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Imagine North Carolina First at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Imagine North Carolina First

Imagine North Carolina First initiates, cultivates, and funds strategic efforts to promote economic opportunity, quality of life, government accountability, and civic participation among under served communities in North Carolina.

$17M
Granted FY2024still arriving
31
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$3.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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.

Public Benefit$24MEducation$3.8MHuman Services$2.5MCommunity Improvement$1.9MCivil Rights$1.7MCrime & Legal$615kEnvironment$300kSocial Science$100kOther$0
02FY2024 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $58k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $1.7M
  • $250k+17 grants · $15M
$250,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$864k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
State Engagement Fund$3,000,000
NC A Philip Randolph Institute Inc$2,300,000
Progress North Carolina$1,859,000
NC Citizens for Protecting our Schools$1,415,000
North Carolina Association of Educators$1,000,000
NC Black Alliance$705,000
Rally NC$625,000
Michigan Civic Education Fund$600,000
Blueprint NC$600,000
Unifour One$560,000
Democracy North Carolina$525,000
The Democracy Project II$450,000
El Pueblo$400,000
North Carolina Asian Americans Together$350,000
Action For Climate Emergency$300,000
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 (FY24–24, $400k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%El Pueblo: $400k → 8%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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
MI
NY
MA
OH
AZ
NC
DC
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.

78%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$27M · 27 repeat orgs$7.5M to everyone else

27 repeat relationships: 21 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
17

Total granted

$27M
$2.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+60%
+68%

Still filing today

96%
82%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 67% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5.5M 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
Civil RightsEducationPublic BenefitCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesCrime & LegalOther
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

  • JF
    JUSTICE FOR NC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $4.4M · revenue +27%
  • NC
    N C A PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $4.2M · revenue +60% · 38% of their budget
  • DO
    DIVISION OF PRINCIPALSADMINISTRATORS OF NCAE INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +8%

Funded once

  • RF
    Real Facts NC
    one grant, 2022 · $380k · revenue -100%
  • NN
    NEW NORTH CAROLINA PROJECT
    one grant, 2021 · $300k · revenue -41% · 42% of their budget
  • PP
    PLANNED PARENTHOOD VOTES SOUTH ATLANTICgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $211k · revenue +137%
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
North Carolinians for Redistricting Reform

North Carolinians for Redistricting Reform (NC4RR) is a bipartisan nonprofit working to improve North Carolina's representative democracy through redistricting reform. NC4RR's objective is to help pass a state constitutional amendment in…

—
2
North Carolina for the People

To educate the public on how to build a democracy where everyone participates, every vote is counted, voting rights are fully enforced, and everyone's voice is heard; to work toward a system where everyone has a say in decisions that…

Civil Rights
3
Action Institute Nc

Action institute nc is a community organization and citizens action group that organizes residents of low-wealth communities and constituencies most of whom are people of color- to represent their own interests on issues of social and…

—
4
North Carolina Voter Project

Amplify unrepresented voices in north carolina elections through voter education and registration.

Civil Rights
5
Forward Justice Action Network

Forward Justice Action Network is a nonprofit with the purpose to engage in educational and advocacy activities to promote political and grassroots support for public policies that advance racial social and economic justice in North…

Human Services
6
North Carolina Information Innovation Fund Inc

The North Carolina Information Innovation Fund NCIIF will educate the residents of North Carolina on civic duty and election related matters, including the importance of voting in elections, national policies impacting North Carolina, how…

Public Benefit
7
Lead Nc

LEAD NC is a non-partisan organization that seeks, encourages and cultivates a new generation of community and civic leaders for North Carolina through information dissemination, training and leadership development.

—
8
North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Foundation Inc

In collaboration with the legal community, NCEAJF empowers North Carolinians to navigate the civil justice system.

Crime & Legal
9
Nc for the People Action (formerly Nc Voters for Clean Elections)

To improve the election process by making the act of voting more accessible to citizens, to lessen the influence of money in politics and to generally make elected officials more responsive to the citizens of North Carolina.

Public Benefit
10
Nc State American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Org

To improve the lives of working families - to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation. to accomplish this mission, we will build and change the state's labor movement.

—
11
Make North Carolina First

Make North Carolina First conducts research, sponsors educational activities and events, and disseminates accurate and timely information to promote the general public's understanding of ways to maintain and improve North Carolina's common…

—
12
Nc Local Inc

Expands local news across North Carolina

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New North Carolina Project; the most unlike its peers is Alliance for a Just Society. 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

51 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. 51 of the 54 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.

9
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
50/51
Grantees still filing
28/51
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JUSTICE FOR NC: $4,430,000 · EducationJUSTICE FOR NCBLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINA: $2,280,000 · EducationBLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINALEAD NC INSTITUTE: $1,198,000 · EducationLEAD NC INSTITUTENORTH CAROLINA BLACK ALLIANCE INC: $890,000 · EducationNORTH CAROLINA BLACK ALLIANCE …+5 more: $675,000 · Education+5 moreN C A PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE INC: $4,243,000 · Civil RightsN C A PHILIP RANDOLPH INST…Democracy North Carolina: $970,000 · Civil RightsDemocracy North CarolinaNORTH CAROLINA ASIAN AMERICANS TOGETHER: $630,000 · Civil RightsNORTH CAROLINA ASIAN AMERI…MICHIGAN CIVIC EDUCATION FUND: $600,000 · Civil RightsMICHIGAN CIVIC EDUCATION F…PODER NC ACTION: $371,000 · Civil RightsFair Elections Center: $340,000 · Civil RightsCAROLINA FEDERATION: $284,500 · Civil Rights+4 more: $669,000 · Civil Rights+4 morePROGRESS NORTH CAROLINA: $4,413,650 · Community ImprovementPROGRESS NORTH CAROL…UNIFOUR ONE INC: $790,000 · Community ImprovementUNIFOUR ONE INCAmerica Votes: $750,000 · Community ImprovementAmerica VotesHISPANIC FEDERATION INC: $247,000 · Community Improvement+2 more: $70,000 · Community ImprovementSTATE ENGAGEMENT FUND: $3,000,000 · Public BenefitSTATE ENGAGEMENT…THINK NORTH CAROLINA FIRST: $1,005,000 · Public BenefitTHINK NORTH CARO…DEMOCRACY PROJECT II: $600,000 · Public BenefitDEMOCRACY PROJEC…PROGRESS NORTH CAROLINA ACTION: $250,000 · Public Benefit+3 more: $238,000 · Public BenefitDIVISION OF PRINCIPALSADMINISTRATORS OF NCAE INC: $1,060,000 · OtherDIVISION OF…Rally NC: $625,000 · OtherRally NCCOMMON CAUSE: $420,000 · OtherCOMMON CAUS…Real Facts NC: $380,000 · OtherReal Facts …New Rural Project: $173,000 · OtherACTION NC: $150,000 · OtherDISABILITY RIGHTS NORTH CAROLINA: $125,000 · OtherGOODPOWER EDUCATION FUND INC: $300,000 · OtherGOODPOWER E…+7 more: $409,000 · Other+7 moreFORWARD JUSTICE: $630,000 · Crime & LegalSOUTHERN COALITION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $525,000 · Crime & LegalEL PUEBLO INC: $400,000 · Human ServicesCAROLINA FEDERATION FUND: $325,000 · Human ServicesDOWN HOME NC: $250,000 · Human ServicesEL PUEBLO: $150,000 · Human Services
Education$9,473,000Civil Rights$8,107,500Community Improvement$6,270,650Public Benefit$5,093,000Other$3,642,000Crime & Legal$1,155,000Human Services$1,125,000

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 budgetJUSTICE FOR NC: $4,430,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetPROGRESS NORTH CAROLINA: $4,413,650 over 5y, 91% of budgetN C A PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE INC: $4,243,000 over 4y, 38% of budgetSTATE ENGAGEMENT FUND: $3,000,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetBLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINA: $2,280,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetLEAD NC INSTITUTE: $1,198,000 over 5y, 85% of budgetTHINK NORTH CAROLINA FIRST: $1,005,000 over 2y, 32% of budgetDemocracy North Carolina: $970,000 over 3y, 13% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA BLACK ALLIANCE INC: $890,000 over 3y, 14% of budgetUNIFOUR ONE INC: $790,000 over 2y, 30% of budgetAmerica Votes: $750,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA ASIAN AMERICANS TOGETHER: $630,000 over 4y, 6.4% of budgetFORWARD JUSTICE: $630,000 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetRally NC: $625,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetMICHIGAN CIVIC EDUCATION FUND: $600,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetDEMOCRACY PROJECT II: $600,000 over 2y, 68% of budgetSOUTHERN COALITION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $525,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetCOMMON CAUSE: $420,000 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetEL PUEBLO INC: $400,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetReal Facts NC: $380,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetPODER NC ACTION: $371,000 over 4y, 9.4% of budgetFair Elections Center: $340,000 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetCAROLINA FEDERATION FUND: $325,000 over 2y, 7.7% of budgetGOODPOWER EDUCATION FUND INC: $300,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetNEW NORTH CAROLINA PROJECT: $300,000 over 1y, 42% of budgetCAROLINA FEDERATION: $284,500 over 2y, 15% of budgetPROGRESS NORTH CAROLINA ACTION: $250,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetDOWN HOME NC: $250,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetHISPANIC FEDERATION INC: $247,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSOMOS SIEMBRA: $225,000 over 2y, 7.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD VOTES SOUTH ATLANTIC: $211,000 over 1y, 8.0% of budgetWE ARE DOWN HOME: $207,000 over 3y, 6.4% of budgetNew Rural Project: $173,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetSIEMBRA NC: $163,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetEL PUEBLO: $150,000 over 1y, 32% of budgetACTION NC: $150,000 over 1y, 72% of budgetSOUTHERN VISION ALLIANCE: $150,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetDISABILITY RIGHTS NORTH CAROLINA: $125,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetInstitute for Southern Studies Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS: $100,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $90,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNC CHILD: $75,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetMI FAMILIA VOTA: $70,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetSTATE LEADERSHIP PROJECT: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetALLIANCE FOR A JUST SOCIETY: $45,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetRED WINE & BLUE EDUCATION FUND: $43,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY NEWS CENTER: $38,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetNC COUNTS COALITION: $35,000 over 2y, 0.3% 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.

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.

Blueprint North Carol…Tides FoundationZ Smith Reynolds Foun…Hopewell FundNEO Philanthropy IncAmalgamated Charitabl…New Venture FundSixteen Thirty FundMary Reynolds Babcock…Make North Carolina F…Way to RiseNEO Philanthropy Acti…
Blueprint North CarolinaNC46.6× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Blueprint North Carolina · Tides Foundation · Z Smith Reynolds Foundation Inc · Hopewell Fund · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · New Venture Fund · Sixteen Thirty Fund · Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation Incorporated · Make North Carolina First · Way to Rise · NEO Philanthropy Action Fund 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 Imagine North Carolina First funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Imagine North Carolina First. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%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
    1get no government money at all
    4report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Imagine North Carolina First?

    Find your warmest path to Imagine North Carolina First 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 54 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 Imagine North Carolina First’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