North Carolina · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC
UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 115 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,881,110 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($3,842,537). 65 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 115
- Grants received
- $34M
- Net assets
- $19M
What United Way of Greater Charlotte Inc does
Mission
United way uses collective giving to build pathways to economic opportunity for all, primarily through neighborhood-based, grassroots and responsive solutions.continued on schedule o.united way was founded 90 years ago in mecklenburg county as "emergency relief" to help people affected by the great depression through the power of collective giving.we work as a focused, collaborative team within greater charlotte, developing tailored solutions for each part of our region to address economic mobility. Serving anson, cabarrus, mecklenburg and union counties, our actions align with the strategies identified by residents of those communities.leadership: collaborating with local government agencies, businesses, faith communities, donors and volunteers to mobilize resources quickly and efficiently and advance lasting solutions, united way is ensuring the most vulnerable populations have the opportunity to achieve economic mobility.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Community investment: the community investment process focuses on economic mobility across the region, while also helping provide a safety net for people and families in need. Annually, united way of greater charlotte invests in more than 100 local nonprofit agencies and initiatives through the funding provided by generous corporate and private foundations, the public sector, and individual donors.(continued on schedule o) united way tailors its community investment process to the assets, strengths and needs of each county in our four-county footprint. In mecklenburg county, united way funds two initiatives:1) through united neighborhoods, united way supports resident-driven neighborhood revitalization efforts that improve economic mobility so that a person's zip code no longer determines their future success in the charlotte region. United way launched united neighborhoods in september 2017 with an investment over three years into the grier heights and renaissance west neighborhoods in charlotte. We expanded to the lakeview neighborhood in fy22. In fy23, united way deepened our commitment to united neighborhoods, investing $4.9m in 50+ historically disinvested neighborhoods in…
$9,278,706 spentof which $6,362,381 as grants$51,275 earned by the program57% of program spendingGovernment grants: united way partners with the city of charlotte, mecklenburg county, and the state of north carolina to distribute funds to organizations and coalitions that, together, work to end homelessness.
$5,291,130 spentof which $3,283,433 as grants32% of program spendingDesignations to other united ways and other 501(c)(3) organizations: donors may direct their contributions to out of area united ways or qualified tax-exempt organizations that provide services in the areas of health, housing, and children and youth. These funds are raised and distributed by our united way to the organizations.
$1,732,181 spentof which $1,732,181 as grants11% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $16,302,017.
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 2017 to 2018, from $26M to $32M (+24%).
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: 2021 27% · 2022 34% · 2023 37% · 2024 33% · 2025 30%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 24 funders to 42 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $4.7M.
20 of 115 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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: $13M from 22 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Foundation for the Carolinas). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 115 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
UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
61% 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 UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 49% · 2019 39% · 2020 19% · 2021 31% · 2022 16% · 2023 16% — 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 UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
50% of UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE 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 $17M that is directly attributable, 58% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $17M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC's revenue fell 42% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE 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
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE 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 UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC?
- UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 115 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,881,110 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($3,842,537). 65 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC have?
- IRS filings report 115 organizations giving $33,881,110 in grants to UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC, 65 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE INC?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,842,537 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTE 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 115 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing