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North Carolina · Nonprofit

NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS

NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS (North Carolina) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $953,022 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($600,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$371k
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$953k
Net assets
$249k
6/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 93%
01What it does

What Northstar Church of the Arts does

Mission

Mission: to empower marginalized artists, cultivate cross-cultural dialogue for communityhealing, and provide a vital gathering space for creative expression and social connection.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Monthly sunday service reached over 800 attendees featuring expressive arts therapy and healing services. A small breakfast and coffee was also provided at services. 4 artist guest speakers participated and 3 community organizations partnered on facilitation

    $44,153 spent
    27% of program spending
  2. Not described on the e-filed return.

    $71,401 spent
    44% of program spending
  3. Not described on the e-filed return.

    $45,168 spent
    28% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $160,722.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($140k) Expenses 100 ($121k) Net assets 100 ($12k)2020 Revenue 215 ($302k) Expenses 181 ($219k) Net assets 757 ($95k)2021 Revenue 51 ($72k) Expenses 72 ($88k) Net assets 389 ($49k)2022 Revenue 99 ($139k) Expenses 93 ($112k) Net assets 618 ($77k)2023 Revenue 496 ($697k) Expenses 277 ($335k) Net assets 3503 ($438k)2024 Revenue 120 ($169k) Expenses 266 ($321k) Net assets 2284 ($286k)2025 Revenue 264 ($371k) Expenses 346 ($418k) Net assets 1994 ($249k)
2019202020212022202320242025
Revenue (264)Expenses (346)Net assets (1994)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $121k to $484k (+301%).

$28k
$135k
$84k
$121k
$484k
$422k
$291k
2019202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 3% · 2023 88% · 2024 20% · 2025 51%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

98% of NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (100% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 15,288 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$20k
’19
$82k
’20
−$16k
’21
$27k
’22
$361k
’23
−$152k
’24
−$47k
’25
6.7
months of
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

Lauren Garcia

Executive director

Board chair

Nnenna Freelon

Board chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

2020202320242025
Listed4668
Joined··+1+2
No longer listed··10
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $16k → $645k.

5 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS’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

NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

32% 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 NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS.

63%
largest funder
79%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 63% · 2020 36% · 2021 47% · 2022 64% · 2023 93% — 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

33% of NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS draws 87% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 3 states in all.

NY
NC
GA

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
North Carolina out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $93k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS is better cushioned than half of the 7,334 religion nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−13% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve6.7mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)18% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,334 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

57% of spending goes to programs.

Program 57%Management 28%Fundraising 15%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NC

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS: 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.

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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 NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS?
NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS (North Carolina) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $953,022 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($600,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $953,022 in grants to NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS?
THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $600,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like NORTHSTAR CHURCH OF THE ARTS 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.

Play a game about who funds Northstar Church of the Arts →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 12 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