Tennessee · Nonprofit
CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO
CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO (Tennessee) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,468,878 to it, the largest being BENWOOD FOUNDATION INC ($2,235,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $726k
What Chattanooga Design Studio does
Mission
Chattanooga Design Studio seeks to elevate the quality of life for all citizens through guidance, collaboration, innovation, and education that promotes livable, accessible, walkable, and humane urban design.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
A high-quality public realm:Chattanooga Design Studio collaborates with several partners and municipal institutions to advance and guide the design of a high-quality public realm. The organization focuses on streets, parks and other public spaces while also helping to shape the private investments that contribute to a vibrant public realm. Projects are undertaken as priorities of a municipality to investigate and are conducted with citizen input and enormous communication and collaboration. Projects such as montague park, waterfront, broad street, optimizing city street, and civic center all aim to provide inspiration to improvements of the public realm.
$1,657,148 spent77% of program spendingVibrant urban neighborhoods:Chattanooga Design Studio helps guide the improvements needed for urban neighborhoods to be better connected thriving places for residents and businesses alike. The studio seeks to improve the quality of life for all by improving mobility and strengthening the economic viability of downtown adjacent neighborhoods. Projects like westside evolves, walnut hill and south broad district have been exemplary in creating clear visions for improvements in neighborhoods adjacent to downtown chattanooga.
$301,299 spent14% of program spendingUrban design education:Chattanooga Design Studio offers education and innovation regarding the role of urban design and shaping the city for the betterment of all. The studio hosts a quarterly open and free speaker series known as civiq. The civiq program offers educational information from practitioners from other communities regarding the improvement of civic spaces. The studio regularly presents to k-12 and university classes regarding the history of city form and the role of the built environment in public health and quality of life.
$193,694 spent9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,152,141.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $355k to $1.2M (+242%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2018 9% · 2019 39% · 2020 47% · 2021 17% · 2022 6% · 2024 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Cihan Johnson
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $250k → $460k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 65% · 2020 45% · 2021 49% · 2022 94% · 2023 53% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
99% of CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $78 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO has grown faster than three-quarters of the 4,203 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
38%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO?
- CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO (Tennessee) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,468,878 to it, the largest being BENWOOD FOUNDATION INC ($2,235,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $3,468,878 in grants to CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO?
- BENWOOD FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,235,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHATTANOOGA DESIGN STUDIO find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Chattanooga Design Studio →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 6 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing