Carolina Cyber Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
931911615
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Montreat, NC, USA
Phone
8284190737
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$486,372
Expenses
$2,348,926
Assets
$1,525,702
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • EDWARD CARROLL JR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & BOARD DIRECTOR (EX OFFICIO))

Highest reported compensation

  • PAUL MAURER (DIRECTOR (EX OFFICIO)): $345,255 total reported compensation
  • JOHN BEAGHAN (TREASURER/ SECRETARY): $208,949 total reported compensation
  • EDWARD CARROLL JR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & BOARD DIRECTOR (EX OFFICIO)): $197,636 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Carolina cyber center offers an innovative path to cybersecurity careers. We provide affordable and flexible training, enabling individuals to achieve vital certifications and hands-on experience in less than a year, even without an it background.

What it reported doing in 2024

We support the carolina cyber network's (ccn) mission to prepare students for careers in cybersecurity and strengthen the security of organizations across North Carolina. In 2025, we helped manage and support a security operations center (soc) training and internship environment that placed approximately 80 students into hands-on soc experiences during the year and has supported more than 232 students from 14 North Carolina colleges since launch. We also delivered applied cybersecurity projects and external-facing, non-intrusive security posture reviews that help organizations understand publicly observable risks and prioritize practical improvements. In addition, we expanded awareness and "cyber hygiene" education for small and mid-sized businesses (smbs) and municipalities, and strengthened career pathways by building partnerships with industry and government to identify internship opportunities and support a structured mentorship program. These efforts provide students with resume-ready experience while delivering actionable guidance to organizations that often lack dedicated security resources.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 95% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 85% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 78
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: No; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -382.9%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.65; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.9%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 54.5% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -141.7% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -82% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $345K · 10 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $316K reported
  • Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.