North Carolina · Nonprofit
CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA
CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA (North Carolina) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,775,095 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($4,778,128). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.1M
- Funders on record
- 47
- Grants received
- $8.8M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Conservation Trust for North Carolina does
Mission
Ctnc conserves land in ways that inspire and enable people to build resilient, just communities. We carry out our mission in collaboration with other conservation organizations and the communities we serve. Our goal is to lessen the impacts of a changing climate and ensure conservation benefits everyone by being more inclusive and equitable. Ctnc's mission grows out of our expertise in land conservation, our skill in bringing new people to conservation, and our expanding network of partner organizations and communities. Brought together, these capabilities direct us now to conserve land in ways that inspire and enable people to build resilient, just communities. The complex challenges facing conservation in north carolina require changes to the ways we have traditionally worked. Caring for and protecting the natural heritage of our state remains a core function of ctnc. We will continue and build on our land protection efforts for wildlife, scenic vistas, and ecological health.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Building Resilience through Direct Land Conservation: The Organization builds climate resilience through high-impact direct land conservation, primarily focused along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Organization has conserved nearly 38,000 acres of land, resulting in cleaner water, natural stormwater maintenance, carbon storage, wildlife habitat preservation, and protected views that ensure the local economies thrive. Land protection priorities are informed by computer analysis of conservation values and climate science, including: water quality, wildlife habitat, parkway visibility, development threat, and resilience to climate change impacts. The Organization undertakes landowner outreach to acquire land and conservation easements on high-priority land, stewards protected lands, and monitors easements. It also partners with other regional land conservation organizations and provides loans and grants to increase their capacity and impacts.
$155,966 spentof which $89,530 as grants10% of program spendingBuilding Resilience through Community-Led Partnerships: The Organization uses climate science data to partner with local communities who request help in responding to the impacts of climate change. The Organization's equity-based approach began with building flood resilience in Princeville, NC, which experienced devastating flooding because of increasingly severe and frequent storms, including Hurricanes Floyd and Matthew. Through their partnership, Princeville became a model for how community-led conservation solutions can mitigate future risk. Installation of stormwater management solutions -- like rain gardens, community gardens, and additional tree coverage in flood prone areas -- resulted in 30,000 gallons of stormwater being redirected to ecologically beneficial uses. The Organization is sharing this model to increase climate resiliency statewide.
$656,585 spent$6,202 earned by the program40% of program spendingBuilding Resilience through Activating Local Capacity: With a dual focus on increasing local community capacity and enhancing the diversity of people connected to conservation, the Organization created a statewide Resilience Service Network. Using data-driven GIS maps to identify communities in greatest need, the Organization coordinates the placement of AmeriCorps service members to help implement community-led plans that address climate-related challenges. The Organization hires and trains AmeriCorps members and assists local supervisors so as to best leverage the skills of members in building local community resilience.
$823,368 spent50% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,635,919.
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 2021 to 2022, from $14M to $11M (−18%).
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 29% · 2018 42% · 2019 75% · 2020 30% · 2021 23% · 2022 14% · 2023 14% · 2024 33% · 2025 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Cynthia Satterfield
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 22 funders, grant income fell $1.7M → $860k.
11 of 47 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 68% 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 CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 47 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
CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
78% 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 CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 60% · 2019 73% · 2020 35% · 2021 55% · 2022 32% · 2023 45% — 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
55% of CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
68% of CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA'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 $2.8M that is directly attributable, 56% of it comes from funders outside North Carolina, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.0M 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.
Against its field
CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5k on record.
- Department of the Interior$5k
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 CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA
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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA: 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 CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA?
- CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA (North Carolina) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,775,095 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($4,778,128). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA have?
- IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $8,775,095 in grants to CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA, 28 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $4,778,128 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CONSERVATION TRUST FOR NORTH CAROLINA 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 47 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