GrantmakersNorth Carolina

United Way of the Cape Fear Area Inc

Wilmington, NC · EIN 56-0529949. Reported 134 grants totalling $3,378,766 to 57 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

57organizations funded
$15,000median reported grant
$3,378,766granted, 2021-2024
65%of grantees funded again the next year
9%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For United Way of the Cape Fear Area Inc, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70Z).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 57 distinct organizations, with 9% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 65% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $15,000. Half of what it reported fell between $8,000 and $29,926; the smallest was $5,049 and the largest $187,340. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
42 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
51 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
26 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
8 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
7 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Cape Fear Healthnet IncWilmington, NC$293,176442024
Good Shepherd Ministries of Wilmington IncWilmington, NC$259,865442024
Blue Ribbon Commission Prevention of Youth ViolenceWilmington, NC$201,240442024
Communities in Schools of Cape Fear IncWilmington, NC$187,540442024
Soaring As Eagles IncWilmington, NC$163,016222023
Kids Making It IncWilmington, NC$154,014442024
Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry IncWilmington, NC$152,809442024
Boys and Girls Home of North Carolina IncLake Waccamaw, NC$135,423332024
The Carousel Center IncWilmington, NC$118,993442024
Child Development Center IncWilmington, NC$105,494442024
Domestic Violence Shelter and Services IncWilmington, NC$89,321332023
Cape Fear Literacy CouncilWilmington, NC$83,966442024
YWCA of the Lower Cape Fear IncWilmington, NC$83,908322022
Family Promise of the Lower Cape Fear IncWilmington, NC$75,591442024
Phoenix Employment Services of Wilmington IncWilmington, NC$71,450222022
Quality Life BlueprintWilmington, NC$70,660112022
Leading Into New Communities IncWilmington, NC$70,472322023
Coastal Horizons Center IncWilmington, NC$61,958442024
The Salvation ArmyBrookhaven, GA$61,896332023
Young Scientist AcademyWilmington, NC$58,681112022
Brunswick Family Assistance Agency IncShallotte, NC$55,304442024
Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina IncRaleigh, NC$55,274222022
Brigade Boys & Girls ClubWilmington, NC$54,411222022
Diaper Bank of North CarolinaHillsborough, NC$54,288332024
Lower Cape Fear Hospice IncorporatedWilmington, NC$45,090222023
Columbus County Dream Cntr IncWhiteville, NC$44,667442024
Smart Start of New Hanover CountyWilmington, NC$42,986332023
Community Counseling CenterWilmington, NC$39,941332024
Habitat for Humanity Internal IncWilmington, NC$39,104222023
Communities in Schools of Brunswick CountySouthport, NC$38,500332023
Dreams of Wilmington IncWilmington, NC$34,317332023
Navigational StudiosWilmington, NC$30,000112022
Family Support Network of Southeastern North Carolina IncWilmington, NC$29,600112022
Columbus County Beekeepers AssociationWhiteville, NC$27,500332023
Nourishnc IncWilmington, NC$26,106332023
Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeaster North Carolina Inc$22,752112023
A Bike for Every ChildWilmington, NC$22,000112022
Mother Hubbards Cupboard of Wilmington IncWilmington, NC$21,049332023
American Red Cross Cape Fear ChapterWilmington, NC$18,699332023
Wilmiingtons Residential Adolescent Achievement PlaceWilmington, NC$17,500112022
Pender County Christian Services IncBurgaw, NC$16,060332023
Waterway NcWilmington, NC$16,000112022
New Hanover Community Health Center IncWilmington, NC$14,000222023
Boys & Girls Clubs of SoutheasternWilmington, NC$13,216112022
Canines for Service IncWilmington, NC$12,500112022
Christian Recovery Center IncShallotte, NC$12,150112021
Matthews Ministry IncSouthport, NC$10,784222023
Columbus County Partnership for ChildrenWhiteville, NC$8,000112022
Pender Alliance for Total HealthBurgaw, NC$8,000112021
Brunswick County Literacy Council IncSupply, NC$7,500112023
Theatre for All$7,500112023
Wilmington Childrens Museum IncWilmington, NC$7,500112022
United Way of Cumberland County IncFayetteville, NC$6,031112021
Disabled American Verterans$5,415112023
Jo Ann Carter Harrelson Center IncWilmington, NC$5,300112021
Samaras VillageSouthport, NC$5,200112021
A Safe Place IncWritsvlle Bch, NC$5,049112023

36 of 57 (63%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 44 of 57 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Human Services
12 orgs
Education
6 orgs
Housing & Shelter
4 orgs
Health Care
3 orgs
Mental Health
3 orgs
Food & Nutrition
3 orgs
Arts & Culture
3 orgs
Youth Development
2 orgs

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202134$676,290$15,050
202248$1,993,843$28,594
202336$514,968$10,192
202416$193,665$10,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

98% of its giving went to organizations in North Carolina. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

North Carolina
$3.3M
Georgia
$62K

Down to the city

Wilmington, NC
$2.8M
Lake Waccamaw, NC
$135K
Whiteville, NC
$80K
Shallotte, NC
$67K
Brookhaven, GA
$62K
Raleigh, NC
$55K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

New Hanover Community Endowment Inc34 shared recipientsThe Landfall Foundation Inc30 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund29 shared recipientsDuke Energy Foundation28 shared recipientsNorth Carolina Community Foundation27 shared recipientsCape Fear Memorial Foundation23 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $15,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in North Carolina.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in North CarolinaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from United Way of the Cape Fear Area Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 127 Grace Street, Wilmington, NC, 28401.

EIN 56-0529949 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.