North Carolina · Nonprofit
WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC
WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $74,424,252 to it, the largest being NORTH CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC ($72,058,661). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $28M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $74M
- Net assets
- $4.2M
What Wake County Smart Start Inc does
Mission
Wake county smart start invests in young children, their families, and a connected early childhood system that supports and prepares them for school and life ahead.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Nc pre-kindergarten programthe nc pre-kindergarten program is designed to provide high-quality educational experiences to enhance school readiness for eligible four-year-olds. Children in pre-k attend a full school day in a school-year program. Children participating in the program are served in licensed classrooms in public schools, private child care facilities, or head start programs. For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, 1,705 children participated in the program. A state grant and a local government grant supported the program.
$15,299,359 spentof which $14,454,137 as grants60% of program spendingFamily support/health and safetywake county smart start funds family support, and health and safety activities that benefit families and children in wake county. Family support provides parenting skills training, ongoing parent education, family literacy initiatives, transportation, community outreach, and family navigation. Health and safety provides training, technical assistance, counseling, nutrition, physical activities, and referrals to address healthcare, mental health needs, and preventative services. Approximately 890 children directly benefited from at least one wake county smart start family support or health and safety activity. Programs are supported by state and private grants .
$4,208,572 spentof which $3,201,085 as grants16% of program spendingWake threeschoolthis program provides early education to young children in a play-based, dynamic environment, like the nationally recognized nc pre-k program. Research shows that when three-year-old children receive support for learning early, they learn better, gain stronger skills, and are better prepared for success in pre-k and kindergarten. This program leverages the rapid brain growth and development that happens at age three. This "framework" is what all future learning is built upon. Children participating in the program are served in licensed private child care facilities and head start programs. For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, 333 children participated in the program. The program is supported by a local government grant.
$4,541,902 spentof which $3,839,252 as grants18% of program spendingChild care education and qualityin wake county, 33 percent of the "birth-to-five" population attended regulated child care. Because a child's experiences in the first five years are of such a critical nature, wake county smart start works to ensure that quality child care is both accessible and available to families who need it. Wake county smart start invests in community partners who provide subsidy payments in regulated childcare, work with licensed child care facilities to maintain or improve quality, and provide opportunities for child care professionals to increase their skills. Additional areas of support include training, curriculum enhancements, and mentoring programs. For fiscal year 2024 - 2025, approximately 31 child care facilities were served. Programs are supported by a state grant and program service fees.
$1,035,116 spentof which $268,716 as grants$2,375 earned by the program4% of program spendingProgram coordination and evaluationwork with community stakeholders to achieve goals articulated in the strategic plan; work with partners to develop evaluation plans and track implementation; assess progress towards goals, participate in strategic planning; gather and analyze relevant data; community needs assessments; manage requests for proposals process and participate in the development of funding recommendations. The program is supported by a state grant.
$474,552 spent2% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $25,559,501.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $3.4M to $4.3M (+26%).
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 96% · 2022 98% · 2023 97% · 2024 98% · 2025 97%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 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
Gayle Headen
Executive director
Board chair
Katherine Williams
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $8.0M → $9.0M.
3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 9 of 11 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
WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 97% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 97% · 2019 98% · 2020 96% · 2021 95% · 2022 97% · 2023 93% — 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
43% of WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
100% of WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC'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. $5k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC has grown faster than half of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like WAKE COUNTY SMART START 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
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 WAKE COUNTY SMART START 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 WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC?
- WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $74,424,252 to it, the largest being NORTH CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC ($72,058,661). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $74,424,252 in grants to WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WAKE COUNTY SMART START INC?
- NORTH CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC is the largest funder on record, with $72,058,661 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WAKE COUNTY SMART START 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 2021–2025), and the filings of 11 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