North Carolina · Nonprofit
The North Carolina Arboretum Society
The North Carolina Arboretum Society (North Carolina) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,568,084 to it, the largest being NORTH CAROLINA GLAXOSMITHKLINE FOUNDATION INC ($751,350). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.8M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $4.0M
What The North Carolina Arboretum Society does
Mission
The promotion of the north carolina arboretum and providing financial and volunteer assistance to the arboretum
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Educational programs - provided outreach and engagement through adult and youth education to promote environmental sustainability awareness and increased science literacy. Offered guided and self-guided programs for local teachers to utilize the forest, streams, and gardens within the arboretum to provide hands-on, grade appropriate, informative outdoor experiences. Maintained an exhibit detailing how citizens can assist scientists with research via the citizens science program.
$2,686,042 spentof which $7,577 as grants$282,160 earned by the program61% of program spendingWinter lights program - winter lights is a three-acre nightly walking tour of the nationally known gardens of the arboretum, including its quilt garden and bonsai exhibits. The program has music and entertainment as part of the experience and a model train village for viewing.
$1,179,872 spent$1,230,192 earned by the program27% of program spendingMembership - offers annual memberships to society members, an annual membership meeting, and special programming for members. Membership income is presented as contributions.
$566,029 spent$1,473,644 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,431,943.
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 2022 to 2023, from $3.7M to $4.4M (+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.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 4% · 2021 14% · 2022 9% · 2023 10% · 2024 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
56% of The North Carolina Arboretum Society’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. 2 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.
Board chair
Faith Doyle
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $64k → $434k.
11 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% 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: $100k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Foundation for the Carolinas). These are real filings, and they are not money The North Carolina Arboretum Society raised.
From the IRS filings of The North Carolina Arboretum Society’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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 North Carolina Arboretum Society has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% 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
41% 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 North Carolina Arboretum Society.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 32% · 2019 51% · 2020 75% · 2021 27% · 2022 25% · 2023 37% — 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
37% of The North Carolina Arboretum Society's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
76% of The North Carolina Arboretum Society'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. $1.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 North Carolina Arboretum Society's funding base is broadening — from 5 funders to 13 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding The North Carolina Arboretum Society receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $55k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$50k
- Department of Agriculture$5k
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 North Carolina Arboretum Society
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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The North Carolina Arboretum Society: 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 North Carolina Arboretum Society?
- The North Carolina Arboretum Society (North Carolina) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,568,084 to it, the largest being NORTH CAROLINA GLAXOSMITHKLINE FOUNDATION INC ($751,350). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The North Carolina Arboretum Society have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $2,568,084 in grants to The North Carolina Arboretum Society, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The North Carolina Arboretum Society?
- NORTH CAROLINA GLAXOSMITHKLINE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $751,350 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The North Carolina Arboretum Society 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 39 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