Top-Rated Nonprofits in North Carolina 2026
North Carolina has 23 nonprofits with $27.6B in combined revenue. The top-rated organization is Wakemed with an Efficiency Score of 90/100.
North Carolina has 23 nonprofits in the IRS Form 990 dataset ranked here by efficiency score. The NonprofitTruth nonprofit efficiency rubric combines financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), and officer compensation relative to revenue (25%) into a 0-100 composite.
Reading the ranking: top of the list typically combines healthy operating reserves (the highest-weighted factor) with stable multi-year revenue and reasonable officer compensation. Large hospital and university systems often appear near the top in any state — their scale gives them deep balance sheets and steady revenue. Each nonprofit links to its full Form 990 profile. For donors trying to choose between organizations, the efficiency grade is a useful triage — but the underlying reserve position, the multi-year revenue trend, and the officer-comp ratio matter more than the composite letter on any individual decision.
Top 20 of 23 Nonprofits in North Carolina
| # | Organization | Category | Revenue | CEO Pay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wakemed | Health | $2.1B | $12.2M | A (90) |
| 2 | North Carolina Baptist Hospital | Health | $3.0B | $24.6M | B (79) |
| 3 | Pitt County Memorial Hospital Inc | Health | $1.8B | $3.7M | B (78) |
| 4 | Duke University Health System Inc | Health | $4.7B | $11.6M | B (76) |
| 5 | Presbyterian Hospital | Health | $2.0B | $2.2M | B (76) |
| 6 | Wingate University | Education | $167.7M | $1.8M | B (75) |
| 7 | Novant Health Inc | Health | $4.0B | $28.8M | B (73) |
| 8 | Educational Testing Service | Education | $1.1B | $11.1M | B (72) |
| 9 | North Carolina Performing Arts Center At Charlotte Foundation | Arts, Culture & Humanities | $45.7M | $1.8M | B (72) |
| 10 | Elon University | Education | $389.1M | $2.6M | B (66) |
| 11 | Wake Forest University Health Sciences | Education | $1.2B | $27.0M | C (64) |
| 12 | Campbell University | Education | $229.2M | $2.3M | C (64) |
| 13 | Serc Reliability Corporation | Environment & Animals | $33.2M | $3.0M | C (63) |
| 14 | High Point University | Education | $422.1M | $7.1M | C (62) |
| 15 | Triangle Land Conservancy Inc | Environment & Animals | $18.2M | $132K | C (59) |
| 16 | Duke University | Education | $3.7B | $23.7M | C (56) |
| 17 | Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy | Environment & Animals | $11.0M | $311K | C (55) |
| 18 | Wake Forest University | Education | $686.9M | $9.0M | C (54) |
| 19 | Davidson College | Education | $202.4M | $3.0M | C (54) |
| 20 | Nc State Investment Fund Inc | Education | $147.8M | $0 | C (54) |
Nonprofit financial data for North Carolina is sourced from IRS Form 990 filings, which all tax-exempt organizations must file annually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wakemed is the top-rated nonprofit in North Carolina with an Efficiency Score of 90/100 (Grade A) and $2.1B in annual revenue.
North Carolina has 23 nonprofits in our database with a combined $27.6B in total revenue.
The Efficiency Score (0-100, A-F) measures a nonprofit's financial structure based on financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), and current-officer compensation relative to revenue (25%), all from IRS Form 990 data. Higher scores indicate stronger financial structure. It does not include a program-spending ratio, which our data source does not provide.
Efficiency Score: financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), current-officer compensation ratio (25%). No program-spending ratio is included — total program service expenses are not available from the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer feed.