North Carolina · Nonprofit
MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND
MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND (North Carolina) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,157,473 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,765,978). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.1M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $4.2M
- Net assets
- $61M
What Morehead-Cain Scholarship Fund does
Mission
Morehead-Cain Scholarship Fund provides support for the morehead-cain program at the university of north carolina at chapel hill.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The fund disbursed $7,500,000 to the morehead-cain foundation to support the nation's oldest and most prestigious undergraduate merit scholarship program at the university of north carolina at chapel hill. This amount represented 50.02% of the foundation's program expenses in fiscal year 2025 and helped provide full-cost scholarships, summer enrichment experiences and other developmental opportunities to 398 of the country's most promising future leaders. The financial support provided by the Morehead-Cain Scholarship Fund is a vital and growing portion of the funds needed to sustain and enhance the morehead-cain program.
$7,758,362 spentof which $7,500,000 as grants100% of program spendingThe Morehead-Cain Scholarship Fund facilitates a competitive grant opportunity among secondary school educators in north carolina who were identified and celebrated by current morehead-cain scholars and semifinalists for their positive impact on them and other future leaders.begun in 2024, the impact educator discovery fund is intended to inspire self-discovery, exploration, skill development, and professional growth. Its aim is to celebrate extraordinary teachers and school leaders to enable their continued investment in the young people of our state. Ideally grant-enabled experiences are both restorative and productive, and recipients return to teaching refreshed and prepared to share a new perspective or insight with their students and school community. In 2025, 15 grants averaging under $2,400 each were awarded to educators serving students in north carolina following an application and careful selection process. Each recipient committed to return to the education profession and was required to provide a report on their experience, what learning it enabled, and how it might impact their work as an educator going forward.
$34,562 spentof which $34,562 as grants0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,792,924.
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 2020 to 2021, from $39M to $55M (+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.
54% of MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Philip E Berney
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $250k → $581k.
19 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% 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 MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND’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
MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
93% 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 MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 43% · 2019 51% · 2020 64% · 2021 44% · 2022 41% · 2023 40% — 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
36% of MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
93% of MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND'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 $310k that is directly attributable, 80% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND is better cushioned than half of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND
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
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 8 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- The Morehead-Cain Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND: 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 MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND?
- MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND (North Carolina) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,157,473 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,765,978). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $4,157,473 in grants to MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,765,978 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND 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 30 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