Community Design Collaborative

What Community Design Collaborative does

Community Design Collaborative is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID 23-2835435) founded in 1991 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It provides pro bono planning and design services to community groups, neighborhood associations, and nonprofit organizations across the Philadelphia region, with a focus on neighborhood revitalization, equitable development, and the preservation of civic and sacred spaces. Its core product is human-delivered design support, executed primarily through volunteer architects and a small in-house team of roughly nine staff and consultants, rather than through any proprietary technology platform.

The Collaborative's program portfolio includes Design Services (the umbrella offering), Core Grants that fund design support for qualifying organizations, Technical Assistance, the Sacred Places / Civic Spaces initiative (in partnership with Partners for Sacred Places), the Schoolyards program for transforming school outdoor spaces, and the more recent Preserving Black Presence Philadelphia initiative co-led with The Growth Collective and funded by the Mellon Foundation. It has no proprietary software, no API surface, and no disclosed data products; service delivery runs through in-person engagement, charrettes, workshops, and direct consultations with community partners.

Its revenue model is a nonprofit mix of donations, foundation and government grants, and limited professional services, with pricing not publicly disclosed. The go-to-market is community-led and event-driven: the organization identifies needs via design charrettes and community engagement, deploys volunteer design capacity, and distributes awareness through its website, newsletter, social media, and competitions such as the Stewardson Design Competition with AIA Philadelphia. In 2025 the organization relocated to the Village of Industry & Art (VIA) campus at 320 S. Broad Street, Room 231, co-locating with Monument Lab, BlackStar Projects, and DesignPhiladelphia.

Name

Community Design Collaborative

Legal name

Community Design Collaborative

Website

https://cdesignc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Community Design Collaborative is a Philadelphia-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1991 that provides pro bono planning and design services to community groups, CDCs, schools, and nonprofit organizations across the Philadelphia region through volunteer architects and a small in-house staff.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Design Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (54131), Architectural Services (541310)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Urban Planning & Master Planning (BPAHAKAD), Community Engagement & Participatory Planning (BPAHAKAO)

Keywords

• Pro bono design services
• Community development design
• Neighborhood revitalization planning
• Nonprofit design support
• Equitable urban design

Headquarters

HQ city

Philadelphia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: As a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID #23-2835435), the Collaborative relies on donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations. They participate in United Way Donor Choice (#12699).
2. Foundation and Government Grants: The organization receives grant support from foundations and public agencies for specific programs and initiatives, such as the Preserving Black Presence Philadelphia initiative supported by Mellon.
3. Design Services: Provides core grants and technical assistance for design services to nonprofits and community groups, with some services offered free or at reduced cost through volunteer labor.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Community Design Collaborative provides planning and design services to community groups, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions in the Philadelphia region, delivered primarily through volunteer architects and design professionals. Its offerings include core design support, technical assistance, and grant-funded programs such as Sacred Places/Civic Spaces and Schoolyards, with services provided free or at reduced cost through pro bono volunteer labor.

Product overview

Community Design Collaborative is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization offering design services to community groups and nonprofits. The organization provides a portfolio of services including core design assistance, grants, technical assistance, and volunteer coordination. Key programs include Sacred Places/Civic Spaces focused on preserving sacred and civic spaces, and Schoolyards transforming school outdoor areas. Founded in 1991, the Collaborative has helped communities imagine their highest hopes for their neighborhoods through participatory design approaches.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Design Services
• Core Grants
• Technical Assistance
• Sacred Places / Civic Spaces
• Schoolyards

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 30 years of service strengthening Philadelphia neighborhoods through design
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• AIA PhiladelphiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 October 2025AIA Philadelphia gave the Collaborative initial workspace and startup stipend, helping them become an independent nonprofit. AIA Philadelphia continues to partner with the Collaborative on design competitions and initiatives including the Stewardson Design Competition.
• Monument LabcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 October 2025Monument Lab is one of multiple cultural organizations moving into The Village of Industry & Art (VIA) space, sharing the adaptive reuse campus with the Community Design Collaborative.
• Partners for Sacred PlacescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Collaborative partnered with Partners for Sacred Places on the Sacred Places/Civic Spaces initiative, helping historic religious sites preserve their buildings while continuing to serve communities.
• The Growth CollectiveflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint initiative 'Preserving Black Presence Philadelphia' is a collaboration between the Community Design Collaborative and The Growth Collective, supported by Mellon Foundation funding.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Urban Land Institute (ULI) Philadelphia: Philadelphia chapter of the global urban development membership organization — operates in the same regional land use, planning, and community development ecosystem, frequently partnering with mission-aligned organizations like the Collaborative on charrettes and community engagement.

Broad incumbents

• Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC): Large national community development intermediary that funds and supports CDCs on affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization — comparable mission footprint to the Collaborative's CDC clients (e.g., Mt. Vernon Manor CDC) but operates at much greater financial scale.
• Enterprise Community Partners: Major national nonprofit that combines development, policy, and design/programming support to create affordable housing and community assets; overlaps with the Collaborative's affordable housing design and neighborhood revitalization work but at much greater scale and breadth.

Regional players

• Monument Lab: Philadelphia-based creative nonprofit focused on public memory, monuments, and equitable development — directly relevant peer that is co-locating with the Collaborative at the VIA campus and shares the equitable development / community co-design ethos.
• Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia: Philadelphia-based affordable housing nonprofit where Executive Director Tya Winn previously served as Director of Project Planning & Design — operates in the same regional ecosystem and shares the focus on design support for community-led housing and neighborhood projects.

Emerging players

• Architects Without Borders USA: Volunteer-architect-driven nonprofit delivering pro bono design to underserved communities domestically and abroad — directly mirrors the volunteer-powered model but skews toward disaster recovery and international development rather than neighborhood-based U.S. work.

Direct peers

• Project for Public Spaces (PPS): Nonprofit focused on placemaking and the design of public spaces through community engagement — highly comparable to the Collaborative's community-led planning approach for neighborhood revitalization, parks, and civic spaces like Schoolyards and Sacred Places/Civic Spaces.
• Center for Architecture Foundation: Nonprofit design education and outreach organization linked to AIA New York — directly comparable as a nonprofit that channels design professionals into community engagement and public programming similar to the Collaborative's volunteer model.
• Design Corps: National nonprofit that connects design professionals with under-resourced communities through pro bono services — directly mirrors Community Design Collaborative's volunteer-powered, mission-driven design assistance model, but operates across multiple U.S. cities rather than focusing on a single region.
• The Growth Collective: Philadelphia-based nonprofit collaborative working on equitable development and Black community preservation — joint partner with the Collaborative on the Mellon-funded Preserving Black Presence Philadelphia initiative, sharing mission alignment on racial equity and community-led design.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cdesignc_
• Facebookfacebook.com/cdesignc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/community-design-collaborative

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Community Design Collaborative