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Carolina Farm Stewardship Association at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Carolina Farm Stewardship Association

The association's mission is helping the carolinas grow and eat local, organic food.

$2.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
17
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$202k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Food & Nutrition$6.1MInternational$135kHuman Services$40kCommunity Improvement$28kMembership Benefit$23kPublic Benefit$21kCivil Rights$9kEnvironment$9k
02FY2024 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 17 grants below total $1,485,963, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,975,271 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $489,308 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $146k
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $1.3M
$70,986
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TRACTOR FOOD & FARMS$201,745
FRESHLIST LLC$197,905
MEN AND WOMEN UNITED FOR YOUTH AND FAMILIES CDC$136,092
FARMER FOODSHARE INC$120,778
GLOW HOUSE AGRICULTURE INC$120,482
WORKING LANDSCAPES$114,197
OPERATION SPEING PLANT$107,416
WNC FROM THE GROUND UP$95,601
CONETOE FAMILY LIFE CENTER$70,986
FEAST DOWN EAST INC$62,507
BLACK FARMERS HUB LLC$58,594
CENTER FOR THIRD WORLD ORGANIZING$53,722
SANDHILLS AGINNOVATION CENTER$41,372
BLUE RIDGE WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE$37,203
THE PRODUCE BOX LLC$34,115
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $216k) land where the poverty rate runs at 20%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%MEN AND WOMEN UNITED FOR YOUTH AND FAMILIES CDC: $136k → 21%ROBESON COUNTY CHURCH AND COMMUNITY CENTER: $6k → 26%NATURAL CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND: $19k → 9%MEN AND WOMEN UNITED FOR YOUTH AND FAMILIES: $39k → 21%MEN AND WOMEN UNITED FOR YOUTH AND FAMILIES CDC: $17k → 21%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.7M · 20 repeat orgs$645k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +99% since the first grant, against +29% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
15

Total granted

$5.7M
$633k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+99%
+29%

Still filing today

55%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $12k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
Food & NutritionHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • TR
    Toe River Aggregation Center Training Organization Regional Inc
    3× · 2022–2024 · $730k · revenue +82% · 56% of their budget
  • SA
    SANDHILLS AGINNOVATION CENTER INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $716k · revenue +651% · 60% of their budget
  • FARMER FOODSHARE INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $463k · revenue +24%

Funded once

  • The Abundance Foundation Inc
    one grant, 2022 · $288k · revenue -10%
  • SR
    SOUTHEAST RALEIGH VICINITY EMERGING
    one grant, 2020 · $129k
  • TB
    T&A BARBEE FAMILY FARM LLC DBA BARBEE FARMS
    one grant, 2020 · $52k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Broad River Community Market

To create a thriving, equitable food system by working with local farms to provide crucial access to fresh produce to food insecure people in Cleveland County.

Food & Nutrition
2
Hub City Roots

The hub city farmers' market is a nonprofit community organization that aims to increase supply, demand, and access to healthy, local foods in spartanburg, south carolina.

Food & Nutrition
3
Uptown Farmers Market

Our mission is to engage our neighbors around locally grown, fresh foods to support local farmers and food artisans, educate on healthy eating, and eliminate food insecurity in our charlotte community.

Food & Nutrition
4
Nc Farm Bureau Legal Foundation Inc
—
5
Edenton Farmers Market

To provide accessibility to heathful, regionally grown or produced food for all residents and vistors regardless of income levels. to provide an educational forum for consumers to learn the uses and benefits of quality, locally grown or…

Food & Nutrition
6
Restoring Hope Center Inc

Restoring Hope Center, Inc. is a benovolence organization operating in Laurinburg, NC. The organization has benevolence programs providing food and supplies to the local area, supplies other smaller like-kind organizations, conducts a…

Human Services
7
Bounty & Soul

Together we connect, share, and celebrate nutritious food, education and community.

Food & Nutrition
8
Neighborhood Roots Food Collective Inc

Local food distribution and community education

Food & Nutrition
9
Northwest Farms to Families

The NWF2F DBA Minority Growers Collective is a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit founded in February of 2021 to meet the education, training, and financial assistance needs of agricultural growers and producers of color and meet the needs of…

Food & Nutrition
10
Wnc Food Systems Coalition Inc

To support a community-led food system in WNC that is regenerative, resilient, and equitable by strengthening regional connection and cultivating cross-sector collaboration.

Food & Nutrition
11
Center for an Agricultural Economy Inc

The center for an agricultural economy supports rural communities and working landscapes by building a more interconnected local food system.

Environment
12
Eastern North Carolina Food Commercialization Center

Provide essential food processing services for farmers, food manufacturers and entrepreneurs in a seven-county region.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Working Landscapes; the most unlike its peers is Center for Third World Organizing. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

21 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 21 of the 37 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/21
Grantees still filing
18/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Toe River Aggregation Center Training Organization Regional Inc: $729,693 · Food & NutritionToe River Aggregation Center Training Organi…SANDHILLS AGINNOVATION CENTER INC: $716,427 · Food & NutritionSANDHILLS AGINNOVATION CENTER INCFARMER FOODSHARE INC: $463,014 · Food & NutritionFARMER FOODSHARE INCFEAST DOWN EAST INC: $285,408 · Food & NutritionFEAST DOWN EAST INCBLUE RIDGE WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE: $208,395 · Food & NutritionBLUE RIDGE WOMEN IN AGRICULTUREMCDOWELL LFAC: $84,817 · Food & Nutrition+2 more: $27,053 · Food & NutritionFRESHLIST LLC: $1,081,601 · OtherFRESHLIST LLCTHE PRODUCE BOX LLC: $242,316 · OtherTHE PRODUCE BOX LLCA BETTER CHANCE A BETTER COMMUNITY: $189,174 · OtherA BETTER CHANCE A BETTER COMMUNITYOPERATION SPEING PLANT: $176,916 · OtherOPERATION SPEING PLANTGLOW HOUSE AGRICULTURE INC: $168,648 · OtherGLOW HOUSE AGRICULTURE INCWNC FROM THE GROUND UP: $139,219 · OtherWNC FROM THE GROUND UPSOUTHEAST RALEIGH VICINITY EMERGING: $128,630 · OtherTALL GRASS FOOD BOX: $102,192 · OtherBLACK FARMERS HUB LLC: $95,071 · Other+11 more: $198,670 · Other+11 moreWORKING LANDSCAPES: $370,744 · Community ImprovementEL CENTRO HISPANO INC: $15,295 · Community Improvement+1 more: $13,185 · Community ImprovementCONETOE FAMILY LIFE CENTER INC: $301,370 · Youth DevelopmentThe Abundance Foundation Inc: $288,135 · PhilanthropyMEN & WOMEN UNITED FOR YOUTH & FAMILIES INC: $191,838 · Human ServicesPARTNER COMMUNITY CAPITAL INC: $19,000 · Human Services+1 more: $5,500 · Human ServicesCenter for Third World Organizing: $134,557 · International
Food & Nutrition$2,514,807Other$2,522,437Community Improvement$399,224Youth Development$301,370Philanthropy$288,135Human Services$216,338International$134,557

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetToe River Aggregation Center Training Organization Regional Inc: $729,693 over 3y, 56% of budgetSANDHILLS AGINNOVATION CENTER INC: $716,427 over 5y, 60% of budgetFARMER FOODSHARE INC: $463,014 over 4y, 10% of budgetWORKING LANDSCAPES: $370,744 over 5y, 16% of budgetCONETOE FAMILY LIFE CENTER INC: $301,370 over 3y, 22% of budgetFEAST DOWN EAST INC: $285,408 over 5y, 17% of budgetBLUE RIDGE WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE: $208,395 over 5y, 4.0% of budgetMEN & WOMEN UNITED FOR YOUTH & FAMILIES INC: $191,838 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetCenter for Third World Organizing: $134,557 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMCDOWELL LFAC: $84,817 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetCatawba Farm and Food Coalition: $31,840 over 1y, 15% of budgetNC BUDGET & TAX CENTER: $20,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetPARTNER COMMUNITY CAPITAL INC: $19,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBountiful Cities Project: $15,502 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetEL CENTRO HISPANO INC: $15,295 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPENDER COUNTY CHRISTIAN SVCS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetFOOD BANK OF CENTRAL & EASTERN NC INC: $14,636 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUpstream Works: $13,185 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetDavidson County Local Food Network: $12,417 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetROBESON COUNTY CHURCH AND COMMUNITY CENTER: $5,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds Toe River Aggregation Center Training Organization Regional Inc ↗
  • Who funds SANDHILLS AGINNOVATION CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds FARMER FOODSHARE INC ↗
  • Who funds WORKING LANDSCAPES ↗
  • Who funds CONETOE FAMILY LIFE CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds The Abundance Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds FEAST DOWN EAST INC ↗
  • Who funds BLUE RIDGE WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE ↗
  • Who funds MEN & WOMEN UNITED FOR YOUTH & FAMILIES INC ↗
  • Who funds Center for Third World Organizing ↗
  • Who funds MCDOWELL LFAC ↗
  • Who funds Catawba Farm and Food Coalition ↗
  • Who funds NC BUDGET & TAX CENTER ↗
  • Who funds PARTNER COMMUNITY CAPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds Bountiful Cities Project ↗
  • Who funds EL CENTRO HISPANO INC ↗
  • Who funds PENDER COUNTY CHRISTIAN SVCS INC ↗
  • Who funds FOOD BANK OF CENTRAL & EASTERN NC INC ↗
  • Who funds Upstream Works ↗
  • Who funds Davidson County Local Food Network ↗
  • Who funds ROBESON COUNTY CHURCH AND COMMUNITY CENTER ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Conservation Fund…Z Smith Reynolds Foun…The Cannon Foundation…The Golden Leaf IncFoundation for the Ca…North Carolina Commun…Dogwood Health TrustMdc IncBlueprint North Carol…Duke UniversityTriangle Community Fo…Upstream Works
The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit CorporationVA33.2× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit Corporation · Z Smith Reynolds Foundation Inc · The Cannon Foundation Inc · The Golden Leaf Inc · Foundation for the Carolinas · North Carolina Community Foundation · Dogwood Health Trust · Mdc Inc · Blueprint North Carolina · Duke University · Triangle Community Foundation Inc · Upstream Works

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Carolina Farm Stewardship Association funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 37 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home