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Nc Idea at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Nc Idea

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
190
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$65k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0178% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Community Improvement$5.2MEnvironment$4.8MScience & Tech$3.1MEducation$1.3MFood & Nutrition$1.0MHealth$567kYouth Development$530kHuman Services$253kOther$0
02FY2025 · 190 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k105 grants · $469k
  • $10k–50k79 grants · $1.8M
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $340k
$7,500
Median grant
4
States reached
$52M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BLACK GIRL MAGIC MARKET$65,000
FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER$63,360
FORWARD CITIES$60,000
AB COMMUNITY$51,667
WHEELPRICE$50,000
MATCHA NUDE$50,000
SUNLIGHT$45,000
PROSPERA$45,000
HOPPY PLANET FOODS$45,000
Individual grant recipient$45,000
VIRNIKA$42,502
RIOT$40,000
GWEN$40,000
HATCH AVL FOUNDATION$40,000
REDIRECTION CDC$35,000
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 (FY20–25, $221k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 18% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%WAVES 4 KIDS: $4k → 9%THE TULSA INITIATIVE: $5k → 16%THE TULSA INITITIVE: $5k → 16%TRANSFORMING LIVES & RESTORING HOPE INC: $5k → 20%GENESIS BLOCK FOUNDATION: $5k → 12%GENESIS BLOCK FOUNDATION: $5k → 12%FLYWHEEL FOUNDATION: $5k → 15%FLYWHEEL FOUNDATION: $5k → 15%FLYWHEEL FOUNDATION: $5k → 15%STEPUP DURHAM: $5k → 11%STEPUP DURHAM: $5k → 11%DOTTIE ROSE FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%RECITY NETWORK: $5k → 11%STEPUP DURHAM: $5k → 11%STEPUP DURHAM: $3k → 11%NATURAL CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND: $75k → 9%NATURAL CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND: $60k → 9%NATURAL CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND: $15k → 9%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

IL
NY
MA
OR
OH
PA
CA
WV
VA
DE
KS
NC
LA
GA
TX
FL
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.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$14M · 264 repeat orgs$7.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +11% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

264 repeat relationships: 74 still active in FY2025, 190 since wound down; 103 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

264
448

Total granted

$14M
$5.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
0%

Still filing today

19%
10%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 51% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.3M 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
Community ImprovementEducationHuman ServicesPhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentEmploymentOther
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

  • FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $421k · revenue +731%
  • CODE THE DREAM INC
    4× · 2018–2022 · $190k · revenue ×29
  • WP
    WE Power Food Inc
    3× · 2022–2025 · $177k · revenue +21% · 49% of their budget

Funded once

  • FS
    FAYETTEVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $150k
  • EC
    ELIZABETH CITY STATE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $150k
  • THE SHAW UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $150k · revenue +0%
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
Black Economic Mobility Coalition

Identify and develop talent to increase the number of sustainable Black-owned business in the Upstate

Community Improvement
2
Venture Carolina

To provide educational programs to stimulate the creation and growth of high impact companies

Community Improvement
3
North Carolina Empowerment Organization
Civil Rights
4
Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce

The Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce is an organization that promotes a positive business environment, community betterment and supports economic development

—
5
Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Network

The organization supports the region by connecting, communicating, and collaborating with stakeholders to grow and strengthen our innovation economy.

Education
6
Sync Space Entrepreneur Center

None

Community Improvement
7
South Carolina Business & Industry Political Education Committee

Promoting and protecting the free private and competitive enterprise system through research and education.

—
8
Burke County Chamber of Commerce I Burke County Chamber of Commerce I

To promote and advance commerce in burke county, nc

—
9
North Carolina Business Leaders for Educ

The mission of north carolina business leaders for education (dba best nc) is to unite an engaged and informed business perspective to dramatically transform and improve north carolina's education system. our goal is for every student to…

Education
10
BUILT2LAST Innovations Lab Inc

Create a more inclusive entrepreneurial and business ecosystem in durham, with an emphasis on women and underrepresented minority communities to gain the skills and experience needed to fully participate in economic properity.

Community Improvement
11
Greater Winston-Salem Inc

Greater winston-salem inc. is a leading business organization in winston- salem and forsyth county. the organization is focused on establishing winston-salem as a technology-driven economic center. greater winston-salem inc. offers…

—
12
Research Triangle Regional Partnership

The research triangle regional partnership is an association of area economic development agencies dedicated to keeping the research triangle region economically strong by collectively marketing the region's competitive advantages and…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Charlotte Regional Business Alliance Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Moms on a Mission of Wilson Nc 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

116 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. 116 of the 815 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.

8
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
32
Early backer (in before they grew)
108/116
Grantees still filing
56/116
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

+174 more: $12,451,687 · Other+174 moreFIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC: $421,360 · Community ImprovementFIRST FLI…Center for Creative Economy: $134,000 · Community ImprovementCenter fo…WINSTON STARTS: $120,000 · Community ImprovementWINSTON S…FORWARD CITIES INC: $110,000 · Community ImprovementFORWARD C…ARRAY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $110,000 · Community ImprovementARRAY COM…THREAD CAPITAL INC: $80,000 · Community ImprovementTHREAD CA…AB COMMUNITY INC: $76,667 · Community ImprovementAB COMMUN…HUSTLE WINSTON-SALEM: $70,000 · Community ImprovementCommunities In Partnership: $59,740 · Community ImprovementPiedmont Business Capital: $50,000 · Community ImprovementBoost Pad Inc: $48,118 · Community ImprovementHatch AVL Foundation: $45,000 · Community ImprovementCODE THE DREAM INC: $190,000 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITY: $155,000 · EducationTHE SHAW UNIVERSITY: $150,000 · EducationINNOVATE CHARLOTTE INC: $135,500 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT PEMBROKE FOUNDATION INC: $82,000 · EducationAspire Community Capital: $60,000 · EducationWE Power Food Inc: $177,145 · PhilanthropyMOUNTAIN BIZCAPITAL INC: $126,000 · PhilanthropyBOUNDLESS IMPACT: $80,600 · PhilanthropyDURHAM SUCCESS SUMMIT INC: $103,346 · Public BenefitCarolina Small Business Development Fund: $75,000 · Public BenefitJUNCTION BUSINESS SERVICES INC: $59,000 · Public BenefitPARTNER COMMUNITY CAPITAL INC: $150,000 · Human ServicesEcho System: $112,700 · Employment
Other$12,451,687Community Improvement$1,324,885Education$772,500Philanthropy$383,745Public Benefit$237,346Human Services$150,000Employment$112,700

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetFIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC: $421,360 over 9y, 5.3% of budgetCODE THE DREAM INC: $190,000 over 4y, 5.0% of budgetVENTUREPRISE INC: $185,000 over 6y, 9.6% of budgetWE Power Food Inc: $177,145 over 3y, 49% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $155,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SHAW UNIVERSITY: $150,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPARTNER COMMUNITY CAPITAL INC: $150,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetINNOVATE CHARLOTTE INC: $135,500 over 7y, 77% of budgetCenter for Creative Economy: $134,000 over 6y, 20% of budgetMOUNTAIN BIZCAPITAL INC: $126,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetWINSTON STARTS: $120,000 over 5y, 3.4% of budgetEcho System: $112,700 over 4y, 21% of budgetFORWARD CITIES INC: $110,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetARRAY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $110,000 over 2y, 43% of budgetGATEWAY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $100,000 over 2y, 34% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT PEMBROKE FOUNDATION INC: $82,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetBOUNDLESS IMPACT: $80,600 over 5y, 17% of budgetTHREAD CAPITAL INC: $80,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetAB COMMUNITY INC: $76,667 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetCarolina Small Business Development Fund: $75,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetMARINE BIO-TECHNOLOGIES CENTER OF INNOVATION (MBCOI): $75,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetCITY STARTUP LABS INC: $70,000 over 4y, 8.1% of budgetHUSTLE WINSTON-SALEM: $70,000 over 3y, 35% of budgetAspire Community Capital: $60,000 over 3y, 14% of budgetCommunities In Partnership: $59,740 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetJUNCTION BUSINESS SERVICES INC: $59,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetPiedmont Business Capital: $50,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetBoost Pad Inc: $48,118 over 3y, 16% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS COUNCIL INC: $40,000 over 2y, 33% 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 FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds CODE THE DREAM INC ↗
  • Who funds VENTUREPRISE INC ↗
  • Who funds WE Power Food Inc ↗
  • Who funds DUKE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE SHAW UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds PARTNER COMMUNITY CAPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds INNOVATE CHARLOTTE INC ↗
  • Who funds Center for Creative Economy ↗
  • Who funds MOUNTAIN BIZCAPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds WINSTON STARTS ↗
  • Who funds Echo System ↗
  • Who funds FORWARD CITIES INC ↗
  • Who funds ARRAY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP ↗

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.

Dogwood Health TrustZ Smith Reynolds Foun…Truist Foundation IncThe Winston-Salem Fou…Duke UniversityThe Golden Leaf IncFoundation for the Ca…Triangle Community Fo…Duke University Healt…Duke Energy FoundationThe Community Foundat…Wells Fargo Foundation
Dogwood Health TrustNC42.3× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dogwood Health Trust · Z Smith Reynolds Foundation Inc · Truist Foundation Inc · The Winston-Salem Foundation · Duke University · The Golden Leaf Inc · Foundation for the Carolinas · Triangle Community Foundation Inc · Duke University Health System Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina Inc · Wells Fargo Foundation

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 Nc Idea funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nc Idea. 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
    25report 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 815 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 Nc Idea’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