North Carolina · Nonprofit
John C Campbell Folk School Inc
John C Campbell Folk School Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,955,473 to it, the largest being MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION ($2,853,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $7.6M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $4.0M
- Net assets
- $17M
What John C Campbell Folk School Inc does
Mission
The Folk School transforms lives, bringing people together in a nurturing environment for experiences in learning and community life that spark self-discovery.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
In 2024 The Folk School provided 772 courses to 5,557 students.
$5,427,056 spentof which $106,715 as grants$5,453,890 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,427,056.
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. 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 2021 to 2022, from $20M to $18M (−13%).
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 2% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 21% · 2021 2% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
18% of John C Campbell Folk School Inc’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Chief executive
Bethany Chaney
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $44k → $771k.
12 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 John C Campbell Folk School Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
John C Campbell Folk School Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 84% · 2019 70% · 2020 90% · 2021 75% · 2022 86% · 2023 76% — growing more concentrated.
“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
40% of John C Campbell Folk School Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
John C Campbell Folk School Inc draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $623k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
John C Campbell Folk School Inc's funding base is broadening — from 8 funders to 14 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding John C Campbell Folk School Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $49k on record.
- Appalachian Regional Commission$49k
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 John C Campbell Folk School 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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for John C Campbell Folk School 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 John C Campbell Folk School Inc?
- John C Campbell Folk School Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,955,473 to it, the largest being MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION ($2,853,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does John C Campbell Folk School Inc have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $3,955,473 in grants to John C Campbell Folk School Inc, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of John C Campbell Folk School Inc?
- MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,853,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like John C Campbell Folk School 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 John C Campbell Folk School →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 36 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