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First Citizens Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

First Citizens Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$32k
Granted FY2025still arriving
11
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$95kHealth$55kArts & Culture$54kYouth Development$22kHuman Services$19kCommunity Improvement$5kRecreation & Sports$3kAnimals$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$2,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$565k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AVA GARDNER MUSEUM$5,000
HOUSE OF HOPE$5,000
WILSON ARTS$5,000
WILSON FORWARD$5,000
JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION$2,500
BENSON HEALTH$2,000
JOHNSTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE$1,500
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY$1,500
NC A&T UNIVERSITY$1,500
LAFAYETTE COLLEGE$1,500
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE$1,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 28% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%LAFAYETTE COLLEGE: $2k → 11%SAINT MARY'S SCHOOL: $20k → 8%TOWN OF BENSON: $10k → 10%UNC WILMINGTON: $2k → 12%CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY: $3k → 13%NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE: $2k → 15%BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY: $5k → 16%BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF WAYNE COUNTY: $2k → 18%EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY: $3k → 20%BARTON COLLEGE: $13k → 20%SAMPSON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $5k → 20%SAINT MARY'S SCHOOL: $11k → 8%TOWN OF BENSON: $10k → 10%BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY: $5k → 16%WILSON ARTS: $5k → 20%SAMPSON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $5k → 20%BENSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER: $5k → 10%SAMPSON HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: $3k → 20%BENSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER: $5k → 10%NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY: $3k → 8%BENSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER: $5k → 10%BENSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER: $3k → 10%BENSON HEALTH: $2k → 10%HOUSE OF HOPE: $5k → 10%HOUSE OF HOPE: $5k → 10%HOUSE OF HOPE: $5k → 10%CLAYTON CULTURAL ARTS FOUNDATION INC: $3k → 10%THE SALVATION ARMY OF WAKE COUNTY: $3k → 8%NEUSE LITTLE THEATRE: $8k → 10%JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%AVA GARDNER MUSEUM: $5k → 10%JOHNSTON COUNTY HERITAGE CENTER: $5k → 10%AVA GARDNER MUSEUM: $5k → 10%AVA GARDNER MUSEUM: $5k → 10%AVA GARDNER MUSEUM: $5k → 10%JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION: $3k → 10%HISTORIC SMITHFIELD FOUNDATION INC: $3k → 10%FRIENDS OF THE PARKS SMITHFIELD NC INC: $3k → 10%JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION: $3k → 10%JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION: $3k → 10%JOHNSTON COUNTY HERITAGE CENTER: $3k → 10%JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%JOHNSTON HEALTH FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%FRIENDS OF BENTONVILLE BATTLEFIELD: $5k → 10%FRIENDS OF BENTONVILLE BATTLEFIELD: $3k → 10%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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$208k · 19 repeat orgs$66k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +55% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

19 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
22

Total granted

$208k
$49k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+55%
+12%

Still filing today

42%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $17k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • SM
    SAINT MARYS SCHOOL
    2× · 2017–2020 · $31k · revenue +55%
  • JM
    JOHNSTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $25k · revenue +154%
  • SR
    SAMPSON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $10k · revenue +123%

Funded once

  • BC
    BARTON COLLEGEgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $13k · revenue +32%
  • NL
    NEUSE LITTLE THEATRE INC
    one grant, 2018 · $8k
  • TS
    THE SALVATION ARMY OF WAKE COUNTY
    one grant, 2020 · $3k
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
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
2
Brevard College Corporation

Brevard college is committed to an experiential liberal arts education that encourages personal growth and inspires artistic, intellectual, and social action.

Education
3
Catawba College

Catawba college is committed to providing students an education rich in personal attention that blends the knowledge and competencies of liberal studies with career preparation. catawba college draws strength from judeo-christian values,…

Education
4
Wingate University

The mission of wingate university is to develop educated, ethical, and productive global citizens. following its judeo-christian heritage, the university seeks to cultivate the following in its students: knowledge, faith, and service.

Education
5
Simpson College

Through innovative learning opportunities, individual student attention, and an unwavering commitment to inclusive educational access, simpson college cultivates a diverse community of learners to lead lives of meaning and purpose.

Education
6
Wofford College

The purpose of wofford college is to function as a liberal arts institution of superior quality. its chief concern is the development of an intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic atmosphere in which serious and inquiring minds of students…

—
7
Carleton College

See schedule o.founded in 1866, carleton college is a private, coeducational liberal arts college of 2,007 students located in the historic river town of northfield, minnesota. nationally recognized as the nation's top college for…

Education
8
Greensboro College

Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Education
9
Greenville College

Greenville college d/b/a greenville university empowers students for lives of character and service through a transforming christ-centered education in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies.

Education
10
Belhaven University

Belhaven university prepares students academically and spiritually to serve jesus christ in their careers, in human relationships, and in the world of ideas.

Education
11
Coker University

Coker university is a student-centered, comprehensive university. it is dedicated to providing every student an academic curriculum based upon a uniformly excellent liberal arts core that enhances the structured development of key personal…

Education
12
Babson College

Babson college educates entrepreneurial leaders who impact communities everywhere.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Campbell University; the most unlike its peers is Ava Gardner Museum Inc. 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

24 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. 24 of the 47 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/24
Grantees still filing
14/24
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JOHNSTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $25,260 · OtherJOHNSTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INCIndividual grant recipient: $20,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientBENSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER INC: $18,000 · OtherBENSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER INCHOUSE OF HOPE: $15,000 · OtherHOUSE OF HOPENORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY: $10,500 · OtherNORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITYSAMPSON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherSAMPSON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATIONCounty of Johnston: $7,650 · OtherNEUSE LITTLE THEATRE INC: $7,500 · OtherEAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY: $7,000 · Other+18 more: $39,300 · Other+18 moreSAINT MARYS SCHOOL: $30,500 · EducationSAINT MARYS SCHOOLBARTON COLLEGE: $13,000 · EducationBARTON COLLEGECAMPBELL UNIVERSITY: $6,000 · EducationCAMPBELL UNIVERSITY+7 more: $9,250 · Education+7 moreAva Gardner Museum Inc: $20,000 · Arts & CultureAva Gardner Mu…FRIENDS OF BENTONVILLE BATTLEFIELD INC: $8,100 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF BEN…CLAYTON CULTURAL ARTS FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 · Arts & CultureCLAYTON CULTUR…Historic Smithfield Foundation Inc: $2,500 · Arts & CultureHistoric Smith…+1 more: $1,000 · Arts & CultureBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentWILSON COUNTY LIVESTOCK ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED: $1,000 · Youth DevelopmentWILSON FORWARD: $5,000 · Community ImprovementFRIENDS OF THE PARKS SMITHFIELD NC INC: $2,500 · Recreation & SportsBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF WAYNE CO INC: $2,000 · Philanthropy
Other$160,210Education$58,750Arts & Culture$34,100Youth Development$11,000Community Improvement$5,000Recreation & Sports$2,500Philanthropy$2,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSAINT MARYS SCHOOL: $30,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJOHNSTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $25,260 over 9y, 1.0% of budgetAva Gardner Museum Inc: $20,000 over 4y, 3.7% of budgetBENSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER INC: $18,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetBARTON COLLEGE: $13,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAMPSON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY: $10,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF BENTONVILLE BATTLEFIELD INC: $8,100 over 2y, 11% of budgetCAMPBELL UNIVERSITY: $6,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWILSON FORWARD: $5,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE PARKS SMITHFIELD NC INC: $2,500 over 1y, 14% of budgetCLAYTON CULTURAL ARTS FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF WAYNE CO INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMEREDITH COLLEGE: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MOUNT OLIVE INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAFAYETTE COLLEGE: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLIBERTY UNIVERSITY INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAVERETT UNIVERSITY: $1,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRIANGLE UNIVERSITIES CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDIES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetJOHNSTON COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetHIGH POINT UNIVERSITY: $500 over 1y, 0.0% 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 SAINT MARYS SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds JOHNSTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Ava Gardner Museum Inc ↗
  • Who funds BENSON AREA MEDICAL CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds BARTON COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds SAMPSON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF BENTONVILLE BATTLEFIELD INC ↗
  • Who funds CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds WILSON FORWARD ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE PARKS SMITHFIELD NC INC ↗
  • Who funds CLAYTON CULTURAL ARTS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Historic Smithfield Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF WAYNE CO INC ↗
  • Who funds MEREDITH COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF MOUNT OLIVE INC ↗
  • Who funds LAFAYETTE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY INC ↗
  • Who funds LIBERTY UNIVERSITY INC ↗
  • Who funds AVERETT UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds TRIANGLE UNIVERSITIES CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDIES INC ↗
  • Who funds WILSON COUNTY LIVESTOCK ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED ↗

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.

North Carolina Commun…The Robert P Holding …Ella Ann L and Frank …Anonymous Trust U/A D…The Cannon Foundation…Lettie Pate Whitehead…Duke Energy FoundationThe Golden Leaf IncThe Winston-Salem Fou…Enterprise Holdings F…Charities Aid Foundat…American Online Givin…
North Carolina Community FoundationNC28.5× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: North Carolina Community Foundation · The Robert P Holding Foundation Inc · Ella Ann L and Frank B Holding Foundatio · Anonymous Trust U/A Dated 2-4-2008 · The Cannon Foundation Inc · Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · The Golden Leaf Inc · The Winston-Salem Foundation · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Online Giving Foundation Inc

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 First Citizens Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from First Citizens Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to First Citizens Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to First Citizens Foundation Inc through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    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 47 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on First Citizens’ 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