North Carolina · Nonprofit
Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc
Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,560,600 to it, the largest being TA THE PADDISON FAMILY FDN NO II ($1,083,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $6.0M
What Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc does
Mission
To establish partnerships with local individuals, businesses, corporations and other foundations for the purpose of providing additional resources to Buncombe County Schools educators, staff, and students.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
The Foundation adopted a disaster response to Hurricane Helene providing emergency support to its faculty and student severly affected by this event.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
1. Program Support-(Educators and System Supports) New Teacher Program - Funds dedicated to supporting our new teachers in BCS. This includes Beginning Teach Support as well. *Teacher of the Year - Provide $2000, courtesy of HomeTrust Bank to the Teacher of the year. *Principal of the Year - Provide $2000, courtesy of First Citizens Bank to the Principal of the Year. *Inchy Book Machines- Donors provided book vending machines along with books to 10 of our schools. This donation was lifechanging for students as they are able to select four books per year and build a personal library collection. All students received birthday books and then set three goals so they could earn three additional books. We look forward to next year as they will donate to 10 additional schools.
$1,551,164 spentof which $1,429,133 as grants$12,791 earned by the program100% of program spending*BCS Bookmobile - Provides books and literacy lessons to our students, community preschools, and community events. It is a joy to introduce and extend literacy to young children. The foundation provides $3,500 each year to support operational expenses. *BCS Resource Center - BCSF is the fiscal agent for funds from Buncombe County Government and Dogwood Health Trust, and others to support the BCS Resource Center. The resource center serves homeless students and their families. *Education Celebration - Each year we celebrate out Teachers of the Year, Principal of the Year, BCSF Grant winners, community partner, Learning Society Members BCSF and BCS Boards and staff in May. This event allows us to celebrate our work for the year. *Military Ball - This joint opportunity promotes students in our JROTC and ROTC programs. This gala celebrates the work of our outstanding students and their leadership talents. *Top Scholars Celebration - The foundation provided funds to help celebrate the 2025 BCS Top Scholars. One hundred and nine (109) students were honored for their outstanding academic accomplishments. They celebrated with their families and guests.
2. Innovative Grant Support *Innovative Educator Grants - Whether it was a grant related to the Arts, Physical Education, the schools and the central office, our grant writers did an outstanding job articulating how their students would learn and grow. In 2024-25 these funds were directed to Hurricane Helene Relief. *BCSF also works with the six traditional high school on the Paddison Grants. These funds are available each year due to a large donation. Schools receive between $18,000 and $25,000 each year to enhance learning in their schools. 3. Scholarship Support Student Scholarships - BCS is proud to provide a robuse scholarship program. With over 63 named scholarships which are funded through private donors, our BCSF Scholarship program will provide over $500,000 this year to BCS Graduates. BCSF implemented an online platform where we had over 363 applicants. We appreciate our 79 readers who were charged with reading 854 individual scholarship specific applications. This was a tall task, but they did it! For this fiscal school year, we are proud to offer 10-$1,000 scholarships for students who had family working in BCS. We thank all our scholarship donors, school counselors,…
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,551,164.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $5.5M to $4.7M (−14%).
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: 2022 1% · 2023 5% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Christy Cheek
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 9 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $278k → $316k.
9 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 27 of 29 funders by total. 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
Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
30% 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 Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 37% · 2019 58% · 2020 60% · 2021 44% · 2022 39% · 2023 50% — diversifying over time.
“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
31% of Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc draws 77% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $468k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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.
Organizations like Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc
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
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
58%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Buncombe County Public Schools · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc: 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 Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc?
- Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,560,600 to it, the largest being TA THE PADDISON FAMILY FDN NO II ($1,083,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $2,560,600 in grants to Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc?
- TA THE PADDISON FAMILY FDN NO II is the largest funder on record, with $1,083,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Buncombe County Schools Foundation Inc 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 29 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