Mcnc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
581406628
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Durham, NC, US
Phone
919-248-1900
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Engineering and Technology

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$74,135,271
Expenses
$66,051,698
Assets
$175,057,586
Liabilities
$54,945,797

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

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Edward Jacobson (Vice President, COO)
  • Tracy Doaks (President, CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tracy Doaks (President, CEO): $501,244 total reported compensation
  • Edward Jacobson (Vice President, COO): $367,217 total reported compensation
  • Christopher Beal (VP, Enterprise IT & Cybersecurity Initiatives / CISO): $311,857 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

MCNC, a nonprofit leader in broadband infrastructure, strengthens North Carolina’s future by making secure, high-speed internet and technology services more accessible to everyone in the state through partnerships, collaboration and innovative solutions.

What it reported doing in 2024

Mcnc provides technical infrastructure to educate, innovate and enhance economic development throughout North Carolina. Mcnc serves the North Carolina public sector community by providing high quality network infrastructure and network related services. Mcnc provides the wan/backbone and internet connectivity to state universities, community colleges, independent universities and colleges, local education agencies (basically to each county's public k-12 school's administration), charter schools, private k-12 schools, libraries, research institutions, public health (free clinics & hospital locations), and government agencies. These services are provided with a service level agreement of 99.99% "up" time. Mcnc additionally provides collocation/hosting or backup/storage data.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 88% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration and liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.4%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 84.5%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th 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: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

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: 10.9%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.65; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 75.4% of revenue deployed · 84.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $55.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $501K · 30 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $10.5M reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 17 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.