The Meredith Poll is funded primarily by Meredith College. In addition, the Meredith Poll is funded through external contracts and grants. 

Since the Poll has a public service mission, most contracts are geared toward serving public or non-profit entities that could benefit in planning or policy making from scientifically sound research, but cannot afford to secure the services of private sector survey research firms. However, the Meredith Poll has a strict policy of never taking as clients candidates for political office, political parties, partisan groups, or entities whose primary purpose is partisan in any way.

Since 2017, the Meredith Poll has partnered with the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation, a non-partisan organization that provides policy and political research to the business community, to find appropriate clients for the Poll.