North Carolina · Nonprofit
THE BULB GALLERY
THE BULB GALLERY (North Carolina) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,021,275 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC ($725,475). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $1.2M
What The Bulb Gallery does
Mission
The bulb is a direct-service nonprofit advancing equitable, barrier-free access to fresh, nutritious produce through place-based mobile farmers markets in underserved communities. Our markets center around choice and are shaped by collaboration with local farms, grocery partners, and neighborhood leaders-supporting a healthier, more sustainable, and resilient charlotte.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
In 2025, the bulb hosted 392 mobile markets, distributing 430,341 pounds of fresh produce to more than 25,000 guests and reaching an estimated 84,858 household members across mecklenburg county. Guest feedback reflected strong impact, with 93.62% reporting improved health, 96.98% increasing fruit and vegetable intake, and 88.59% reporting grocery savings that helped free up household funds for other essential needs. The organization also expanded operational capacity by adding a third cargo van and more than doubling cold storage with a second walk-in cooler, improving transportation and food preservation efforts. Sustainability initiatives diverted 68,730 pounds of organic waste through composting partnerships and repurposed over 20,000 clamshell and egg carton containers through a single-use plastics reuse program.
$1,683,260 spent$118,816 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,683,260.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2024 to 2025, from $625k to $1.2M (+91%).
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: 2022 26% · 2023 55% · 2024 48% · 2025 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of THE BULB GALLERY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $7k → $191k.
3 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 THE BULB GALLERY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 12 of 13 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
THE BULB GALLERY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 THE BULB GALLERY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 94% · 2022 52% · 2023 69% — 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
57% of THE BULB GALLERY's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 46% 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
91% of THE BULB GALLERY'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. $64k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
THE BULB GALLERY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 605 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 605 food & nutrition nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE BULB GALLERY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $19k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$19k
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 THE BULB GALLERY
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
91% 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 THE BULB GALLERY: 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 THE BULB GALLERY?
- THE BULB GALLERY (North Carolina) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,021,275 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC ($725,475). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE BULB GALLERY have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $1,021,275 in grants to THE BULB GALLERY, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE BULB GALLERY?
- UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC is the largest funder on record, with $725,475 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE BULB GALLERY 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 Bulb Gallery →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 13 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