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North Carolina grants for nonprofits: where to look
North Carolina's biggest channel of state money to nonprofits isn't a grant program at all: it's the biennial appropriations act, which named more than 900 directed grants worth over $2 billion in 2021. There is no application; the General Assembly picks recipients, so organizations work through their legislative delegation. Competitive grants exist too, but they're run agency by agency, and NCGrants.gov, despite the name, is the post-award reporting system rather than a place to find anything.
Status on this site: we don't list North Carolina grants yet. This page points you to the official sources so you can search today; get one email when North Carolina listings go live.
No central state grant portal
North Carolina does not run a single portal that lists every state agency's open grants the way California does. Opportunities are posted agency by agency. These are the agencies that most often fund nonprofits:
- nc.gov grant opportunities directory: a static, category-organized list of state agency grant programs; no search or alerts
- Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: grants: arts, libraries, historic preservation, outdoor recreation, science
- NC Arts Council: grants: applications through OPAL
- Department of Health and Human Services: grant opportunities
- Department of Commerce: grants and incentives
- OSBM: legislative grants database: every directed grant in the budget act, by county and recipient
Open data: Partial. NC OpenBudget's 'Explore State Grants' report covers awards and payments to non-state entities, updated monthly with export, and OSBM publishes the legislative grants database; neither lists open opportunities. nc.gov
Federal grants open to North Carolina nonprofits
Federal funding is listed on grants.gov; filter by eligibility "Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status" and search your program area. Much federal money also passes through North Carolina state agencies as pass-through grants, which show up on the agency pages above rather than on grants.gov.
Statewide resources
- Nonprofit association: North Carolina Center for Nonprofits
- Charity registration and lookup: Secretary of State, Charitable Solicitation Licensing Division. Registry search by name or license number on the page.
- Community foundations: North Carolina Community Foundation affiliate network, 53 affiliate foundations covering 60 counties, each with a local grantmaking board
Worth knowing
- Every non-state recipient of state funds reports under G.S. 143C-6-23 in three tiers: up to $25,000 a certification; $25,000 to $500,000 adds a program report; above $500,000 adds a Yellow Book audit due within nine months of year end. Missing reports can make you ineligible for future state funds.
- State grant funds must be used for nonsectarian purposes, and no more than $120,000 of state money may go toward any one employee's salary.
- OSBM's legislative grants database is the fastest way to see which organizations like yours have received directed grants and from which legislators' districts.
- The NC Community Foundation's affiliate network means most rural counties have a local grantmaking board; it's often a first funder for small organizations.
Avoiding scams
The rules don't change by state: real grants never charge a fee, never arrive as an award for something you didn't apply for, and are always findable on the agency's own site. Our grant scams guide and 60-second checklist apply in North Carolina exactly as in California.
Links on this page were opened and checked on Oct 30, 2026. Agencies restructure sites often; if one is dead, the state's main site search will usually find the new home.