admission and tour fees. Each year, the foundation’s board of directors make contributions to tax-exempt, community-based, not-for-profit organizations. In the past, Magnolia’s Foundation has supported organizations focused on animal welfare, conservation, historic preservation, education, and horticulture.

Since 2002, the foundation has pivoted toward higher levels of support for local African-American causes. For example, the foundation fully funds five annual scholarships to Trident Technical College. The Archibald Grimke Scholarships are named for the Rev. John Grimke Drayton’s first cousin. Archibald Grimke was born enslaved in 1849 to Henry Grimke and his enslaved mistress Nancy Weston. In 1874, he graduated from Harvard Law School, and until his death in 1930, he was a lawyer, an advocate for racial equality, and a prominent member of virtually every African-American organization in the United States.  

East Cooper Center for Advanced Studies 

The Magnolia Plantation Foundation donated to the East Cooper Center for Advanced Studies Horticulture Program, the only one of its kind in the county. The funding helps provide students with both in-class learning as well as the practical hands-on experience in greenhouse management, gardening, hydroponic production, landscape design and landscape maintenance.

College of Charleston REACH Program 

The REACH Program is a four-year, fully inclusive certificate program for students with mild intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. It promotes the advancement of knowledge and skill in the following areas: academics, socialization, independent living, and career development. Currently, Magnolia has two interns as part of the REACH Program.

The French Heritage Society

Each summer, Magnolia hosts two students from école nationale supérieure de paysage of Versailles. The students are in a master's program for landscape architecture. They live on the property and are immersed into the inner workings of a public garden. During their time at Magnolia the interns complete a project and present it to the team.