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Colloqate Design

EIN 82-1112244 · New Orleans, LA

Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.

LegitimacyPassesRegistration and standingFinancial healthWeak40 out of 100GovernanceFair60 out of 100Impact evidenceDescribes programsHow well its results are evidenced

What it says it does

A justice practice focused on expanding community access to and building power through design of social and cultural spaces.

Income
$1.2 million
Spending
$1.5 million
Spent on programs
70%
Reserves
-1.1 months of spending
Largest source of income
fees for its services, 96%
Employees
12
Volunteers
0
Highest pay
$102,874, president

Source: Form 990 for the year ending January 31, 2026, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Financial health

Weak: 40 out of 100.

  • Reserves

    0 of 35

    Spendable reserves are negative: it owes or has committed more than it holds.

  • Debt

    10 of 20

    It owes 40% of what it owns.

  • Living within its means

    0 of 15

    Spending exceeded income by 27% of income.

  • Income trend

    15 of 15

    Income rose 81% on the year before.

  • Spending floor

    15 of 15

    70% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.

Source: Form 990 for the year ending January 31, 2026, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Governance

Fair: 60 out of 100.

  • Independent board

    0 of 25

    0 of 0 voting board members are independent.

  • Conflict of interest policy

    15 of 15

    Has a written conflict of interest policy.

  • Whistleblower policy

    8 of 8

    Has a written whistleblower policy.

  • Record keeping policy

    7 of 7

    Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.

  • Board minutes

    5 of 5

    Keeps minutes of board meetings.

  • Board sees the tax return

    10 of 10

    Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.

  • Pay set independently

    5 of 5

    Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.

  • Independent check of accounts

    0 of 15

    Its accounts were not audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.

  • No reported misuse

    10 of 10

    Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.

Source: Form 990 for the year ending January 31, 2026, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Impact evidence

Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.

Programs described in its return (16)
  1. $272,998 spent. Storia: Cultural Futures - Mellon CID - Colloqate will work to design and construction cost to execute the Claiborne Innovation District Project that was started back in 2017. The remainder of the funds will be used for capacity building and organizational support for cultural institutions on the ground in New Orleans and potentially Portland.
  2. $227,448 spent. Meyer Memorial Trust funds Colloqates environmental justice work - Colloqate Design assisting with build power with frontline communities goal. Separately Meyer is providing generous support for Colloqates CDA O Community Design Advocates & Organizers Training Program curriculum with a paid program launch planned for 2026.
  3. $143,631 spent. Colloqate is working with the City of Olympia to complete ground level landscaping create a festival street along with library activation spaces and create connections to a building site. These efforts include Building relationships and networks within the community and offer assistance into other growth opportunities.
  4. $66,948 spent. Jane Place HQ - A 5,000 sf new build for the Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability initiative. 3 units of affordable housing Jane Place Headquarters and community space.
  5. $1,660 spent. Freedom To Grow is designed as a transformative justice center that supports the reintegration of returning citizens. It focuses on empowerment through education vocational training and community engagement.
  6. $112,279 spent. PCC Opportunity Center - The Portland Community College PCC Opportunity Center is a workforce training center in Portland OR that will be an anchor for the community in Northeast Portlands racially diverse Cully neighborhood. Bora Architecture & Interiors Lead Architect AB Cultural Drivers Community Engagement Partner Amara Perez Community Engagement Partner PLACE Studio Landscape Architecture
  7. $77,501 spent. Nature In Neighbors collaborating with Colloqate Design on community engagement and participatory design projects most notably the Nature in Neighborhoods Community Choice Grants a participatory budgeting pilot with Metro regional government that resulted in 14 park and nature restoration projects across 6 districts being approved for funding.
  8. $29,644 spent. MLK Library - The renovated MLK Library is a rehabilitation of the historic Mies Van De Rohe building in the heart of downtown. The library will center the collective legacy of Dr. King Marion Barry and the array of individuals that ensured the success of the civil rights movement and lead the way for present-day activists and organizers.
  9. $14,642 spent. Remaking the campus: PSU selects Walker Macy to advance its Place Matters initiative The design team proposes a new welcome center colorful paint jobs bold signage and justice- oriented collaboration to transform the university campus and help revitalize downtown.
  10. Various Speaking Engagements
  11. $100 spent. CBSE - The CENTER FOR BLACK STUDENT EXCELLENCE is a community-initiated effort to consider a Place an Approach and a Redesign of the Portland Public School System to address the problem of decades of underinvestment systemic racism lack of coordinated systems of support and discriminatory practices have resulted in an enduring opportunity and achievement gap for Black students in Portland.
  12. $1,888 spent. Jefferson High School Cultural Placemaking - facilitates a Design Justice-based community engagement process supporting a BIPOC-led team alongside LEVER Architecture and Bora with the project honoring Jeffersons history as an anchor in the Black community in North Portland intertwining race culture nature and the built environment fitting the cultural placemaking framing. Modernization aims to honor Jeffersons history as an anchor in the black community.
  13. $50,297 spent. De Rose Community Bridge - To assist with culturally specific and culturally responsive nonprofit serving immigrants refugees and houseless individuals in Portland and Beaverton Oregon.
  14. $12,493 spent. Lone Fir - Block 14 at Lone Fir Cemetery was historically a Chinese American burial ground holding nearly 3,000 ancestors until Multnomah County cleared it in the 1950s for a parking lot and maintenance building desecrating graves and severing the communitys connection to a sacred site central to ancestor-honoring traditions. Early community engagement surfaced personal everyday practices of honoring ancestors food fragrance photographs which are informing the projects approach to repair and reconnection.
  15. $28,852 spent. The York Urban Village project is a Colloqate collaboration with the York Collective envisioning housing health cultural and green spaces for Portlands Black community. It was presented as part of Our Rooted Futures, which unveiled the York Urban Village Exhibit and Guilds Lake Diorama featuring renderings dioramas and archival materials exploring themes of placemaking legacy co-optation and solidarity grounding the work in historical truths while imagining liberated futures. Its tied to the broader York Collective initiative named for York the enslaved member of the Lewis and Clark expedition with related educational and cultural programming in Portland.
  16. $18,110 spent. The 1803 Fund is a Portland Oregon organization founded in 2023 seeking to redevelop historically Black areas

Source: Form 990 for the year ending January 31, 2026, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Legitimacy checks

  1. Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.

    Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

    Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  2. Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.

    Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.

    Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  3. Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.

    On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.

    Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  4. Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.

    Most recent return on file covers the year ending January 2026.

    Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  5. How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.

    Recognized by the IRS since June 2018.

    Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  6. Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.

    Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.

    Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.

Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.