North Carolina · Nonprofit
NORTH CAROLINA HUMANITIES COUNCIL
NORTH CAROLINA HUMANITIES COUNCIL (North Carolina) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $382,263 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($291,043). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $382k
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What North Carolina Humanities Council does
Mission
Nc humanities' mission is to connect north carolinians with cultural experiences that spur dialogue, deepen human connections, and inspire community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
North carolina humanities creates opportunities for individuals and communities to explore and reflect on the past, the present, and the future. Through our programs, initiatives, community grants, and more, we bring subject matter experts, storytellers, and community members together to learn about and discuss our collective stories, histories, and cultures.north carolina humanities reaches nearly all 100 counties in the state, increasing the cultural capacity of local institutions and positively impacting local economies. Founded in 1972, we are one of fifty-six state and jurisdictional humanities councils created by congress and supported by the national endowment for the humanities to make the humanities accessible across the nation. North carolina humanities is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization.
$634,158 spentof which $69,830 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $634,158.
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.
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 $1.6M to $2.4M (+55%).
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 86% · 2018 90% · 2019 90% · 2020 88% · 2021 88% · 2022 97% · 2023 96% · 2024 98% · 2025 83%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Sherry Paula Watkins
Executive director
Board chair
Dr Mike Wakeford
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $35k → $15k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL’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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 83% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 97% · 2023 98% — 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
NORTH CAROLINA HUMANITIES COUNCIL draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $90k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Government funding NORTH CAROLINA HUMANITIES COUNCIL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $13.2M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$13.2M
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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL
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
58% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL: 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL?
- NORTH CAROLINA HUMANITIES COUNCIL (North Carolina) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $382,263 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($291,043). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NORTH CAROLINA HUMANITIES COUNCIL have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $382,263 in grants to NORTH CAROLINA HUMANITIES COUNCIL, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORTH CAROLINA HUMANITIES COUNCIL?
- FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS is the largest funder on record, with $291,043 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORTH CAROLINA HUMANITIES COUNCIL 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 3 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