Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina

Legal name: Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
464840814
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Raleigh, NC, US
Phone
919.447.7777
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public, Societal Benefit

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$52,335,240
Expenses
$51,477,973
Assets
$130,673,830
Liabilities
$121,439,408

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

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHRISTOPHER CHUNG (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHRISTOPHER CHUNG (CEO): $456,032 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL EBERT (COO): $230,766 total reported compensation
  • DENISE DESATNICK (VP MARKETING): $197,283 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) serves as the state's primary nonprofit organization dedicated to business recruitment, expansion, and job creation. Its mission is to attract new businesses, support the growth of existing companies, and promote North Carolina as a premier location for economic investment.

What it reported doing in 2024

Edpnc's visit nc team responded immediately to hurricane helene's destruction through extensive partner communications, proactive media relations, its well-publicized interactive travel advisory map, and more. The team's focus quickly shifted to supporting the mountain destinations less affected and able to welcome visitors during the vital fall, holiday/winter, and spring seasons. As seasons progressed into spring and summer, efforts evolved to emphasize travel inspiration. Visit nc has continued to leverage the additional, incremental recovery funds with the same sense of urgency and commitment. With a robust summer campaign in motion, emphasis remains on strengthening and extending the campaign's reach and effectiveness through summer, fall, and winter 2025 to inspire travel and help revitalize western North Carolina's vital tourism economy.despite significant headwinds brought on by hurricane helene, tourism in North Carolina continued to break records in 2024, with travel spending statewide rising to $36.7 billion. That total eclipsed the previous record of $35.6 billion set in 2023. Direct tourism employment also increased statewide by 1.4% to 230,338 in 2024.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 92% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 57
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 94.3%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: 1.6%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.54; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.93; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.4% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 93% of revenue deployed · 94.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $48.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $456K · 28 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $1M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 37/100.