North Carolina · Nonprofit
Cape Fear River Watch
Cape Fear River Watch (North Carolina) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,078,719 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($725,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $471k
- Funders on record
- 32
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $796k
What Cape Fear River Watch does
Mission
To protect and improve the water quality of the Cape Fear River Basin for all people through education, advocacy, and action.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Work to maintain the quality of water on the Cape Fear River.
$424,231 spent$78,848 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $424,231.
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 2018 to 2019, from $296k to $1.2M (+292%).
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: 2017 68% · 2018 72% · 2019 69% · 2020 78% · 2021 91% · 2022 49% · 2023 13% · 2024 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
62% of Cape Fear River Watch’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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
Dana Sargent
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $37k → $189k.
7 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% 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 Cape Fear River Watch’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 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
Cape Fear River Watch leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
67% 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 Cape Fear River Watch.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 43% · 2019 49% · 2020 38% · 2021 40% · 2022 41% · 2023 36% — 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
44% of Cape Fear River Watch's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
Cape Fear River Watch draws 69% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $803k 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
Cape Fear River Watch is better cushioned than half of the 4,264 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding Cape Fear River Watch receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $154k on record.
- Department of the Interior$95k
- Department of Commerce$58k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Cape Fear River Watch
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Cape Fear River Watch: 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 Cape Fear River Watch?
- Cape Fear River Watch (North Carolina) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,078,719 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($725,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Cape Fear River Watch have?
- IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $2,078,719 in grants to Cape Fear River Watch, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Cape Fear River Watch?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $725,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Cape Fear River Watch 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.
Play a game about who funds Cape Fear River Watch →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 32 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