North Carolina · Nonprofit
NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST
NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST (North Carolina) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,614,257 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($3,946,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.3M
- Funders on record
- 57
- Grants received
- $9.6M
- Net assets
- $59M
What North Carolina Coastal Land Trust does
Mission
The organization's primary exempt purpose is acquiring and protecting lands of regional and national conservation and/or historic significance in the coastal plain of north carolina.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Land acquisition and community conservation: North Carolina Coastal Land Trust (ncclt) completed four (4) new conservation acquisitions during the fiscal year, protecting 1,272 acres. Additionally, ncclt placed permanent conservation restrictions on four (4) properties (through state or federal conservation or restrictive easements and/or notices of grant restrictions). Ncclt completed three (3) transfers of property for public use, namely, the transfer of one (1) property to the state to be added to state game lands and managed by the north carolina wildlife resources commission (ncwrc) and the transfer of two (2) properties to municipalities - one for use as a public nature and history park and the other to facilitate public access to the ocean-to-sound south end of topsail island purchased by ncclt. Ncclt also transferred one (1) property to the north carolina coastal federation, a nonprofit organization and leader in wetlands restoration, for long-term hydrological and forested wetlands restoration. Highlights of this year's completed transactions and other activities follow: - in october 2024, ncclt completed the bargain sale purchase of a conservation easement on 268 acres…
$3,823,285 spentof which $3,041,994 as grants88% of program spendingLand stewardship and management: - ncclt continued its ongoing work to eradicate invasive species at its 247-acre island creek nature preserve, in jones county, with brush axe removal and herbicide treatment in june 2025. - ncclt contracted with wright-mckinley forestry to conduct a prescribed burn on 33 acres at magnolia preserve in craven county in may 2025. - ncclt contracted with wright-mckinley to conduct site prep discing of 30 acres at its trent river oak grove preserve, in jones county, in june 2025. - ncclt contracted with andrew reynolds to hydro axe 30 acres of understory at mill creek preserve in march 2025. - ncclt contracted with wright-mckinley forestry for timber stand improvement work, specifically the removal of loblolly pine, on 87 acres at ncclt's bern preserve, in craven county, in january 2025. - all ncclt properties held in fee title and under conservation easement were monitored and posted by staff biologists, interns, or contractors.
$437,505 spent$24,158 earned by the program10% of program spendingConservation education: ncclt hosted a series of educational outreach and special events throughout the state's coast, or entered into agreements to expand environmental education opportunities including the following: - ncclt continues to partner with camp albemarle, which has provided children's summer camps and programs for more than 70 years, to expand children's access to nature on ncclt's 367+ acre gales creek preserve near the town of newport, in carteret county, which features open, park-like stands of longleaf pine and mature mixed pine hardwood forest along more than a mile of frontage on gales creek, a tidal creek that flows to bogue sound. Ncclt allows camp albemarle to use gales creek preserve for its camper and nature study programs. This mutually beneficial partnership provides greater recreation and environmental education opportunities for children; - ncclt partnered to host the "fire in the pines" festival, an educational festival dedicated to raising positive awareness about controlled burning in the longleaf pine ecosystem, and hosted "fire in the pines" school events in new hanover county, n.c.; - ncclt hosted a "trick or treat on the trails" event with 120…
$81,070 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,341,860.
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 2017 to 2018, from $31M to $46M (+48%).
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 42% · 2018 27% · 2019 53% · 2020 51% · 2021 32% · 2022 50% · 2023 54% · 2024 61% · 2025 47%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $276k → $970k.
20 of 57 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% 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 COASTAL LAND TRUST’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 57 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
NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
92% 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 NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 54% · 2019 50% · 2020 59% · 2021 62% · 2022 32% · 2023 74% — 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
45% of NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
63% of NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST'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 $3.6M that is directly attributable, 87% of it comes from funders outside North Carolina, across 13 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 COASTAL LAND TRUST runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $15.2M on record.
- Department of the Interior$15.2M
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 NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST: 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 COASTAL LAND TRUST?
- NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST (North Carolina) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,614,257 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($3,946,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST have?
- IRS filings report 57 organizations giving $9,614,257 in grants to NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $3,946,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST 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 57 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing