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The Promise Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Promise 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.

$27k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$25k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Housing & Shelter$71kYouth Development$33kReligion$23kEducation$13kCrime & Legal$11kHealth$5kRecreation & Sports$3kHuman Services$3kOther$0
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $2k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
$1,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$31k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Good Deeds of Wilmington LLC$25,000
Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC$1,000
Nourish NC$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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–20, $2k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%Good Friends of Wilmington: $2k → 12%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.

45%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$75k · 8 repeat orgs$92k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +464% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
28

Total granted

$75k
$65k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+464%
+30%

Still filing today

38%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $27k 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
EducationHousing & ShelterHealthCrime & LegalFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • CC
    Christ Community Church
    4× · 2017–2021 · $22k
  • AY
    ADVANCE YOUTH OUTREACH
    3× · 2017–2020 · $12k
  • EV
    Eden Village of Wilmington
    2× · 2021–2024 · $11k · revenue -21%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2018 · $28k
  • BB
    BRIGADE BOYS & GIRLS CLUB INC
    one grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +30%
  • GL
    GIRLS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY OF WILMINGTON FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $4k · revenue +751%
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
Carolina Teen Center

Carolina Teen Center is a prevention and education year-round after-school and summer program that services youth and their families. Literacy programs, tutoring, life skills, mentoring, positive peer groups, conflict resolution skills,…

Health
2
Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence Found ation
Health
3
Nest Academy Inc

The Nest Academy is a trauma-informed, private K-12 school in Charlotte, North Carolina with a mission to change the lives of refugee and underprivileged students to become confident, educated, and successful first generation high school…

Education
4
Building Hope Community Life Center Inc

Building Hope Community Life Center, Inc. is a comprehensive program designed to help young students and families become successful by developing the spiritual and moral infrastructure as well as the necessary educational skills to…

Human Services
5
Carolina Collaborative Prep

Carolina collaborative prep (ccp) is a non-profit academic center that serves students in grades 3-12 with learning differences, empowering them to thrive in school and in life.

Education
6
Boys and Girls Clubs of N Cent Nc

To inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need it most, to realize their full potential and to be productive, responsible, and caring citizens.

Youth Development
7
The Children's Center of Western North Carolina

At The Childrens Center of Western North Carolina (TCC), we are dedicated to creating an inclusive, playful, and nuturing environment where children can grow and learn together in acceptance of one another.

Human Services
8
Covenant Community School Inc

Covenant community school, inc. is a charitable community service organization whose mission is to provide a christ centered preschool experience ministering to children and their families.

Education
9
Children's Center at Usc

Our mission is to provide the best quality education and care for children and to become a national model for early childhood education. in addition to providing a healthy learning environment for children, the center also provides an…

Education
10
Davidson Day School

Davidson Day is a Pre-K through 12th grade college preparatory school located in Davidson, North Carolina. Davidson Day School fosters academic excellence through collaboration, creativity, and character development. Our vision is to be a…

Education
11
Kids Interdisciplinary Services Inc

To provide hope and healing for children who have been abused

Health
12
Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters

Dedicated to the mission of providing the best possible care and services for all children who come to us because of sickness and injury.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina Inc; the most unlike its peers is Advance Youth Outreach. 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

18 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. 18 of the 39 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)
16/18
Grantees still filing
13/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $28,333 · OtherIndividual grant recipientGood Deeds of Wilmington LLC: $25,000 · OtherGood Deeds of Wilmington LLCChrist Community Church: $22,160 · OtherChrist Community ChurchBoys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina Inc: $11,000 · OtherBoys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina IncBRIGADE BOYS & GIRLS CLUB INC: $5,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $4,401 · Other+22 more: $22,078 · Other+22 moreEden Village of Wilmington: $11,000 · Housing & ShelterEden Vill…CAPE FEAR HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $2,500 · Housing & ShelterCAPE FEAR…ADVANCE YOUTH OUTREACH: $12,000 · Youth DevelopmentA Safe Place Inc: $11,000 · Crime & LegalGIRLS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY OF WILMINGTON FOUNDATION: $4,000 · EducationBEACON EDUCATION INC: $2,000 · EducationSMART START OF NEW HANOVER COUNTY: $1,500 · EducationWilmington School of the Arts: $500 · Education+1 more: $165 · EducationGOOD FRIENDS OF WILMINGTON: $2,000 · Human ServicesKIDS MAKING IT INC: $2,000 · Employment
Other$117,972Housing & Shelter$13,500Youth Development$12,000Crime & Legal$11,000Education$8,165Human Services$2,000Employment$2,000

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 budgetEden Village of Wilmington: $11,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBoys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina Inc: $11,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetA Safe Place Inc: $11,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetBRIGADE BOYS & GIRLS CLUB INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGIRLS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY OF WILMINGTON FOUNDATION: $4,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCAPE FEAR HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGOOD FRIENDS OF WILMINGTON: $2,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetBEACON EDUCATION INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKIDS MAKING IT INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSMART START OF NEW HANOVER COUNTY: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJo Ann Carter Harrelson Center Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD BANK OF CENTRAL & EASTERN NC INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWilmington School of the Arts: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SHRINERS' HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChild Development Center Inc: $165 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.

New Hanover Community…United Way of the Cap…Dan Cameron Family Fo…The Landfall Foundati…The Cynthia & George …North Carolina Commun…Cape Fear Memorial Fo…Duke Energy FoundationCorning Incorporated …Ge Aerospace Foundati…The Rudisill Family F…Jeffrey Schrager & An…
New Hanover Community Endowment IncNC30.5× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: New Hanover Community Endowment Inc · United Way of the Cape Fear Area Inc · Dan Cameron Family Foundation Inc · The Landfall Foundation Inc · The Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation · North Carolina Community Foundation · Cape Fear Memorial Foundation · Duke Energy Foundation · Corning Incorporated Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · The Rudisill Family Foundation · Jeffrey Schrager & Anne York Family 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 Promise Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Promise Foundation Inc. 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%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • The Shriners' Hospital for Children: 6% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
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 The Promise Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to The Promise 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 39 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 Promise’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