Ohio · Nonprofit
ONE COLUMBUS
ONE COLUMBUS (Ohio) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $130,000 to it, the largest being LANCASTER LENS INC ($50,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $7.7M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $130k
- Net assets
- $3.9M
What One Columbus does
Mission
One Columbus is a regional private-public sector partnership that will leverage central ohio's research and academic institutions, diverse industries to position the state capital to become the fastest growing economy in the country and one of the nation's leaders in economic development.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
By leveraging research institutions, academic institutions and industry sectors, consolidating fundraising, establishing and evaluating metrics and allocating resources among the region, One Columbus's mission is to position the region to become a growing economy and a leader in economic development.
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990.
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 $1.8M to $4.2M (+132%).
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 30% · 2018 20% · 2020 28% · 2021 32% · 2024 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of ONE COLUMBUS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Kenny Mcdonald
President & CEO
Board chair
Sue Zazon
Chairman of the board
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2021: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $25k → $65k.
Left out of every figure on this page: $160k from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Mount Carmel Health System). These are real filings, and they are not money ONE COLUMBUS raised.
From the IRS filings of ONE COLUMBUS’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
ONE COLUMBUS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
31% 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 ONE COLUMBUS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 62% — 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
100% of ONE COLUMBUS's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
ONE COLUMBUS runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,203 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like ONE COLUMBUS
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.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- One Columbus Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ONE COLUMBUS: 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 ONE COLUMBUS?
- ONE COLUMBUS (Ohio) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $130,000 to it, the largest being LANCASTER LENS INC ($50,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ONE COLUMBUS have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $130,000 in grants to ONE COLUMBUS, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ONE COLUMBUS?
- LANCASTER LENS INC is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ONE COLUMBUS 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 4 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