North Carolina · Nonprofit
DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,258,063 to it, the largest being DURHAM'S PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN ($1,298,424). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 47
- Grants received
- $5.3M
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Durham Public Schools Foundation does
Mission
To catalyze big ideas and foster community engagement that will accelerate the transformation of durham public schools to ensure success and equity for every student.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
This year we entered into an agreement to assume management of the crayons 2 calculators program.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Community driven solutions:grantmakingschool-level grants: the dpsf grants program aimed to improve education quality, knowledge sharing, collaboration, sustainable impact, and the equitable distribution of power and resources for dps students, educators, staff, and families. Through the cohort model, the annual grants cycle comprised two programs: innovation grants and the whole schools fund. Available in the fall, innovation grants were open only to dps students, teachers, staff, administrators, parents, and/or caregivers for projects that directly centered and impacted their school or school communities. Innovation grants funded projects focused on increasing equity, accessibility, resources, and opportunities within dps schools. This year, we funded $85,900 across 18 schools, supporting 14 projects. In addition, we supported over $21,074 in projects across dps through general requests to support school communities.dpsf community support fund: this year, we distributed over $13,500 directly to school families in need of emergency and crisis support. This included support to prevent eviction, provide emergency utility assistance, and cover essential needs. Additionally, over…
$1,537,559 spentof which $613,686 as grants69% of program spendingFamily and community engagement & advocacy: the dps foundation school, family, and community partnership program (family engagement) recognized that parents, educators, and community partners share responsibility for students' learning and acknowledge family engagement as a multidimensional concept. Homework with amigos, sembrando races, and the dps foundation parent collective were programs that embodied these concepts in support of this model.we advanced this work by providing safe spaces for dps parents to come together, organize, and support the whole family.this year, family engagement projects included, but were not limited to, the following:homework with amigos: homework with amigos supported academic achievement in partnership with the durham county library, duke service learning program, and leap tutoring. This year, the program served a total of 42 students from 25 families.alianza por la educacion ("the collective"): alianza por la educacion served as an advocacy space where latinx parent leaders worked to support the transformation of schools. In partnership with public school strong, advocacy efforts this year focused on changing critical school policies to ensure the…
$288,963 spentof which $7,652 as grants$38,696 earned by the program13% of program spendingCareer & life readinesspostsecondary success: the program launched a community-based fafsa support initiative in partnership with a plus test prep, which served as the training facilitator. Together, we designed and delivered training that equipped community members with the knowledge and skills to guide families through the fafsa application process. This year, we assisted 66 families with fafsa applications and grew a cohort of navigators, totaling 47 trained navigators by the end of the year. This expanding volunteer cohort increased durham's capacity to ensure more students had access to the financial aid needed to pursue postsecondary education.in addition, we convened the academic success alliance, a coalition of community-based support organizations committed to the postsecondary success of durham public schools students. Coalition members collaborated to design a postsecondary success resource hub to make information and supports more accessible to dps students as they planned for and pursued education after high school.we also convened a summer professional development opportunity for school counselors and educators focused on learning about local organizations and…
$400,451 spentof which $108,990 as grants18% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,226,973.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2020 to 2021, from $1.1M to $2.8M (+157%).
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: 2023 40% · 2024 10% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 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
Erika Wilkins
Executive director (thru may 2025)
Board chair
Brittany Gregory
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 15 funders, grant income rose $10k → $715k.
12 of 47 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $966k from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Triangle Community Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION’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
DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
75% 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 DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 64% · 2020 19% · 2021 56% · 2022 53% · 2023 31% — 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
22% of DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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
65% of DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's grant income comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $55k on record.
- Corporation for National and Community Service$55k
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 DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: 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 DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
- DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,258,063 to it, the largest being DURHAM'S PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN ($1,298,424). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $5,258,063 in grants to DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
- DURHAM'S PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN is the largest funder on record, with $1,298,424 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION 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 2019–2025), 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