Poplar Grove Foundation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 581379468
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-PF 2018
- Location
- Wilmington, NC, USA
- Phone
- 9103985673
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- History Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $378,740
- Expenses
- $386,703
- Assets
- $111,195
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Rosalie Calarco (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Caroline Lewis (Executive Dir.): $50,396 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Poplar Grove promotes the spirit of the lower Cape Fear region through education, conservation, and preservation.
What it reported doing in 2025
Poplar Grove is one of the last remaining plantation complexes open to the public in southeastern North Carolina and within the National Park Service's Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. It was formerly a sweet potato and peanut plantation owned by the Foy family for six generations from 1795 to 1971, producing peanuts from the agricultural skills of the Gullah Geechee people, shipped as far north as New York City.Today, Poplar Grove achieves its mission by: 1) reflecting upon the practices of a self-sustaining farm, slavery, tenant farming, legislation, technology, and the heritage arts2) promoting of the values and traditions of local communities and cultural landscapes as it reflects past, present and future human activity3) initiating meaningful dialogue that builds upon the values of respect, empathy, cultural diversity, multiple perspectives, and democratic principles4) sharing the significance and spirit of place as a shared resource by preserving the natural habitat and architectural harmony indigenous to the lower Cape Fear region.The Foundation achieved its exempt purpose in the past fiscal year by operating the historic manor house museum complex, conducting tours and holding events that create awareness of the region's history and allow Poplar Grove to be a venue for its educational, conservational and preservational efforts. The Poplar Grove Plantation venue is used for community events, a farmer's market, a farm animal stables and educational events.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 64% 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 78
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 45
- Sustainability: 31
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.2%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 82.5%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $10.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -2.1%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.29; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 28.1% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 84.2% of revenue deployed · 82.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $319K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.