Nonprofit · EIN 93-3138185
BEACON MEDIA
Tax-exempt · HILLSBOROUGH, NC 27278
Financials
| Year ended | Form | Revenue | Expenses | Net income | Total assets | Liabilities | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 31, 2025 | 990 | $428,012 | $313,641 | $114,371 | $237,120 | $0 | $237,120 |
| December 31, 2024 | 990 | $218,253 | $144,452 | $73,801 | $125,050 | $0 | $125,050 |
Financial details: 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025
Revenue
- Contributions, gifts and grants
- $428,012
- of which government grants
- $303,000
- Program service revenue
- $0
- Investment income
- $0
- Other revenue
- $0
Expenses
- Grants and similar amounts paid
- $0
- Compensation of officers, directors and key employees
- $120,000
- Other salaries and wages
- $78,623
- Salaries, compensation and benefits (total)
- $215,504
- Professional fundraising fees
- $31,130
- Accounting fees
- $1,504
- Travel
- $5,246
- Program services (functional)
- $250,728
- Management and general (functional)
- $26,407
- Fundraising (functional)
- $36,506
Balance sheet and other
- Total assets, start of year
- $125,050
- Total assets, end of year
- $237,120
- Total liabilities, end of year
- $0
- Net assets, end of year
- $237,120
- Net assets with donor restrictions
- $237,120
- Gross receipts
- $428,012
- Employees
- 3
- Volunteers
- 0
- Year formed
- 2023
- State of legal domicile
- NC
From the e-filed returns the IRS publishes as XML (latest three processing years; amended returns replace the original). PDF copies at the IRS.
Officers, directors and key employees
As listed on the 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025, highest compensation first.
| Name | Title | Hours / week | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Clayton | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Akilah Ensley | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Mike Figueras | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Pope McCorkle | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Brandy Bynum Dawson | Chair Officer | 1 | $0 |
| Kimberly Meyer | Secretary Officer | 1 | $0 |
| Brooks Fuller | Treasurer Officer | 1 | $0 |
990 for the year ended December 31, 2024: 9 people
| Name | Title | Hours / week | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brandy Bynum Dawson | Chair Trustee or director, Officer | 2 | $0 |
| Kimberly Meyer | Secretary Trustee or director, Officer | 1 | $0 |
| Paul Cuadros | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| James Gailliard | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Justin Clayton | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Pope McCorkle | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Mike Figueras | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Akilah Ensley | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Brooks Fuller | Treasurer Officer | 1 | $0 |
Address and contacts
- Address (IRS master file)
- PO BOX 162, HILLSBOROUGH, NC 27278-0162
- In care of
- % GRAIG MEYER
- Principal officer (990 for 2025)
- Matt Hughes, PO Box 1406, Hillsborough, NC 27278
- Signed the 990
- Matthew Hughes, Finance
- Phone
- (919) 869-3080
Mission
To promote public education, we will partner with existing media outlets across platforms to share the ideas and voices of those advocating for a more equitable democracy throughout North Carolina. Beacon Media aims to make these ideas and supporting information more available and accessible in communities where the media predominantly represents other viewpoints or limits information that citizens should be able to access. We will also syndicate other forms of stories and content related to our mission to inform rural and exurban area communities through local media outlets. In addition, Beacon Media will conduct an educational program for grassroots and other community leaders whose important voices are underrepresented in mainstream media and other public fora. Beacon Media will provide such persons training and workshops to help them develop better written and oral communication skills so that they become better public advocates for their ideas and communities.
Program accomplishments
- Beacon Media's Radio + Digital initiative (social media and digital channels coupled with radio syndication) goes beyond the typical digital-only approach to ensure that our content and voices reach underserved audiences at the community level. This strategy across North Carolina offers a significant opportunity to reach underserved and under-communicated audiences, including rural, Latino, Black, and working-class communities, and present a vision for a more inclusive democracy. In 2025, Beacon began brainstorming for a new Radio + Digital show partnership with two young mayors from Western North Carolina, Preston Blakely and Dalton George. Both are excellent examples of the kinds of leaders and trusted messengers who Beacon Media is building around to ensure those who have the most at stake in our democracy have the platform and support to tell their stories directly and persuade new and often disengaged audiences that they, too, have a stake in our collective future. We began pre-production work and developed a partnership for a podcast called Do You Even Live Here? to deliver vital storytelling to rural audiences in Western North Carolina and grow and develop these key voices. We also continued progress on our El Faro Radio + Digital initiative, serving North Carolina's diverse, widespread Latino community in English and Spanish across the state. Beacon Media's Spanish and English-language Latino community media initiative, El Faro, has gained considerable momentum and began to develop key relationships and shift narratives beginning in the fourth quarter of 2025. The project, which is primarily social media-first across channels and is working to build into a regular podcast and grow its audience through a more robust social media presence, is designed to meet the urgent information needs of Latino communities across North Carolina.Expenses $146,098 · revenue $146,098
- Beacon Media continued to work with our Beacon Voices cohort throughout 2025, talented grassroots leaders whose vision and voice will lead to a better North Carolina. Beacon produces regular weekly columns and syndicates them to more than 100 newspapers across the state, reaching marginalized audiences in rural areas, along with Black and Latino communities. In the fourth quarter of 2025, we also began a push to increase our Voices presence and narrative on social media, including in Spanish and to North Carolina's Spanish-language newspapers and outlets. Beacon Media's Executive Director met frequently with those Voices to develop pro-democracy messaging and content to diagnose a difficult moment in American democracy and provide a vision for the future. Those Voices included but were not limited to the Rev. C.J. Brinson, Gwen Frisbie-Fulton, Stevie Brooks, Kimberly Jones, Sam Grote, Melissa Castillo and others. In late 2025, Beacon Media expanded its model to include planning for a new hyperlocal site alongside partner We Are Down Home in Franklin and Granville Counties, North Carolina. Aside from its El Faro Latino community media initiative, which delivers key reporting alongside values-based commentary in English and Spanish, the hyperlocal media model called County Beacon will allow for Beacon Media to contribute reporting of key civic information where it matters most: at the community level.Expenses $42,918 · revenue $42,918
- Beacon Media continued to make substantial progress toward its fundraising goals in 2025 and was able to onboard its first additional full-time employees, an El Faro Associate Producer and our Community Media Liaison to expand Beacon Media's programming and reach. Key investments from Way to Rise, Rural Democracy Initiative and the Marguerite Casey Foundation and individual donors across North Carolina allowed Beacon Media to continue and expand its mission to reach marginalized communities with the information and vision of a brighter future that NC's communities need to thrive.Expenses $61,712 · revenue $61,712
What it must file and when
IRS records say it files Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N. Its accounting year ends in December, so each return is due on the 15th day of the 5th month after that.
| Tax year | Year ended | Due | IRS public records |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | December 31, 2025 | May 15, 2026 | 990 on file |
| 2024 | December 31, 2024 | May 15, 2025 | 990 on file |
| 2023 | December 31, 2023 | May 15, 2024 | 990-EZ on file |
IRS record
- EIN
- 93-3138185
- Tax-exempt status
- 501(c)(3): Charitable, religious, educational or scientific organization
- Foundation status
- Publicly supported organization (170(b)(1)(A)(vi))
- Donations deductible (Pub 78)
- Public charity, 50% deduction limit
- Exempt since
- 2024
- Accounting year ends
- December
- Files
- Form 990 or 990-EZ
- Category (NTEE)
- Arts, culture and humanities (A01)
- Assets (IRS master file)
- $237,120
- Income (IRS master file)
- $428,012
Filing history
| Form | Year ended | Revenue | Expenses | Assets | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 990 | December 2025 | – | – | – | IRS |
| 990 | December 2024 | – | – | – | IRS |
| 990-EZ | December 2023 | $59,035 | $7,787 | $51,249 | IRS |
990-N: the IRS publishes only the latest e-Postcard per organization; earlier years appear here as 990.tax collects the monthly files. 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, 990-T: every e-filed return in the IRS e-file index since 2019; XML for the latest three processing years, amounts from the IRS Statistics of Income extracts before that. PDF copies and determination letters at the IRS.
Questions about BEACON MEDIA
- What is the EIN of BEACON MEDIA?
- The employer identification number (EIN) of BEACON MEDIA is 93-3138185.
- Is BEACON MEDIA tax-exempt?
- Yes. The IRS lists it as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) since 2024.
- Are donations to BEACON MEDIA tax-deductible?
- Yes. It is listed in IRS Publication 78 (Public charity, 50% deduction limit).
- Which annual return does BEACON MEDIA file?
- Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N.
- When is the next return of BEACON MEDIA due?
- The return for tax year 2026 (the year ending December 31, 2026) is due May 17, 2027. Form 8868 extends it by six months; the 990-N cannot be extended.
- When did BEACON MEDIA last file with the IRS?
- The latest return in the IRS public files is the 990 for the year ended December 2025.
- Who is the principal officer of BEACON MEDIA?
- The 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025 names Matt Hughes.
- Who are the officers and directors of BEACON MEDIA?
- The 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025 lists 7 people; 0 received compensation from the organization.
- How much revenue does BEACON MEDIA have?
- On its 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025 it reported revenue of $428,012, expenses of $313,641 and total assets of $237,120 at year end.
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All nonprofits in HILLSBOROUGH · North Carolina · Arts, culture and humanities