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United Way of North Carolina at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

United Way of North Carolina

We bridge people, local united ways, and resources so individuals, families, and communities thrive in north carolina.

$200k
Granted FY2023
2
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2023.

Public Safety & Disaster$986kPhilanthropy$431k
02FY2023 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$100,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$11M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNITED WAY OF ALAMANCE COUNTY$100,000
LUMBER RIVER UNITED WAY$100,000
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 (FY18–18, $9k) land where the poverty rate runs at 23%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%UNITED WAY OF RICHMOND COUNTY: $9k → 23%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 36% of United Way of North Carolina’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 99% of the giving stays in NC; by stated purpose, 42%.

United Way of North Carolinalessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 58% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 9 repeat orgs$212k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2023, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
10

Total granted

$1.2M
$212k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-16%
0%

Still filing today

89%
90%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
PhilanthropyHuman ServicesOther
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

  • UW
    United Way of the Cape Fear Area Inc
    3× · 2017–2019 · $238k · revenue +24%
  • UNITED WAY OF ONSLOW COUNTY INC
    2× · 2018–2019 · $100k · revenue +167%
  • AA
    ALBEMARLE AREA UNITED WAY
    2× · 2017–2020 · $26k · revenue +347%

Funded once

  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF MOORE COUNTY
    one grant, 2018 · $60k · revenue -5%
  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF SAMPSON COUNTY
    one grant, 2018 · $35k · revenue -46%
  • BC
    Beaufort County United Way Inc
    one grant, 2018 · $25k · revenue +23%
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
United Way of Whiteside County

Providing dynamic leadership in uniting people and resources to create lasting change that improves lives and strengthens our communities.

Philanthropy
2
United Way of Wilson County & the Upper Cumberland

The United Way of Wilson County exists to enhance the quality of life through a combined effort of individuals and organizations pulling together to address health and human service needs in Wilson County and the Upper Cumberland.

Human Services
3
United Way of Calhoun County

The mission of the united way of calhoun county is to help increase the organized capacity of people in calhoun county to care for one another.

Philanthropy
4
United Way of Virginia's Eastern Shore Inc

United way improves lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance common good. the united way of virginia's eastern shore is a local volunteer organization established in 1991 by business people and…

Philanthropy
5
United Way of Umatilla & Morrow Counties

United way of umatilla and morrow counties empowers individual givers to support their communities in caring for those in need.

—
6
United Way of Fulton County

To improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities.

Philanthropy
7
Granville County United Way Inc

Receive and allocate funds to worthy educational and health & welfare organizations in the granville county, nc area.

Philanthropy
8
United Way of Murray-Calloway County in

Solicit and distribute funds to local charities.

Philanthropy
9
United Way of Bartow County Inc

Raise and distribte contributions to member charities.

—
10
United Way of Central Kentucky Inc

To improve lives by providing support through funding local agenies and performing community growth activities.

Human Services
11
United Way of Williams County

The united way of williams county improves the quality of life within its community by connecting volunteers, organizations and resources to advance health, education, and financial stability.

Philanthropy
12
United Way of Union County Inc

The mission of the united way of union county is to bring neighbors and resources together to improve lives.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Way of the Greater Triangle Inc; the most unlike its peers is Lumber River United Way. 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

19 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/19
Grantees still filing
6/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LUMBER RIVER UNITED WAY: $434,325 · OtherLUMBER RIVER UNITED WAYUNITED WAY OF ALAMANCE COUNTY: $200,000 · OtherUNITED WAY OF ALAMANCE COUNTYUNITED WAY OF MOORE COUNTY: $60,000 · OtherUNITED WAY OF MOORE COUNTYUnited Way of Bladen County Inc: $30,000 · Other+5 more: $92,279 · Other+5 moreUnited Way of the Cape Fear Area Inc: $238,410 · PhilanthropyUnited Way of the Cape Fear Area IncUNITED WAY OF ONSLOW COUNTY INC: $100,150 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF ONSLOW COUNTY INCUNITED WAY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY INC: $71,100 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY INCLENOIR COUNTY UNITED WAY: $55,000 · PhilanthropyLENOIR COUNTY UNITED WAYUNITED WAY OF COASTAL CAROLINA INC: $50,025 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF COASTAL CAROLINA INCUNITED WAY OF SAMPSON COUNTY: $35,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF SAMPSON COUNTYUNITED WAY OF WAYNE COUNTY INC: $20,000 · Philanthropy+2 more: $21,993 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF RICHMOND COUNTY INC: $9,000 · Human Services
Other$816,604Philanthropy$591,678Human Services$9,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLUMBER RIVER UNITED WAY: $434,325 over 6y, 15% of budgetUnited Way of the Cape Fear Area Inc: $238,410 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetUNITED WAY OF ALAMANCE COUNTY: $200,000 over 2y, 9.7% of budgetUNITED WAY OF ONSLOW COUNTY INC: $100,150 over 2y, 15% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY INC: $71,100 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF SAMPSON COUNTY: $35,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetALBEMARLE AREA UNITED WAY: $26,279 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF WAYNE COUNTY INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetUNITED WAY TAR RIVER REGION: $17,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetUNITED WAY OF WILSON COUNTY INC: $14,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetUNITED WAY ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA INC: $11,993 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA 211: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF RICHMOND COUNTY INC: $9,000 over 1y, 3.4% 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.

Duke Energy FoundationUnited Way WorldwideLumen Clarke M Willia…Truist Foundation IncNorth Carolina Commun…Publix Super Markets …Foundation for the Ca…United Way of the Gre…United Way of the Cap…The Winston-Salem Fou…Charities Aid Foundat…The Blackbaud Giving …
Duke Energy FoundationNC34.2× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Duke Energy Foundation · United Way Worldwide · Lumen Clarke M Williams Foundation · Truist Foundation Inc · North Carolina Community Foundation · Publix Super Markets Charities Inc · Foundation for the Carolinas · United Way of the Greater Triangle Inc · United Way of the Cape Fear Area Inc · The Winston-Salem Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Blackbaud Giving Fund

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 United Way of North Carolina funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from United Way of North Carolina. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%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
    0get no government money at all
    3report 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 19 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

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    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