SC nonprofit run by former Richland 1 school board chair is racking up fines
A politically-connected Richland County nonprofit that hasn’t filed state or federal financial reports since 2023 is beginning to pay the price for its delinquency.
The Lower Richland Alumni Foundation, which previously received a one-year filing reprieve from the state, has now exhausted its extension and is racking up daily fines due to its late paperwork.
The organization, formed in 2017 by former Richland 1 school board chair Cheryl Harris and consultant Cleveland Wilson, is known for its involvement at Lower Richland High School and its sponsorship of several annual community events.
For most of its existence, the alumni group subsisted on small discretionary grants from county and state lawmakers that it used to put on an annual gospel music festival.
That changed in 2023, when U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, of Columbia, steered an $800,000 federal law enforcement grant to the organization, swelling its $45,000 budget nearly 19-fold overnight.
The nonprofit vowed to use the money to launch a local crime fighting initiative called the Lower Richland Community Cares Project, but more than two years later it’s not clear how most of the money was spent.
The State Media Co. spent months trying to track the organization’s federal grant expenditures, but could only account for a small fraction of the money.
Neither Harris nor Wilson responded to requests for comment about the grant or their nonprofit’s delinquent financial reports.
Clyburn has defended his decision to fund the organization, which had no apparent criminal justice track record, but his office has not responded when asked if it knew how the grant money was spent.
As a charity, the Lower Richland Alumni Foundation is required to register each year with the Secretary of State and submit either an annual financial report or an IRS Form 990 detailing its revenues and expenditures.
The alumni group’s 2023 financial report was originally due May 15, 2024, but two six-month filing extensions pushed the deadline back to May 1, 2025.
As of Monday, the Lower Richland Alumni Foundation’s 2023 report remained outstanding, Secretary of State spokeswoman Shannon Wiley said. The organization’s 2024 report and 2025 registration, both of which were due May 15, are also late, she said.
The nonprofit’s most recent Form 990 on file with the IRS is from 2022, online records show.
The Secretary of State’s office has sent the nonprofit three separate notices of violation in the past month — one for each late document — and last week notified Wilson, the group’s president, that it would be fined $10 per day, up to a maximum of $2,000, until the 2023 report was filed.
The Lower Richland Alumni Foundation will be subject to additional fines if it doesn’t file its 2024 report and 2025 registration within 15 days of receiving its latest notices of violation, Wiley said.
The charity previously received notices of violation for late filings in 2020 and 2023, but was not assessed fines in those cases because it submitted the required documents within the 15-day grace period, she said.
In recent weeks, the LR Alumni Foundation has been ramping up for its annual Black and Gold Gala, an awards fundraiser that honors esteemed members of the Lower Richland community.
Between 2019 and 2022, the fundraiser cost the organization more than twice what it raised, according to financial filings.
This year’s event will be held July 19 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
Tickets are $75.
This story was originally published June 10, 2025 at 5:30 AM.