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New York · Nonprofit

COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC

COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 85 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,505,774 to it, the largest being THE RIGGIO FOUNDATION ($1,013,000). 45 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$5.5M
Funders on record
85
Grants received
$5.5M
Net assets
$27M
45/85 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 19%
01What it does

What Columbus Citizens Foundation Inc does

Mission

To perpetuate & honor significance of the disocvery of america by christopher columbus.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Scholarship program

    $1,297,695 spent
    43% of program spending
  2. Columbus celebration

    $1,753,289 spent
    57% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,050,984.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($6.3M) Expenses 100 ($4.6M) Net assets 100 ($26M)2019 Revenue 58 ($3.7M) Expenses 103 ($4.8M) Net assets 103 ($27M)2020 Revenue 61 ($3.8M) Expenses 94 ($4.4M) Net assets 104 ($27M)2021 Revenue 96 ($6.0M) Expenses 96 ($4.4M) Net assets 116 ($30M)2022 Revenue 57 ($3.6M) Expenses 95 ($4.4M) Net assets 99 ($26M)2023 Revenue 52 ($3.3M) Expenses 105 ($4.9M) Net assets 99 ($26M)2024 Revenue 87 ($5.5M) Expenses 113 ($5.2M) Net assets 103 ($27M)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (87)Expenses (113)Net assets (103)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $33M to $28M (−14%).

$28M
$30M
$30M
$33M
$28M
$29M
$30M
2018201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 5% · 2021 6% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

85% of COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,395 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.7M
’18
−$1.1M
’19
−$544k
’20
$1.6M
’21
−$779k
’22
−$1.6M
’23
$237k
’24
2.9
months of
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.

Chief executive

Lisa Ackerman

Executive director

Board chair

Marian U Pardo

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.

2018201920202021202220232024
Listed20201920212120
Joined·+4+5+3+3+0+5
No longer listed·462206
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 29 funders to 28 funders, grant income fell $574k → $427k.

15 of 85 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

Left out of every figure on this page: $301k from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Columbus Citizens House Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC raised.

From the IRS filings of COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 85 funders by total. 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

COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

35% 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 COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC.

18%
largest funder
42%
top three
~13
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 84% · 2019 45% · 2020 30% · 2021 39% · 2022 29% · 2023 26% — growing more concentrated.

“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

41% of COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

52% of COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from New York funders.

ME
IL
MI
NY
NV
NJ
CT
CA
NE
DE
NM
NC
DC
GA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin4% · above the median
Months of reserve2.9mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−2% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC

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 New York

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

58% of spending goes to programs.

Program 58%Management 34%Fundraising 8%

Governance

16
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

75%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NY

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Columbus Citizens House Inc · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC: 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.

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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 COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC?
COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 85 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,505,774 to it, the largest being THE RIGGIO FOUNDATION ($1,013,000). 45 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC have?
IRS filings report 85 organizations giving $5,505,774 in grants to COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC, 45 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC?
THE RIGGIO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,013,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 85 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing