North Carolina · Nonprofit
IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST
IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST (North Carolina) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,271,850 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($20,040,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $16M
- Funders on record
- 68
- Grants received
- $45M
- Net assets
- $855k
What Imagine North Carolina First does
Mission
Imagine North Carolina First initiates, cultivates, and funds strategic efforts to promote economic opportunity, quality of life, government accountability, and civic participation among under served communities in North Carolina. Its primary mission is to foster an economy and democracy that works for all North Carolina Citizens.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Civic Engagement Programs - Imagine North Carolina funded various non-profit entities to inform, educate and protect citizens concerning voting rights, access to voting and other key voter issues impacting their lives.
$14,600,000 spentof which $14,250,000 as grants85% of program spendingNon-Profit Entity Support: Imagine North Carolina First funded various non-profit entities which conduct public policy and opinion research, sponsor educational activities, and host and participate in forums and presentations for the purpose of disseminating information to promote the general public's understanding of ideas to solve North Carolina's public policy issues.
$2,549,500 spentof which $2,527,000 as grants15% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $17,149,500.
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 2022 to 2023, from $265k to $2.5M (+827%).
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.
100% of IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 5 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
Russ Swindell
Executive Director
Board chair
Nina Szlosberg Landis
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $4.0M → $8.5M.
28 of 68 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 88% 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 IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 68 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
IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
90% 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 IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 71% · 2019 43% · 2020 26% · 2021 60% · 2022 38% · 2023 35% — 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
21% of IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
88% of IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST'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 $5.5M that is directly attributable, 79% of it comes from funders outside North Carolina, across 13 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $40M 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
IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST has grown faster than three-quarters of the 43 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 social science nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST
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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST: 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 IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST?
- IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST (North Carolina) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,271,850 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($20,040,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST have?
- IRS filings report 68 organizations giving $45,271,850 in grants to IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST, 28 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $20,040,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST 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 FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 68 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