North Carolina · Nonprofit
THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES
THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES (North Carolina) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,589,648 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($516,935). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.3M
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $0
What The Center for Documentary Studies does
Mission
Support, promote, and develop the discipline of documentary studies in connection with the academic programs at duke university.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2023 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
The Center for Documentary Studies board of directors approved by sufficient vote the plan of merger between The Center for Documentary Studies and duke university. The plan indicated that duke university shall be the surviving entity, and that The Center for Documentary Studies shall merge into duke university effective june 30, 2024. Going forward, all activities will be conducted within duke university.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Undergraduate studies - residing at the nexus of the documentary arts and active engagement in broader society, the mission of the undergraduate program in documentary studies is to allow students to connect their educational experiences and creative expression to broader community life through documentary fieldwork projects, while they also examine theoretical and practical issues related to this work through readings, screenings, and classroom discussion.
$843,135 spentof which $9,809 as grants31% of program spendingThe full frame documentary film festival, a program of The Center for Documentary Studies, is one of the world's premiere showcases for nonfiction cinema. Renowned for its film curation, support for artists, and vibrant atmosphere, full frame draws an international mix of 10,000-plus attendees to durham every spring. Over four days, the academy award qualifying festival screens close to one hundred films, hosts panel and parties, and fosters community among filmmakers, industry professionals, and audience members.
$1,161,093 spentof which $45,000 as grants$225,445 earned by the program43% of program spendingThe Center for Documentary Studies cofounded duke university's first master of fine arts program, the master of fine arts in experimental and documentary arts (mfa/eda) program, which brings together the documentary approach and experimental production in analog, digital, and computational media. This unique two-year program fosters collaborations across disciplines and media as it trains sophisticated creative art practitioners.The Center for Documentary Studies offers a wide range (up to a hundred annually) of onsite and online courses, summer intensive institutes and short workshops for adults who are interested in doing their own documentary work, whether starting a first project of refining an existing one. Most classes are offered during the evening or on weekends to accommodate the schedules of working adults. These hands-on courses, available via open admission and with reasonable fees, involve instruction in photography, video, audio, writing, and other creative media. Special topics integral to conducting and presenting documentary work are convered, such as documentary traditions, techniques, fieldwork, theory, and ethics.
$706,350 spent$9,810 earned by the program26% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,710,578.
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 2023 to 2024, from $38M to $0 (−100%).
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 7% · 2019 7%. 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 7 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
Edward J Balleisen
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 7 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $177k → $24k.
9 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% 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 CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES’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
THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 33% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
74% 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 CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 45% · 2019 39% · 2020 37% · 2021 23% · 2022 30% · 2023 64% — 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
42% of THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
64% of THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES'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 $579k that is directly attributable, 66% of it comes from funders outside North Carolina, across 9 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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.
Government funding THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $871k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$611k
- National Endowment for the Arts$235k
- Department of State$25k
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 CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES
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
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 80 related entities
- Associated Health Svcs Inc · exempt
- Du Special Ventures Fund Inc · exempt
- Duke Alumni Association Inc · exempt
- Duke Corporate Education · exempt
- Duke Gift Properties Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES: 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 CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES?
- THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES (North Carolina) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,589,648 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($516,935). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $1,589,648 in grants to THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $516,935 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 23 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