North Carolina · Nonprofit
NCINNOVATION INC
NCINNOVATION INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,099,375 to it, the largest being Research Triangle Institute ($2,900,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $272M
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $7.1M
- Net assets
- $523M
What Ncinnovation Inc does
Mission
The organization is a public-private partnership to accelerate and scale commercialized innovation from nc's universities, create jobs, and improve economic opportunities in all 100 counties of north carolina.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
As authorized under n.c. General statute sec. 143-728, ncinnovation advanced statewide program development in fy2025 by awarding research commercialization support grants through a spring cycle in may 2025 and a fall cycle in december 2025. The organization also continued supporting all unc system universities by supporting and building the research capacity of each institution through nci's statewide regional hub networks program.
$14,669,261 spentof which $9,895,927 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $14,669,261.
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 2024 to 2025, from $273M to $534M (+96%).
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: 2024 96% · 2025 92%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of NCINNOVATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
J Bennet Waters
President & CEO
Board chair
Kelly King
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023, and between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $2.4M → $3.6M.
3 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.2M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest North Carolina Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money NCINNOVATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of NCINNOVATION 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
NCINNOVATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
79% 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 NCINNOVATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 83% · 2022 100% · 2023 81% — 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.
Where its funders are
77% of NCINNOVATION 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. $2.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
NCINNOVATION INC's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 4 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 679 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Organizations like NCINNOVATION 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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 NCINNOVATION 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 NCINNOVATION INC?
- NCINNOVATION INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,099,375 to it, the largest being Research Triangle Institute ($2,900,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NCINNOVATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $7,099,375 in grants to NCINNOVATION INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NCINNOVATION INC?
- Research Triangle Institute is the largest funder on record, with $2,900,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NCINNOVATION 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 2020–2025), and the filings of 8 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