Ohio · Nonprofit
COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS
COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS (Ohio) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,598,910 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL OHIO INC ($4,489,695). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $7.4M
- Funders on record
- 33
- Grants received
- $8.6M
- Net assets
- $7.0M
What Columbus Early Learning Centers does
Mission
Columbus Early Learning Centers (celc) has over 130 years of history providing high quality, affordable early learning and childcare in central ohio. This rich history places celc amongst the oldest early childcare programs in the country. Of the over 300 children that are served each year, nearly 75% live below 150% of the federal poverty level. In addition, 85% come from a single parent headed household and 95% receive public assistance or a celc scholarship to help make early childhood education and childcare accessible and affordable. Celc prides itself on serving as many children from the community as we can, ensuring children graduate on to kindergarten prepared both academically and socially.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Columbus Early Learning Centers (celc) has been providing high-quality early learning and affordable care to our city's children since 1887. Celc's services make it possible for parents to work or attend school, while children are cared for in education-focused classrooms staffed by highly qualified early childhood teachers.children served are: 18% white, 61% black, 14% multi-racial, 6% hispanic. (72% identify as persons of color). Children enrolled for at least 90 days are assessed using teaching strategies gold. Teachers enter data into the system after conducting observations, and individual results are compared to widely held expectations (whe) in six different domains, such as social-emotional development, cognitive ability, and literacy skills. Success is defined as the child meeting or exceeding whe in at least four of six domains. Our goals annually are that more than 80% of our children are meeting or exceeding the whe. In addition, 95% of cel''s graduating students demonstrate kindergarten-readiness compared to just 35.4% statewide. In 2024, volunteers contributed $ 34,737.58 in economic value.
$5,362,559 spent$509,917 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,362,559.
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.
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 $4.6M to $6.5M (+40%).
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: 2017 52% · 2018 48% · 2019 51% · 2020 55% · 2021 49% · 2022 60% · 2023 59% · 2024 59%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Chief executive
Georgina Ginn
CEO
Board chair
Jessica Cano
Board president
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $852k → $1.0M.
6 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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 EARLY LEARNING CENTERS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% 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 EARLY LEARNING CENTERS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 79% · 2019 75% · 2020 69% · 2021 53% · 2022 42% · 2023 47% — broadly stable.
“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
59% of COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
97% of COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M 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.
Organizations like COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS
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
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS: 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 COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS?
- COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS (Ohio) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,598,910 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL OHIO INC ($4,489,695). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS have?
- IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $8,598,910 in grants to COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS?
- UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL OHIO INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,489,695 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COLUMBUS EARLY LEARNING CENTERS 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.
Play a game about who funds Columbus Early Learning Centers →
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 33 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