North Carolina · Nonprofit
UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC
UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,793,183 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($3,692,255). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.5M
- Funders on record
- 71
- Grants received
- $7.8M
- Net assets
- $4.5M
What University Radio Foundation Inc does
Mission
Journalism that informs, enriches, and inspires. Our vision is to help create a more knowledgeable and engaged community grounded in our shared humanity.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Wfae is a major source of news and information for the charlotte region and one of the country's leading public radio stations. Wfae's mission is to create a more knowledgeable and engaged community grounded in our shared humanity. Our vision is achieved through journalism that informs, enriches and inspires. Here are some of the programming highlights that put wfae's mission and vision into practice in fy25.programming highlights:wfae's newsroom spent much of the first half of fy25 covering the aftermath and recovery efforts from hurricane helene in western north carolina and south carolina, and the 2024 elections. The team explored how president donald trump's second administration would affect the charlotte region in the second half of fy25.in february, the newsroom launched "first friday arts showcase," a monthly series with area arts reporters about big events happening in the listening area and activities to add to your calendar. "charlotte talks" continued to be the 'talk show of record' for the region. Host mike collins had conversations with experts, politicians, authors and others about topics such as chronic homelessness, north carolina's economy and the disappearance…
$3,554,226 spent89% of program spendingBroadcasting and engineering - expenses associated with broadcast studios, transmitters, towers, and antennas, engineer, ip interconnects, satellite facilities, utilities, repair and maintenance costs for studios, transmitters, towers, and antennas.
$339,805 spent8% of program spendingProgram information - promotion and outreach activities to inform the community of local news and events of interest to our listeners. Costs associated with hosting forums and events, bringing in public radio personalities to speak and other costs associated with informing our listeners by newsletters, e-blasts, outreach materials.
$116,919 spent3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,010,950.
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 2021 to 2022, from $8.5M to $6.5M (−23%).
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 5% · 2018 4% · 2019 5% · 2020 6% · 2021 12% · 2022 8% · 2023 6% · 2024 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $491k → $974k.
23 of 71 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 71 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
UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
87% 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 UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 68% · 2019 63% · 2020 60% · 2021 52% · 2022 36% · 2023 43% — 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
48% of UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC draws 92% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 17 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC's funding base is broadening — from 13 funders to 30 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION 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
53% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION 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 UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC?
- UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,793,183 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($3,692,255). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 71 organizations giving $7,793,183 in grants to UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC, 43 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC?
- CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING is the largest funder on record, with $3,692,255 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION 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.
Play a game about who funds University Radio →
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 71 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