North Carolina · Nonprofit
Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc
Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $426,794 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC ($159,115). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $427k
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc does
Mission
The Friends is a conservation organization that inspires a passion to know more, care more, and do more for the wildlife of the Southern Appalachians. We advance the critical work of the Nature Center through fundraising, membership, outreach education, marketing and volunteer service.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Friends of the WNC Nature Center provided $760,309 to the WNC Nature Center in FY25. Donations were a combination of cash, services, in-kind, and volunteer hours. Through Friends support, the Nature Center finished and outfitted their new veterinary clinic; constructed the Gateway to the Southern Appalachians and Butterfly Pollinator Garden; and added necessary updates to the otter, black bear, and fox habitats.
$874,484 spentof which $412,899 as grants$64,297 earned by the program100% of program spendingBreaking records set during The Great Flood of 1916, Tropical Storm Helene devastated the region in September 2024, and the WNC Nature Center was closed to the public for more than five months, reopening in March 2025. While the closure impacted attendance, membership numbers, and Gift Shop revenues, the Friends of the WNC Nature Center leaned into their mision of connecting people to the wildlife of the Southern Appalchians by providing hands-on, affordable outreach education to schools, libraries, and communities across the region.
As a partner organization, the Friends organization operates the Gift Shop, Membership, Volunteer, and Outreach Education Programs and provides full marketing services to increase Nature Center admission numbers annually. 2025 was the WNC Nature Centers centennial year, and the 50th anniversary of the Friends. As part of the Gateway to the Southern Appalachians project, the side of the historic barn now tells the story of the WNC Nature Center with a colorful mural and a 75-foot history wall with panels sharing fun facts, important milestones, and photos and news articles from the past 100 years.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $874,484.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $1.6M to $807k (−49%).
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 13% · 2018 6% · 2019 32% · 2020 9% · 2021 13% · 2022 15% · 2023 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Kate Frost
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $11k → $28k.
7 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% 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 Friends of the WNC Nature 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
Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
62% 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 Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2019 100% · 2020 58% · 2021 59% · 2022 51% · 2023 39% — 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
33% of Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
59% of Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc'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 $174k that is directly attributable, 73% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $253k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.
Government funding Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $101k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$101k
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 Friends of the WNC Nature 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
62% 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 Friends of the WNC Nature 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 Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc?
- Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $426,794 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC ($159,115). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $426,794 in grants to Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Friends of the WNC Nature Center Inc?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC is the largest funder on record, with $159,115 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Friends of the WNC Nature 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 22 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