Ohio · Nonprofit
CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE
CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE (Ohio) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,444,908 to it, the largest being THE WORKING WORLD INC ($775,398). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $2.4M
- Net assets
- $406k
What Cincinnati Union Cooperative Initiative does
Mission
Cincinnati Union Cooperative Initiative partners with individuals and other organizations to develop worker-owned businesses which provide family- sustaining jobs and create economy that works for all.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Co-op cincy has been broadening its reach in providing education and inspiration on the cooperative and union cooperative models. Staff planned and facilitated regular "co-op 101" sessions, tours of existing co-ops, and co-op social happy hours for informal network building and information sharing. Cooperative management certificate program this year marked the third iteration of our successful cooperative management certificate in partnership with xavier university's leadership center. An additional 20 participants successfully completed the program, implementing a final project within their respective co-ops to strengthen their efforts. Co-op cincy led the 5th cohort of power in numbers co-op u in 2025, which has a specific focus on support for bipoc-led entrepreneurial teams. Curriculum included articulating a clear business concept, knowing your customer, feasibility, logistics, and cooperative governance and management. 16 participants wrapped their experience by presenting creation or growth plans for businesses ranging from a food growers collective to management consulting. The refugee agricultural partnership program (rapp), funded partially through the us department of…
$131,427 spent15% of program spendingCo-op cincy continued to build connections and foundations in the wider business world through the business legacy fund, including identifying potential "ambassadors" in aligned business markets (e.g. Insurance, real estate, business brokering) who can share information about possibilities for worker-ownership to departing business owners at appropriate moments. Co-op cincy supported our harvest cooperative to purchase northgate greenhouse and transition it to a worker owned co-op. Co-op cincy supported perspective guides to transition to worker ownership as well.
$125,479 spent14% of program spendingCo-ops under co-op cincy's umbrella and in development received ongoing business support, including coaching and training in finance (financial literacy, open book management, navigating financial software) people and culture (hr systems, leadership skills, conflict management) and business stability and growth (communication and marketing strategies, business best practices), co-op governance, etc. Staff met with co-op teams on a regular schedule based on their stage of development (typically weekly or every other week), and connected team members to resources in an ongoing way. This year, successes from member co-ops included: sustainergy received a loan from the seed commons to purchase their warehouse, which now houses office space for them and 2 other worker-owned cooperatives. This gives sustainergy a strong foundation to grow from as well as provides a supportive incubator for newer or smaller cooperatives in cincinnati. Old growth cooperative grew its staff to 4 people in the peak season. Queen city commons expanded community compost drop-off sites throughout cincinnati comp.coop unionized with the us federation of steelworkers renting partnerships brought a new…
$250,957 spent28% of program spendingCo-op cincy staff served on national bodies, including in a leadership role on the u.s. Federation of worker cooperatives board and on the seed commons sustainability committee and board. From these roles, co-op cincy informs and is informed by larger circles of thought leadership and best practice. As part of this work, co-op cincy successfully advocated for the usfwc to adopt labor neutrality recommendations for all member bylaws. In recognition of co-op cincy's efforts, the cincinnati city council passed a resolution recognizing the un year of cooperatives - the third us city to do so at the time.
$392,004 spentof which $266,526 as grants44% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $899,867.
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 2020 to 2021, from $188k to $360k (+92%).
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: 2021 5% · 2024 17% · 2025 37%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $104k → $359k.
5 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE’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
CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
85% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 90% · 2018 27% · 2019 36% · 2020 42% · 2021 31% · 2022 42% · 2023 65% — 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.
How long its funders stay
25% of CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE draws 73% of its grant income from funders outside Ohio, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $591k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states 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
CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 84 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 84 social science nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $896k on record.
- Department of Labor$496k
- Department of Health and Human Services$400k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE: 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 CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE?
- CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE (Ohio) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,444,908 to it, the largest being THE WORKING WORLD INC ($775,398). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $2,444,908 in grants to CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE?
- THE WORKING WORLD INC is the largest funder on record, with $775,398 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CINCINNATI UNION COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 25 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