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North Carolina · Nonprofit

Cape Fear River Watch

Cape Fear River Watch (North Carolina) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,898,919 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($725,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.

$471k
Revenue FY2024
31
Funders on record
$1.9M
Grants received
$796k
Net assets
16/31 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 55%

Against its field

Cape Fear River Watch is better cushioned than half of the 4,260 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−9% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve16.7mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,260 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Three funders worth looking at

Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.

See all 12 prospects and why each one surfaced →
01The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($496k) Expenses 100 ($479k) Net assets 100 ($239k)2018 Revenue 139 ($691k) Expenses 136 ($652k) Net assets 116 ($278k)2019 Revenue 112 ($554k) Expenses 106 ($508k) Net assets 135 ($323k)2020 Revenue 112 ($553k) Expenses 103 ($492k) Net assets 161 ($384k)2021 Revenue 376 ($1.9M) Expenses 356 ($1.7M) Net assets 227 ($544k)2022 Revenue 158 ($783k) Expenses 159 ($761k) Net assets 235 ($562k)2023 Revenue 167 ($829k) Expenses 117 ($560k) Net assets 350 ($836k)2024 Revenue 95 ($471k) Expenses 107 ($512k) Net assets 333 ($796k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (95)Expenses (107)Net assets (333)Peer revenue range

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

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).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,616 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$17k
17
$38k
18
$45k
19
$61k
20
$159k
21
$22k
22
$270k
23
$41k
24
17
months of
reserve
02Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $37k → $189k.

7 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF)42% 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 31 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 38% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

73% 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.

38%
largest funder
71%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 43% · 2019 49% · 2020 38% · 2021 40% · 2022 41% · 2023 21%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

41% of Cape Fear River Watch's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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 64% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 9 states in all.

NY
MA
NV
CA
VA
TN
NC
DC
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
North Carolina out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $803k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 statesis 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.

03Its place in the field

Funders to approach

Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 31 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.

From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.

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.

Federal$154k
grants $154kcontracts $0
17
18
19
Top agencies
  • 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

Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In North Carolina

Nationally

04Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

83% of spending goes to programs.

Program 83%Management 13%Fundraising 5%

Governance

16
board members
100%
independent
Conflict-of-interest policyWhistleblower policyDocument retentionBoard reviewed the 990Audited financials

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

NC

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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. 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 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,898,919 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($725,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Cape Fear River Watch have?
IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $1,898,919 in grants to Cape Fear River Watch, 16 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.

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 31funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing