Columbus Ceo Collective Llc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
883958084
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Columbus, OH, USA
Phone
6143321592
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$386,634
Expenses
$512,767
Assets
$355,963
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ELIZABETH JOY (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • ELIZABETH JOY (CEO): $297,917 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To build financial independence within the black business community through our collective focus on growth, development, improving financial viability, sustainability and well-being, for black entrepreneurs who own and operate black-owned business enterprises headquartered in central Ohio, with measurable outcomes.

What it reported doing in 2025

Columbus ceo collective is a collaboration of business leaders focused on advancing a shared vision of creating an inclusive economy in central Ohio. The organization carries out its exempt purpose by supporting the growth of black-owned businesses, enhancing financial well-being for individuals and families, assisting with closing the wealth gap, revitalizing communities, and contributing to a healthier regional economy. During 2025, the organization continued to make measurable progress toward achieving its exempt purpose by strengthening member engagement and advancing mission-driven initiatives that support black-owned businesses and community economic development. Despite numerous challenges resulting from the changing landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, columbus ceo collective remained committed to its mission and continued to serve as a consistent platform for collaboration, connectivity, and shared action. Throughout the year, columbus ceo collective successfully executed several mission-aligned events and convenings, including meetings, forums, and roundtables designed to support relationship-building, business collaboration, and the exchange of resources and information among members and community stakeholders. Program activities continued to include information dissemination, convening, networking, and alignment with other community organizations to strengthen collective impact and expand opportunities that support a healthier economy in central Ohio.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 91% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -32.6%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.69; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 58.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 80.4% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 26.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 80.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $415K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $298K · 3 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.