Design Forward Alliance
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 815389496
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2017–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8583537909
- Rating confidence
- Limited
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $158,074
- Expenses
- $123,960
- Assets
- $56,350
- Liabilities
- $967
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KENNEN SISCO (President)
- ERIC WEISS (President)
- JULIE MORGAN (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- KENNEN SISCO (President)
- ERIC WEISS (President)
- JULIE MORGAN (Vice President)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Advocating for Human-Centered Design as a regional approach to improve economic, social, and civic life in our community.Design Forward Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to leveraging the power of design to drive social impact. As a collective of San Diego's leading design minds from industry and academia, it fosters collaboration across disciplines to tackle complex societal challenges. The organization focuses on creating innovative solutions that enhance community well-being, sustainability, and inclusivity.
What it reported doing in 2025
San Diego Design Week: A multi-day, community-based program celebrating design across disciplines through panels, workshops, and public events.Clean Water Challenge: A community design initiative focused on water sustainability and environmental awareness.World Design Capital Closing Contribution: Supported and participated in programming for the World Design Capital closing events.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Sustainability: 56
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 21.6%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.45; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -82.3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2017 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.