North Carolina · Nonprofit
FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC
FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $596,360 to it, the largest being NC IDEA ($421,360). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $596k
- Net assets
- $12M
What First Flight Venture Center Inc does
Mission
To propel early-stage science companies through the delivery of comprehensive resources, and to empower innovators to transform good ideas into great successes.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Science incubator services is a program that provides flexible leases to more than 30 north carolina technology companies. It connects these companies with potential investors and supports entrepreneurs in developing patent strategies to expand their intellectual property portfolios.
$5,429 spent$832,464 earned by the program2% of program spendingSubsidized grant writing services offer non-dilutive funding strategies to accepted candidates. These services support both phase I and phase ii sbir government grant applications, helping entrepreneurs secure critical early-stage funding.
$39,600 spent14% of program spendingThe advanced prototyping facility is a subscription-based community resource designed to support the development of advanced technology product prototypes. It offers design contract services and maintains a wide range of high-tech prototyping equipment to assist innovators in bringing their ideas to life.
$183,339 spent$86,042 earned by the program65% of program spendingWheelsup accelerator and all other.
$53,465 spent19% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $281,833.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $2.1M to $13M (+499%).
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: 2020 22% · 2021 41% · 2022 27% · 2023 32% · 2024 86% · 2025 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
37% of FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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
Mary Musacchia
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $40k → $43k.
3 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% 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 FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
29% 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 FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 59% · 2019 71% · 2020 83% · 2021 81% · 2022 100% · 2023 71% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC'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. $100k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,299 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,299 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.0M on record.
- Department of Commerce$1.3M
- Small Business Administration$1.0M
- Department of Health and Human Services$629k
- Department of Defense$20k
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 FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC
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
12% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC: 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 FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC?
- FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $596,360 to it, the largest being NC IDEA ($421,360). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $596,360 in grants to FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC?
- NC IDEA is the largest funder on record, with $421,360 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRST FLIGHT VENTURE CENTER INC 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 2020–2025), and the filings of 5 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing