North Carolina · Nonprofit
FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL
FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL (North Carolina) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $323,489 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC ($225,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $323k
- Net assets
- $5.5M
What Fern Leaf Community Charter School does
Mission
To foster a rich learning environment that embodies the essence of community, understanding, and the human spirit. Grounded in humble respect for our surroundings, the individual, and the world as a whole, we seek to engage the unique passions and aptitudes of our school community so that in addition to achieving academic fluency, students become thoughtful, compassionate, and engaged.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Fernleaf's programs balance traditional academics with social-emotional learning, arts, service learning/stewardship, environmental/outdoor education, cultural awareness, and comprehensive health and wellness. The success of fernleaf's engaging, student-centered educational program in addition to our commitment to a positive and healthy school culture is evidenced by our minimal staff and student turnover and extensive wait-lists. Fernleaf offers a variety of daily enrichment classes and after school activities to support students in the exploration of their unique passions and aptitudes. Daily enrichment classes include spanish, wilderness survival skills, community leadership, physical fitness, instrumental music, theater, general music, visual arts, outdoor/environmental education, and physical education. After school offerings include a variety of sports, physical fitness, foreign language, stem, instrumental music, and theater classes. Off-campus, fieldwork trips provide opportunities to build community while also giving students access to rich and meaningful experiences that support their education and enrich their lives. Students participate in a minimum of 8 fieldwork…
$8,044,249 spent$396,781 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,044,249.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2022 to 2023, from $8.3M to $18M (+117%).
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: 2018 93% · 2019 93% · 2020 96% · 2021 98% · 2022 93% · 2023 91% · 2024 90% · 2025 70%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Sam Rule
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $38k → $500.
5 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 86% 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 FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 7 of 9 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
FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 70% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
86% of FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL'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 $46k that is directly attributable, 93% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $277k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL
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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL: 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 FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL?
- FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL (North Carolina) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $323,489 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC ($225,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $323,489 in grants to FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC is the largest funder on record, with $225,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FERN LEAF COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL 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 Fern Leaf Community Charter School →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 9 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