North Carolina · Nonprofit
Ascend Nonprofit Solutions
Ascend Nonprofit Solutions (North Carolina) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,386,860 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($1,042,600). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.6M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $2.4M
- Net assets
- $13M
What Ascend Nonprofit Solutions does
Mission
Ascend Nonprofit Solutions is a Type I Supporting Organization under IRS Code Section 509(a)(3), established to strengthen the nonprofit sector by providing essential infrastructure and operational support. Our mission is to lift nonprofits to greater heights by enabling them to focus more fully on their core missions.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
SHARED SERVICES:Shared Services provides high-quality, cost-effective finance, human resources, and information technology services to nonprofit organizations. These services are designed to increase operational efficiency, reduce administrative burden, and enhance organizational stability. By outsourcing these critical functions to Ascend, nonprofits gain access to specialized expertise and scalable solutions that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive. In FY25, Ascend managed $97.4 million in revenue, supported 1,320 employees and 818 network users. As a result, supported organizations saved as estimated $5 million in costs for these services.
$4,366,311 spent$3,594,361 earned by the program71% of program spendingTHE CENTER:The Center is a multi-tenant nonprofit center that offers below-market rent and shared amenities to mission-driven organizations. This co-location model fosters collaboration, reduces overhead costs, and creates a supportive environment for nonprofits to thrive. Originally launched in 2003, the Center was created to address the instability and high cost of commercial rent in Charlotte. Today, it serves as a hib for collaboration and impact, housing a diverse array of organizations across sectors such as human services, education and the arts. The Center fosters a vibrant community where nonprofits benefit from shared space, reduce overhead, and a supportive environment of peers. Based on current market rates, nonprofit tenants saved an estimated $1.7 million in rent. Together, these programs enable nonprofits to redirect resources toward program delivery, improve service outcomes, and build long-term sustainability.
$1,218,447 spent$2,534,197 earned by the program20% of program spendingFiscal sponsorships:prior to the august 2025 approval to be reclassified as a 509a3 supporting organization, the center provided fiscal sponsorship services to unincorporated groups whose missions and causes were aligned with the center's mission. Because of this new classification, the center is sunsetting all fiscal sponsorship activities going forward.
$595,291 spentof which $104,000 as grants$595,291 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,180,049.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $12M to $15M (+22%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
16% of Ascend Nonprofit Solutions’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
James Taylor
President & CEO
Board chair
Robert Kelly
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $65k → $183k.
7 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 87% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Ascend Nonprofit Solutions’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Ascend Nonprofit Solutions leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
89% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Ascend Nonprofit Solutions.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 98% · 2019 89% · 2020 98% · 2021 42% · 2022 82% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
43% of Ascend Nonprofit Solutions's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 40% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
87% of Ascend Nonprofit Solutions's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $307k that is directly attributable, 89% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Ascend Nonprofit Solutions is better cushioned than half of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Ascend Nonprofit Solutions
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
96% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Cfsc Shared Services LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Ascend Nonprofit Solutions: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Ascend Nonprofit Solutions?
- Ascend Nonprofit Solutions (North Carolina) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,386,860 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($1,042,600). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Ascend Nonprofit Solutions have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $2,386,860 in grants to Ascend Nonprofit Solutions, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Ascend Nonprofit Solutions?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $1,042,600 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Ascend Nonprofit Solutions find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 15 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing