Louisiana · Nonprofit
COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS
COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $832,330 to it, the largest being THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION ($494,189). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $108k
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $832k
- Net assets
- $370k
What Committee for a Better New Orleans does
Mission
We work to create equity and opportunity for all New Orleanians by developing community leaders, fostering civic engagement, and advocating for open, effective, accountable government.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Bryan Bell Metropolitan Leadership Forum - In 2024, CBNO hosted our 57th Annual Bryan Bell Leadership Forum, graduating 48 participants. 92% reported growth in civic understanding. Graduates left inspired to continue engaging: five attended a board and commission training hosted by CBNO, and one created a coalition advocating for mental health services that meets monthly.
$42,895 spent27% of program spendingBetter Bus Stops Initiative - In 2024, CBNO partnered with RTA and RIDE New Orleans to advance equitable transit infrastructure. Supported by a grant from the Greater New Orleans Foundations Next 100 Years Challenge, CBNO gathered input from 500+ transit riders, inventoried bus stop conditions, and convened stakeholders from the RTA, City,and State DOT to address barriers to implementing bus stop shelters. Youth engagement included a Build Your Dream Bus Stop project, where three local brothers (ages 11-18) designed a shelter in Minecraft and prepared to present it to the RTAs design team.
$82,640 spent52% of program spendingPeoples Budget Project & Big Easy Budget Coalition - CBNO advanced budget equity through the Peoples Budget Project and its leadership role in the Big Easy Budget Coalition. In 2024, CBNO educated 828 residents on the City budget, collected 400+ surveys, and held 12 meetings with City Council and departments. These efforts contributed to securing $37 million in reinvestment for community priorities, including housing, youth services, and violence reduction. More then 30 coalition partners participated in these advocacy and engagement efforts.
$33,376 spent21% of program spendingChangemakers Series - The Changemekers Series offered free civic education events designed to make civic engagement accessible and engaging. In 2024, CBNO hosted 3 events with 84 attendees and reached 993 people through online resources. Highlights included City Council 101, co-led with council staff and community partners, and the Big Easy Budget & Ballot Bash, which drew 60 participants. The series contributed to a 25% increase in civic confidence among participants.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $158,911.
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 $490k to $372k (−24%).
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.
70% of COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 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
Nellie Catzen
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $109k → $167k.
4 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 74% 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 COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS’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
COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
82% 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 COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 91% · 2018 100% · 2019 59% · 2020 68% · 2021 62% · 2022 57% · 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.
How long its funders stay
36% of COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
74% of COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS'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 $216k that is directly attributable, 60% of it comes from funders outside Louisiana, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $617k 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
COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS's revenue fell 67% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS
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 Louisiana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS: 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 COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS?
- COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $832,330 to it, the largest being THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION ($494,189). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $832,330 in grants to COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS?
- THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $494,189 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Louisiana. 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 Committee for a Better New Orleans →
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 17 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