WHAT WE DO

1.  Protecting the health, safety & well-being of everyday folks in South Carolina through organizing, advocacy, policy research, analysis, education and litigation

SCFS is a respected voice for consumers at the General Assembly, in state agencies, among the press and in organizations and communities across the state.  In recent years, SCFS played a critical role in:

•  Passing payday lending legislation that strengthens protections from consumers;

•  Moving legislation dedicated to health care into law by increasing the lowest-in-the nation cigarette tax rate of seven cents per pack to 57 cents a pack.  The new revenues will go to fund state-run health care programs;

•  Giving the State’s Office of Regulatory Staff authority to report on and challenge in court the effects of legislation deregulating the state’s largest telephone company;

•  Moving the debate on state spending caps to the creation of a rainy day fund large enough to carry the state through economic fluctuations.

•  Building a base of voting South Carolinians who are knowledgeable about and committed to working for health care reform at the local, state and federal levels.

For nearly two decades SCFS has done direct policy work to support and strengthen access to affordable heath care for all South Carolinians.  We have combined that direct work with extensive coalition building with advocates, providers, the business community and public officials to make access to affordable health a high public policy priority.  SCFS organizes South Carolina citizens to participate in public policy debates.  SCFS is core part of a coalition, South Carolina Health Care Voices (composed of SCFS, AARP-SC, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center and the S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce), created to build the base of support for health care reform at both the state and federal levels.  South Carolina Fair Share’s particular role is to recruit the local individuals and organizations who will be the base for this health care reform movement.

SCFS provides respected policy analyses of critical issues.  Through Policy Perspectives, 8 to 10 page research-based white papers, SCFS educates South Carolina citizens and policymakers on issues that are or should be of important public policy debates.  In recent years, those Policy Perspectives have covered Rainy Day Funds, a state Earned Income Tax Credit, the racially-differential costs and benefits of our state Lottery.

2.  Providing Tools for Citizens

SCFS believes that building a better future for South Carolina requires that we involve more South Carolinians in public processes and not just on the issues that SCFS works. 

•  When the South Carolina General Assembly is in session, SCFS publishes weekly (with interim e-mail updates) a Legislative Update which tracks most of the legislation in the General Assembly, explaining bills in plain English as they are filed, notifying folks of upcoming hearings and tracking legislative progress.  These e-mailed Updates typically run in excess of 20 pages per week, but provide individual activists and organizational leaders with up-to-date information on what is happening at the State House.

•  SCFS provides participatory trainings on skills for taking grassroots legislative action and for empowering communities. 

•  SCFS staff routinely speak to other organizations and interest groups on the public policy lay of the land.  These include annual presentations to the S.C. Conference of Branches of the NAACP at its Annual Convention and its Legislative Day, Sigma Delta Theta’s annual Legislative Day and the SC Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

3.  Strengthening Organizations

Building a better future for South Carolina requires that a strong nonprofit sector flourish in the state.

•  The SCFS Education Fund publishes NonProfits 101:  A Guide for Staff and Board Members of New and Smaller Charitable [501(c)(3)] Nonprofits (3rd Ed., October 2009).  This guide covers:  1)  The Board, 2)  Accountability & Transparency, 3)  Compliance – Staying Out of Trouble; and Getting Started (Incorporation, Bylaws and Applying for 501(c)(3) Status).

•  SCFS staff play a lead role in training board and staff of South Carolina nonprofits on accountability and ethics.