North Carolina · Nonprofit
THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC
THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,455,818 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($1,523,841). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $18M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $5.5M
- Net assets
- $101M
What The Foundation of Firsthealth Inc does
Mission
Provide philanthropic support to firsthealth of the carolinas, inc., a healthcare system exempt from income tax under irs section 501c(3) and 170(b)(1)(a)(iii).
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The foundation of firsthealth, inc. ("foundation") provides philanthropic support to the operating entities and business lines of firsthealth of the carolinas, inc. ("firsthealth"), a not-for-profit healthcare system. This fy 2025 philanthropic support included $10,790,692 in grants to firsthealth for operational support of existing patient care facilities and services, physician and clinical staff education, and other approved operational needs. Significant fy 2025 disbursement from the foundation to firsthealth included, but were not limited to: * $7,500,000 as final payment toward the foundation's financial pledge for the new comprehensive cancer center. * $643,330 paid by the firsthealth hospice foundation to cover ongoing annual operating losses of the firsthealth hospice house (inpatient facility); provide for the maintenance of the healing gardens at the hospice house, and to offset a portion of the ongoing patient care costs of firsthealth's outpatient palliative care program not paid through medicare and most commercial insurance companies. * $533,388 paid to cover the operating deficit of the clara mclean hospitality house ("clara's house") located on the firsthealth…
$11,777,136 spentof which $10,790,692 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $11,777,136.
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 2020 to 2021, from $83M to $97M (+17%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Mickey Foster
President & CEO
Board chair
Karen Fitch
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $67k → $1.2M.
10 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 94% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.0M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Firsthealth of the Carolinas Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC’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 FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
97% 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 FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 74% · 2018 69% · 2019 40% · 2020 52% · 2021 64% · 2022 30% · 2023 42% — 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
46% of THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
94% of THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC'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 $316k that is directly attributable, 73% of it comes from funders outside North Carolina, across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.
Organizations like THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC
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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Firsthealth of the Carolinas Inc · exempt
- Firsthealth Professional Services Inc · corp_trust
- Firstcarolinacare Insurance Company Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC: 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 FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC?
- THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,455,818 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($1,523,841). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $5,455,818 in grants to THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $1,523,841 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FOUNDATION OF FIRSTHEALTH INC 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 28 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