North Carolina · Nonprofit
SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS
SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS (North Carolina) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $342,848 to it, the largest being Z SMITH REYNOLDS FOUNDATION INC ($234,600). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $216k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $343k
- Net assets
- $144k
What Sustainable Sandhills does
Mission
Works as a change agent to empower youth, combat climate change, document and demand stronger protection for our environment though four core programs: clean air, clean water, green schools and green business.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Earthfest
$130,428 spentof which $69,392 as grants$7,764 earned by the program80% of program spendingSustainable Sandhills also continued its role as manager of the regional air quality program for the fayetteville area metropolitan planning organization (fampo). One of the programs highlights in fy24 was the fifth annual sandhills drive electric car show. Over 25 electric vehicle owners, between 150-200 event attendees and several community agencies including local utility providers and fampo participated.
$27,991 spent$37,751 earned by the program17% of program spendingInternship program
$3,657 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $162,076.
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 2019 to 2020, from $11k to $110k (+863%).
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 23% · 2020 56% · 2021 33% · 2022 21% · 2023 22% · 2025 28%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
32% of SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Wayne Rider
Executive director
Board chair
Denise Renfro
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $100k → $55k.
3 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS’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
SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 68% 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
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 SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
100% of SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS'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. $108k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $343k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS: 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 SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS?
- SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS (North Carolina) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $342,848 to it, the largest being Z SMITH REYNOLDS FOUNDATION INC ($234,600). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $342,848 in grants to SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS?
- Z SMITH REYNOLDS FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $234,600 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS 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 Sustainable Sandhills →
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 5 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