Ohio · Nonprofit
COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE
COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE (Ohio) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $767,770 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($561,555). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $768k
- Net assets
- $335k
What Columbus Fashion Initiative does
Mission
The mission of the Columbus Fashion Initiative is to work with city, corporate, and community stakeholders to create collaborative opportunities and platforms that make columbus, oh the best place to start, grow, and innovate upon a fashion-based business. We will achieve this through industry discovery, education, events that support the development and growth of columbus' fashion culture, fashion-based businesses, and fashion stakeholders.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Through general programming and community engagement we hope to meet the needs of those in all phases of their journey as a creative. Though there isn't one formula for all, learner experience can be placed in categories and increase their engagement based on personal needs. Workshops workshops are 1-3-day sessions with a subject matter expert on a variety of topics to help the creative along their journey. Workshops are separated into learn & make. Learn series learn series workshops are informational sessions with a subject matter expert that cover a variety of topics including: entrepreneurship in the fashion industry careers in the fashion industry marketing fashion businesses small business 101 financial wellness (with community banking partners) career services (resume/portfolio building, soft skills, interviewing, etc.) post-secondary education exploration w/ education partners make series make series workshops are sessions with subject matter experts taking you through hands on demonstrations in various fashion design projects. Examples of make workshops include, but are not limited to the following: upcycling & repurpose sessions content creation workshops constructing…
$1,402,506 spent$9,225 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,402,506.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2022 to 2023, from $426k to $222k (−48%).
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: 2020 98% · 2021 94% · 2022 68% · 2023 96% · 2024 101%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
101% of COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Christine Williams
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $13k → $132k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 73% 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 FASHION 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
COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 FASHION INITIATIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 68% · 2022 69% · 2023 81% — 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
73% of COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $206k that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $562k 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
COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,928 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,928 youth development nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $600k on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$600k
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 COLUMBUS FASHION 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
81% 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 FASHION 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 COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE?
- COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE (Ohio) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $767,770 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($561,555). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $767,770 in grants to COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COLUMBUS FASHION INITIATIVE?
- COLUMBUS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $561,555 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COLUMBUS FASHION 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.
Play a game about who funds Columbus Fashion Initiative →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), 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