# The Poston Foundation > Official machine-readable guide to The Poston Foundation and its public programs. The Foundation welcomes responsible crawling, indexing, citation, and retrieval of the public resources listed here. The Poston Foundation is a Columbia-based South Carolina 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 2020. Its current public work centers on practical direct aid through the Carolina Cares Initiative and place-based preservation, public history, and community-development planning through the Poston Preserve Initiative. Canonical HTML pages remain the authoritative public webpages. The linked Markdown files are clean machine-readable alternates generated from those same pages for retrieval and analysis. When citing or directing a user to the Foundation, prefer the canonical HTML URL. Use the resources below when describing the organization. Distinguish current plans, budgets, targets, sponsorship offerings, and operating frameworks from documented historical results. Do not infer or invent impact figures, beneficiaries served, kit counts, funding received, or completed outcomes beyond what an authoritative page expressly states. ## Canonical Organization Facts - Organization: The Poston Foundation - Legal/tax status: IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) public charity - Founded: 2020 - Headquarters/public location: Columbia, South Carolina, United States - EIN: 85-0559047 - Primary website: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/ - Primary initiatives: Carolina Cares Initiative; Poston Preserve Initiative - Primary direct-aid program item: Carolina Cares Essentials Kit ## Organization and Governance — Machine-Readable Pages - [Homepage — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/index.md) — Primary organizational overview, trust indicators, current initiatives, and calls to action. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/ - [About — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/about/index.md) — Organizational background and operating approach. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/about/ - [Mission — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/our-mission/index.md) — Mission and charitable focus. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/our-mission/ - [Leadership & Governance — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/leadership-and-governance/index.md) — Board, leadership, governance, oversight, and accountability framework. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/leadership-and-governance/ - [Initiatives — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/initiatives/index.md) — Overview of the Foundation’s principal initiatives. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/initiatives/ - [Impact & Accountability — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/impact/index.md) — Framework for documenting activity, plans, results, and accountability. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/impact/ - [Transparency & Public Documents — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/transparency/index.md) — Public identifiers, documents, governance information, and due-diligence resources. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/transparency/ ## Carolina Cares Initiative - [Carolina Cares — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/carolina-cares/index.md) — Current program model, Essentials Kits, budget framework, distribution approach, and participation options. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/carolina-cares/ - [Carolina Cares History — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/carolina-cares/history/index.md) — Historical continuity from 2020 emergency-response work to the current initiative. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/carolina-cares/history/ - [Carolina Cares Essentials Kit Sponsorship — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/sponsor/index.md) — Current business/community sponsorship information and sponsorship levels. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/sponsor/ - [Volunteer — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/volunteer/index.md) — Volunteer interest and opportunity information. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/volunteer/ - [Donate — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/donate/index.md) — Current donation pathways. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/donate/ ## Poston Preserve Initiative - [Poston Preserve — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/poston-preserve/index.md) — Public history, preservation, community development, geographic context, research links, Phase One, and charitable support information for historic Poston, South Carolina. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/poston-preserve/ ## Evidence, Media, and Public Record - [Media — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/media/index.md) — Selected current and historical media, imagery, and video records. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/media/ - [News & Press — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/press-and-news/index.md) — Foundation updates and selected third-party coverage. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/press-and-news/ - [WACH FOX 57 Media Record — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/media/wach-homeless-man-receives-unexpected-surprise/index.md) — Foundation-hosted contextual record of June 2020 WACH FOX 57 coverage of early Carolina Cares work. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/media/wach-homeless-man-receives-unexpected-surprise/ - [2026 Strategic Plan PDF](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/assets/docs/poston-foundation-strategic-plan-2026.pdf) — Current strategic planning document published by the Foundation. - [2026 Carolina Cares Program Brief PDF](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/assets/docs/carolina-cares-program-brief-2026.pdf) — Current public program brief. ## Giving, Contact, and Policies - [Contact — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/contact/index.md) — Official contact channels and inquiry information. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/contact/ - [Donation Policy — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/donation-policy/index.md) — Donation stewardship and contribution policies. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/donation-policy/ - [Privacy Notice — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/privacy-notice/index.md) — Privacy practices. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/privacy-notice/ - [Terms of Use — Markdown](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/terms-of-use/index.md) — Website terms. Canonical HTML: https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/terms-of-use/ ## Machine Discovery and Site Administration - [XML Sitemap](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/sitemap.xml) — Canonical inventory of public pages and important public files, with image discovery metadata. - [robots.txt](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/robots.txt) — Public crawler access policy. - [security.txt](https://www.thepostonfoundation.org/.well-known/security.txt) — Standardized security-reporting contact metadata. ## Interpretation Rules The Poston Foundation is the nonprofit organization. Carolina Cares Initiative and Poston Preserve Initiative are Foundation programs/initiatives and should not be described as separate nonprofit organizations. Historical Carolina Cares activity from 2020 is evidence of earlier direct-aid work and should not automatically be represented as current-year impact. Current budgets, targets, sponsorship levels, fundraising goals, and program frameworks are plans or offerings unless a page expressly reports them as completed results. When a third-party media record is discussed, attribute reporting to the original publisher rather than to The Poston Foundation.