North Carolina · Nonprofit
North Carolina Arts Foundation
North Carolina Arts Foundation (North Carolina) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,269,355 to it, the largest being WINDGATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($2,353,461). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $3.3M
- Net assets
- $3.5M
What North Carolina Arts Foundation does
Mission
The Foundation's mission is to bring private and public sector partners into collaborations that extend the benefits of the arts to residents across the state. As North Carolina emerges from the pandemic, a top priority is to find resources for arts initiatives that benefit youth.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Assistance to Western North Carolina: Relief related to the devastation that occurred in Western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene in the fall of 2024. The Foundation received and distributed funding to affected artists and non-profit arts organizations in twenty-six western counties through the NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund
$915,249 spentof which $902,500 as grants54% of program spendingA+ Schools of North Carolina- Received grants for A+ Schools of North Carolina, a program of the North Carolina Arts Council, and administered contracted services to support teacher training, recruitment of teaching artists, and customized professional development for participating schools in the A+ network.
$628,237 spentof which $500,000 as grants37% of program spendingKeys for Kids funds a statewide network of arts partners that assist young people in North Carolina who want to learn to play piano by providing music instruction and instruments at little or no cost to the student.
$116,683 spent7% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$35,513 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,695,682.
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 2023 to 2024, from $718k to $2.3M (+226%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2022 1% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of North Carolina Arts Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (72% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Wayne Martin
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $3k → $1.7M.
11 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 North Carolina Arts Foundation’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
North Carolina Arts Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 86%; 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 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 86% · 2021 73% · 2022 70% · 2023 97% — 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
50% of North Carolina Arts Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 25% 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
North Carolina Arts Foundation draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $274k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
North Carolina Arts Foundation runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 369 unclassified nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 369 unclassified nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like North Carolina Arts Foundation
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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
38%
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 North Carolina Arts Foundation: 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 North Carolina Arts Foundation?
- North Carolina Arts Foundation (North Carolina) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,269,355 to it, the largest being WINDGATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($2,353,461). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does North Carolina Arts Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $3,269,355 in grants to North Carolina Arts Foundation, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of North Carolina Arts Foundation?
- WINDGATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,353,461 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like North Carolina Arts Foundation 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 28 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