North Carolina · Nonprofit
INSPIRE THE FIRE INC
INSPIRE THE FIRE INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $60,672 to it, the largest being ARTS & SCIENCE COUNCIL CHARLOTTE/MECKLENBURG INC ($37,500). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2023
- $7k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $61k
- Net assets
- $63k
What Inspire the Fire Inc does
Mission
Inspire the Fire Inc. Is a non-profit organization that provides students, ages 10 - 19, coaching in artistic development, life skills and community engagement. Each participant is required to choose an artistic major of concentration. Current majors include: dance, voice, theater, spoken word, rap and visual arts. Participants are guided in their major and supported by our entire team to learn and grow as individuals. The organization meets and practices bi-weekly and perform in charlotte, nc, and surrounding areas year round. Each year, inspire the fire helps nearly 400 youth prepare for their future. Mission: help young people succeed on stage and in life.
As stated on its FY2023 Form 990.
Programs
Fire high is the organization's year-round program offering artistic training to youth ages 10-19 in the areas of dance, voice, and drama under the coaching of industry professionals. Students meet minimum of two times each month, for four hour days. Fire high also includes life skills coaching from itf hope coaches and includes a host of social activities and community outreach events.
At x-perience the students receive workshops in singing, dance, theatre, visual arts, and rap/spoken word. The weeklong program includes multiple events for participating youth including: special guest appearances, motivational speakers, team building, and concludes with a final performance spotlighting youth talent at cpcc's halton theater
$37,678 spent85% of program spendingOther programs and events sponsored by the organization.
$6,667 spent15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $44,345.
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 $104k to $63k (−39%).
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: 2019 7% · 2020 39% · 2021 14% · 2022 55%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of INSPIRE THE FIRE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Dennis Reed Jr
CEO
As listed on its FY2023 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $500 → $59.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 INSPIRE THE FIRE 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
INSPIRE THE FIRE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
97% 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 INSPIRE THE FIRE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 59% · 2019 61% · 2020 100% · 2021 98% · 2022 99% · 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
72% of INSPIRE THE FIRE 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. $7k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
INSPIRE THE FIRE INC is better cushioned than half of the 14,279 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14,279 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2023
Organizations like INSPIRE THE FIRE 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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 INSPIRE THE FIRE 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 INSPIRE THE FIRE INC?
- INSPIRE THE FIRE INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $60,672 to it, the largest being ARTS & SCIENCE COUNCIL CHARLOTTE/MECKLENBURG INC ($37,500). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INSPIRE THE FIRE INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $60,672 in grants to INSPIRE THE FIRE INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INSPIRE THE FIRE INC?
- ARTS & SCIENCE COUNCIL CHARLOTTE/MECKLENBURG INC is the largest funder on record, with $37,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INSPIRE THE FIRE 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.
Play a game about who funds Inspire the Fire →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2023 (financials across 2018–2023), 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing