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The Empire Gives Back at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Empire Gives Back

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$181k
Granted FY2024still arriving
19
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$75k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Philanthropy$140kCrime & Legal$83kHuman Services$41kEducation$41kArts & Culture$32kPublic Safety & Disaster$25kHealth$23kYouth Development$21kOther$0
02FY2024 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k14 grants · $31k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $76k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $75k
$2,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$41k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NC STATE FOUNDATION$75,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
SAFECHILD$20,260
OCCONEECHEE COUNCIL BSA$15,300
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY$15,250
THE BROUGHTON HIGH SCHOOL CAPS CLUB$8,575
CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF RALEIGH$4,800
NC STATE STUDENT AID ASSOCIATION$4,483
FREEDOM RIDE RESCUE$3,302
THE DERECK WHITTENBURG FOUNDATION$2,500
LIGON MAGNET MIDDLE SCHOOL$1,482
JUNIOR LEAGUE OF RALEIGH$1,327
BROUGHTON MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL$1,086
ENLOE EAGLE ATHLETIC BOOSTER CLUB$1,000
NC MUSEUM OF HISTORY$750
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 (FY20–21, $21k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%YMCA OF THE TRIANGLE: $11k → 8%YMCA OF THE TRIANGLE: $10k → 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.
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 12% of The Empire Gives Back’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 97% of the giving stays in NC; by stated purpose, 85%.

The Empire Gives Backlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

72%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$339k · 15 repeat orgs$132k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +88% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

15 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
32

Total granted

$339k
$81k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+88%
+30%

Still filing today

53%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 72% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $51k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHealthCrime & LegalHuman ServicesCivil RightsOther
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

  • SAFECHILD
    4× · 2020–2024 · $78k · revenue +119%
  • TY
    The Young Men's Christian Association of the Triangle Area Inc (4598)
    2× · 2020–2021 · $21k · revenue +88%
  • NS
    NC STATE STUDENT AID ASSOCIATION INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $14k · revenue +68%

Funded once

  • The Historic Preservation Foundation of North Carolina Incgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $15k · revenue +80%
  • NS
    NC STATE ENGINEERING FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +208%
  • B
    BRIDGE
    one grant, 2021 · $6k
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 Carolina Biotechnology Center

The north carolina biotechnology center aids the biotechnology-related efforts of researchers, businesses, state and federal governments, and other agencies primarily through awards of grants and loans related to specific programs and…

Science & Tech
2
North Carolina State University Alumni Association Inc

The nc state alumni association engages alumni and friends through programs and services that foster pride and enhance a lifelong connection to nc state university ("nc state").

—
3
North Carolina Bar Association

The north carolina bar association is organized for the purposes of promoting and improving the administration of justice in north carolina; fostering and encouraging law reform when in the public interest; advancing the science of…

—
4
Barton College

Founded in 1902, barton college is a four-year, private, liberal arts college located in wilson, n.c. the barton experience focuses on academic excellence within a wide range of professional and liberal arts programs leading to…

Education
5
North Carolina High School Athletic Association Inc

The mission of the nchsaa is to provide governance and leadership for interscholastic athletic programs in north carolina that support and enrich the educational experience of students; the administration of the state's interscholastic…

Recreation & Sports
6
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
7
Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University, a 501(c)(3) institution of higher education, is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. The organization is comprised of seven constituent parts: Wake…

Education
8
North Carolina State University Foundation Inc

Supports, by financial assistance and otherwise, the various colleges within the university, the libraries, and other university-connected functions.

Education
9
North Carolina Assoc of Educators Inc

To advocate for members and students, to enhance the education profession, and to advance public education.

—
10
Carolina Ballet Inc

Carolina ballet's mission is to perform world-class professional ballet, entertaining and enlightening audiences in raleigh, the triangle region, the state of north carolina, and beyond. carolina ballet works to accomplish this mission by…

Arts & Culture
11
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…

—
12
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County Inc; the most unlike its peers is Nash Autism Seeking Hope. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

29 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. 29 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/29
Grantees still filing
20/29
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

OCCONEECHEE COUNCIL BSA: $101,300 · OtherOCCONEECHEE COUNCIL BSANC STATE FOUNDATION: $75,500 · OtherNC STATE FOUNDATIONIndividual grant recipient: $25,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientYMCA: $20,532 · OtherYMCAThe Historic Preservation Foundation of North Carolina Inc: $15,000 · Other+29 more: $63,564 · Other+29 moreSAFECHILD: $77,760 · Crime & LegalSAFECHILDAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $15,250 · EducationAMERICAN UNI…NC STATE STUDENT AID ASSOCIATION INC: $14,483 · EducationNC STATE STU…NC STATE ENGINEERING FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · EducationNC STATE ENG…The Dereck Whittenburg Foundation: $5,000 · EducationThe Dereck W…KAY YOW CANCER FOUNDATION INC: $4,500 · EducationKAY YOW CANC…+3 more: $1,793 · EducationThe Young Men's Christian Association of the Triangle Area Inc (4598): $20,500 · Human ServicesSHOPSPACE INC: $3,200 · Arts & CultureUNITED ARTS COUNCIL OF RALEIGH AND WAKE COUNTY INC: $2,500 · Arts & CultureARTSPLOSURE THE RALEIGH ARTS FESTIVAL: $1,250 · Arts & CultureLigon Arts Boosters Inc co Ligon GT Magnet Middle School: $750 · Arts & CultureEnloe Arts Guild Inc: $515 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $100 · Arts & CultureNASH AUTISM SEEKING HOPE: $5,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $2,500 · HealthThe Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc: $500 · HealthThe Partnership Project: $5,000 · Civil Rights
Other$300,896Crime & Legal$77,760Education$51,026Human Services$20,500Arts & Culture$8,315Health$8,000Civil Rights$5,000

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 budgetSAFECHILD: $77,760 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetThe Young Men's Christian Association of the Triangle Area Inc (4598): $20,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $15,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Historic Preservation Foundation of North Carolina Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetNC STATE STUDENT AID ASSOCIATION INC: $14,483 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNC STATE ENGINEERING FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBROUGHTON HIGH SCHOOL CAPS CLUB BROUGHTON HIGH SCHOOL: $8,575 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetThe Dereck Whittenburg Foundation: $5,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetNASH AUTISM SEEKING HOPE: $5,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetKAY YOW CANCER FOUNDATION INC: $4,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFREEDOM RIDE RESCUE: $4,302 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSHOPSPACE INC: $3,200 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetFOOD BANK OF CENTRAL & EASTERN NC INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED ARTS COUNCIL OF RALEIGH AND WAKE COUNTY INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJUNIOR LEAGUE OF RALEIGH INC: $2,227 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetARTSPLOSURE THE RALEIGH ARTS FESTIVAL: $1,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLigon Arts Boosters Inc co Ligon GT Magnet Middle School: $750 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetDURHAM LITERACY CENTER INC: $525 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVICTORY JUNCTION GANG CAMP INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWreaths Across America: $450 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $268 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAPITAL AREA PRESERVATION INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF WAKE COUNTY INC: $100 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.

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.

Triangle Community Fo…Duke Energy FoundationBell Cook Family Foun…Bell Koonce Burnette …W Trent Ragland Jr Fo…John William Pope Fou…Foundation for the Ca…Knier Family Foundati…Bailey Endowment IncNorth Carolina Commun…Analog Devices Founda…Fidelity Foundation
Triangle Community Foundation IncNC22.9× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Triangle Community Foundation Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · Bell Cook Family Foundation · Bell Koonce Burnette Foundation · W Trent Ragland Jr Foundation · John William Pope Foundation · Foundation for the Carolinas · Knier Family Foundation · Bailey Endowment Inc · North Carolina Community Foundation · Analog Devices Foundation · Fidelity 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 The Empire Gives Back funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Empire Gives Back. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
    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 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-PF 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 Empire Gives Back’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