2024 Bulldog Foundation Donations

Each year, Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers reviews grant applications from nonprofit organizations across North Carolina and South Carolina and decides which causes will receive funding through the Bulldog Foundation, a private charitable foundation dedicated to the community our clients call home. In 2024, that process resulted in $10,000 in donations spread across 19 Carolina-based organizations, ranging from veteran support groups to animal shelters to children’s advocacy programs. The foundation reviews applications once a year rather than accepting rolling requests, which keeps the process consistent and gives every eligible organization the same window to apply.

Bob Karney and Sean Clayton, the founding attorneys of Karney | Clayton, created and fully fund the Bulldog Foundation to formalize the community giving that has shaped their firm since it first opened its doors. Readers who want the full picture of the foundation’s mission and grant history can find it on the Bulldog Foundation’s main page. Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers built its practice representing injured riders throughout North Carolina and South Carolina, and the firm’s founders have long treated charitable giving as a natural extension of that same commitment to the region’s biking community.

2024 Donation Recipients Announced

The Bulldog Foundation, created and fully funded by Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers founders Bob Karney and Sean Clayton, proudly announced the recipients of its 2024 charitable donations, totaling $10,000. This year’s beneficiaries reflect the foundation’s commitment to making a meaningful impact in the Carolina community. Spread across 19 organizations, the funding works out to an average of roughly $526 per recipient, though individual grant amounts vary depending on the scope and needs of each organization’s work.

Every recipient on the 2024 list is based in North Carolina or South Carolina, and each was chosen because its mission connects in some way to causes that matter most to Carolina bikers, including veterans, children, animals, and community resilience. The Bulldog Foundation does not require a recipient to have any connection to the motorcycle community, but many of this year’s honorees do, which reflects how closely biking culture and community service have become intertwined in the Carolinas.

The $10,000 total for 2024 is consistent with the foundation’s giving history. Over the 12 years of the Bulldog Hero Awards that preceded the Bulldog Foundation, Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers donated more than $120,000 to Carolina biker charities, which averages out to roughly $10,000 per year. The 2024 cycle carries that same level of annual commitment forward under the foundation’s broader, application-based model.

Carolina Bikers’ Charities

The Bulldog Foundation supports a broad range of charities, but at the heart of its work is supporting causes chosen by Carolina bikers. In 2024, the foundation partnered with 19 Carolina-based organizations that represent dedication in addressing community needs. The list spans multiple regions across North Carolina and South Carolina, echoing the same footprint as the firm’s offices in Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh. Among the recipients are the following organizations:

• NC Red Knights Chapter 17
• Northwest Piedmont Purple Heart Foundation
• American Legion Riders Post 87
• Children’s Advocacy and Protection Center of Catawba County
• Sgt. Dillon Baldridge Memorial Scholarship Fund
• Lancaster SPCA
• Bikers Against Child Abuse (Camel City Chapter)
• Humane Society of North Myrtle Beach
• Freedom Biker Church, Benson, North Carolina
• Guardians of the Children, Mooresville
• Christian Motorcyclists Association
• Sam’s Wish Fund at Kids Path of AuthoraCare
• Carolina Caring
• Cruising For Kids
• Wreath for Veterans
• Feed My Lambs
• B.U.D.’s Foundation
• Braxton Smith Foundation
• American Infidels VMC (Veterans Motorcycle Club)

Each organization above was selected for the direct, on the ground impact it makes in the lives of Carolina veterans, children, animals, and families.

“We are proud to recognize the work that these amazing organizations are doing and are honored to contribute to their mission,” said Bob Karney, founder of The Bulldog Foundation. “We look forward to seeing the incredible work they will achieve with this support.”

Categories of 2024 Grant Recipients

Looking at the 2024 list as a whole, five themes stand out.

Veteran and Military Support

The NC Red Knights Chapter 17, the Northwest Piedmont Purple Heart Foundation, and the American Infidels VMC all honor the service members and veterans who make up a significant part of the Carolina riding community. Motorcycle culture and military service have long overlapped in the Carolinas, and organizations like these give veterans a place to connect with people who understand their experience.

Children and Family Advocacy

The Children’s Advocacy and Protection Center of Catawba County and the Sgt. Dillon Baldridge Memorial Scholarship Fund both focus on protecting and supporting young people who have experienced hardship. Guardians of the Children in Mooresville shares a similar mission, giving Carolina bikers a direct way to stand up for children in their own communities.

Animal Welfare

Lancaster SPCA and the Humane Society of North Myrtle Beach care for animals in need across the region, from rescue and shelter operations to adoption services. Animal welfare is one of the causes Carolina bikers consistently nominate, and the 2024 list reflects that ongoing support.

Faith-Based and Community Riding Groups

Freedom Biker Church, the Christian Motorcyclists Association, and American Legion Riders Post 87 bring bikers together around shared values, faith, and service. Groups like these often organize their own local rides and fundraisers, which makes them a natural fit for Bulldog Foundation support.

Health and Hospice Support

Carolina Caring and Sam’s Wish Fund at Kids Path of AuthoraCare support families facing serious illness and loss. Grants to organizations like these help fund hospice and palliative care services that many Carolina families rely on during some of their most difficult moments.

This mix is not an accident. Carolina bikers who nominate or apply on behalf of these organizations tend to gravitate toward causes that are already doing consistent, hands-on work in their communities, regardless of size or budget. Grouping the 2024 recipients this way also gives other Carolina nonprofits a clearer picture of the range of causes the Bulldog Foundation is willing to consider when the next application cycle opens.

Why Law Firms Like Ours Support Local Charities

Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers is not alone in treating charitable giving as a formal part of firm culture. Many law firms across the country maintain dedicated foundations, matching-gift programs, or annual giving initiatives that operate separately from the firm’s legal work. The structures vary, but the underlying idea is the same: a firm that benefits from a community has a reason to reinvest in that community beyond the cases it handles.

For Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers, that reinvestment is shaped by the client base the firm serves. Because the firm represents motorcyclists throughout North Carolina and South Carolina, its founders built the Bulldog Foundation around causes that Carolina bikers already care about, rather than causes chosen from the top down. That approach is part of why the foundation’s list of recipients changes each year based on the applications it receives, rather than repeating the same set of organizations every cycle.

Unlike national firms that give across the entire country, the Bulldog Foundation’s Carolina-only funding rule means every dollar it distributes stays close to home, directly benefiting the same North Carolina and South Carolina communities where Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers already practices.

From the Bulldog Hero Awards to the Bulldog Foundation

The Bulldog Foundation did not start out as the Bulldog Foundation. In 2012, Bob Karney launched the Bulldog Hero Awards to recognize the positive role bikers play in their own communities and to support the local charities that matter most to them. Over the following 12 years, the Bulldog Hero Awards honored more than 70 Carolina bikers and donated more than $120,000 to Carolina biker charities.

By 2024, Bob Karney and Sean Clayton decided the program was ready to grow into something broader. Rather than tying every donation to an individual biker’s nomination, Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers introduced the Bulldog Foundation as the successor to the Bulldog Hero Awards, opening its funding directly to Carolina nonprofits that meet its eligibility requirements. The 2024 donation cycle covered in this announcement was one of the first full years of grants distributed under the new Bulldog Foundation model, and it resulted in support for 19 organizations across North Carolina and South Carolina.

The name change reflects more than a rebrand. The Bulldog Hero Awards centered on honoring individual bikers first and directing donations to the charities they championed, while the Bulldog Foundation centers on the charities themselves, inviting them to apply directly rather than waiting to be nominated. That shift gives more Carolina nonprofits a direct path to funding each year, regardless of whether they have a well-known biker advocate putting their name forward.

Bulldog Foundation Eligibility and How to Apply

The Bulldog Foundation publishes clear eligibility guidelines for organizations that want to be considered for a grant. To qualify, the applicant must be a biker who lives and rides in the Carolinas, the charity of choice must be a legally recognized 501(c)(3) organization, and the funds must stay in North Carolina or South Carolina. National organizations may still qualify if they operate a local Carolina chapter that will receive the funds directly.

These requirements exist for a reason. Requiring a 501(c)(3) determination protects donors and applicants alike by confirming the recipient is a legitimate tax-exempt organization, and keeping the funds in the Carolinas ensures that Bob Karney and Sean Clayton’s giving stays focused on the community where their clients live and ride.

Applications for the Bulldog Foundation’s next funding cycle open in the summer. Interested bikers and organizations can review the current eligibility requirements and submit a Bulldog Foundation grant application online. Because funding is limited to what the foundation commits each year, not every qualified applicant can be funded in a single cycle, and organizations that are not selected are welcome to apply again in a future year.

Giving Back to the Community

The Bulldog Foundation is just one of many charitable projects launched by Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers. Giving back to the community has been a pillar of the business from the beginning. From pandemic support to western Carolina hurricane relief efforts, Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers has a long history of helping those in need.

Those efforts have taken different forms over the years. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bob Karney created an initiative called Bulldog Backs Bikers and personally donated $25,000 directly to biker families facing financial hardship. In 2024, the Bulldog Foundation supported western North Carolina disaster relief by donating supplies and matching funds raised up to $10,000 at Bull City Bike Night in Lexington, with the matched funds routed to the region through the High Country Charitable Foundation.

Beyond the Bulldog Foundation, the firm also supports the community through calendar bike fundraisers, toy runs, and other seasonal giveaways that bring Carolina riders together throughout the year. Riders who want to stay involved can check the firm’s community events page for upcoming Bulldog Foundation activities and other ways to get involved locally.

Taken together, these initiatives show a pattern rather than a single one-off gesture. Whether it is a pandemic relief fund, a disaster relief match, or an annual grant cycle, Carolinas’ Biker Lawyers has consistently chosen to formalize its community support into a named program with clear goals, rather than leaving it as informal, one-time giving.

What Is a Private Foundation

The Bulldog Foundation is structured as a private foundation, a specific type of tax-exempt organization recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. According to the Internal Revenue Service, a private foundation is typically controlled by a small group of individuals, such as a family or a small group of founders, and it draws its funding from a limited number of sources rather than broad public fundraising. That description fits the Bulldog Foundation closely, since Bob Karney and Sean Clayton created and fully fund it themselves rather than soliciting public donations.

Private foundations like the Bulldog Foundation typically make grants to other qualified charitable organizations rather than running their own direct programs, which is exactly how the Bulldog Foundation operates each year. The IRS also notes that private foundations face additional operating restrictions and reporting requirements that public charities do not, since they are less open to public oversight. Understanding this distinction helps explain why the Bulldog Foundation runs an annual application cycle rather than an open-ended donation program: as a private foundation, it is set up to identify specific organizations to support each year rather than to accept unsolicited public contributions.

This distinction matters for anyone considering a Bulldog Foundation application. Because the foundation does not solicit public donations, it will not ask an applicant or a charity for money, and it does not run crowdfunding campaigns or public fundraising drives. Its funding comes exclusively from Bob Karney and Sean Clayton, which is also why the foundation can move directly from an annual application cycle to distributing grants without first needing to raise money from outside donors.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Bulldog Foundation