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Education Forward DC at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Education Forward DC

EDUCATION FORWARD DC (ed forward dc) works to make sure every dc student thrives by supporting and advancing high-quality and equitable educational experiences.

$6.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
39
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$1.2M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$58MYouth Development$2.7MCommunity Improvement$2.4MSocial Science$1.6MPhilanthropy$595kEmployment$580kHealth$428kCrime & Legal$389kOther$0
02FY2025 · 39 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $14k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $165k
  • $50k–250k22 grants · $2.6M
  • $250k+7 grants · $3.2M
$100,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$27M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PAVE INC$1,190,000
DC CHARTER SCHOOL ALLIANCE$430,000
EDUCATION REFORM NOW$350,000
DC POLICY CENTER$350,000
EDNAVIGATOR$325,000
DC INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL$260,000
BELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INC$253,100
LEE MONTESSORI PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL$208,000
URBAN INSTITUTE$200,000
SPECIAL EDUCATION LEADER FELLOWSHIP$200,000
CITYBRIDGE EDUCATION$200,000
INGENUITY PREP PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL$192,000
BLACK SWAN ACADEMY$175,000
WASHINGTON YU YING PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL$146,875
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK MALE EDUCATORS$125,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY18–25, $1.0M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SCHOOL LEADER LAB: $400k → 14%SCHOOL LEADER LAB: $300k → 14%FESTIVAL CENTER INC: $175k → 14%FESTIVAL CENTER INC: $100k → 14%SCHOOL LEADER LAB: $70k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
CA
VA
MD
DC
LA
GA
TX
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$65M · 70 repeat orgs$2.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +57% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

70 repeat relationships: 37 still active in FY2025, 33 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

70
26

Total granted

$65M
$2.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+57%
-1%

Still filing today

93%
62%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $59k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthHuman ServicesSocial ScienceYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • PI
    PAVE INC DBA PARENTS AMPLIFYING VOICES IN EDUCATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $6.9M · revenue +185% · 92% of their budget
  • KD
    KIPP DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS
    8× · 2017–2024 · $5.8M · revenue +112%
  • DC
    DC CHARTER SCHOOL ALLIANCE
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.8M · revenue +250%

Funded once

  • CS
    CHARTER SCHOOL INCUBATOR INITIATIVE
    one grant, 2019 · $500k · revenue -221%
  • EA
    EAGLE ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL
    one grant, 2024 · $400k · revenue 0%
  • GE
    Greenhouse E3
    one grant, 2024 · $300k · revenue +14%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Center City Public Charter Schools

Center city public charter schools (center city pcs) empowers our students for lifelong success by building strong character, promoting academic excellence, and generating public service throughout washington, d.c.

Education
2
Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy

To prepare students to succeed in competitive colleges and to empower them to use public policy to create a more just, free, and equal world.

Education
3
Capitol Hill Day School

Capitol Hill Day School is a co-educational independent school serving students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. Capitol Hill Day School deeply engages a diverse community of students in connecting the classroom with the larger…

Education
4
Inspired Teaching Demonstration Public Charter School

A professional learning community of master teachers and teacher residents who ensure that a diverse group of students achieve their potential as accomplished learners, thoughtful citizens, and imaginative and inquisitive problem solvers…

Education
5
Learn Dc Public Charter School

Provide students with the academic foundation and ambition to earn a college degree.

Education
6
Dc Scholars Public Charter School Inc

To prepare students for the path to college and provide them with the foundation of life skills required to become productive members of their community.

Education
7
The Seed Public Charter School of Washington Dc

The seed public charter school of washington, dc is a public college-preparatory boarding school whose primary mission is to provide an outstanding intensive educational program that prepares children, both academically and socially, for…

Education
8
Howard University Middle School of Mathematics & Science

The howard university middle school of mathematics and science is the only middle school in the country that is located on the campus of an hbcu. we were chartered by howard university for the express purpose of creating a pipeline for…

Education
9
Mastery Charter High School

All students learn the academic and personal skills they need to be truly prepared for postsecondary success and able to pursue their dreams.

Education
10
The Mclean School of Maryland Inc

Mclean school's small classes and abilities model prepare bright students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, including those with dyslexia, anxiety, and attention issues, for college success.

Education
11
South Shore Charter School

The mission of south shore charter school is to cultivate students the tenacity, integrity, and curiosity needed to become innovative and socially responsible leaders, ready to face and solve the ever-changing challenges facing our…

Education
12
Creative City Public Charter School Foundation Inc

Creative City Public Charter School's teachers, students and parents share governance and cooperate on curriculum and community decisions, building on the inquisitive nature of children to drive the project-based arts-integrated…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Achievement Preparatory Academy Public Charter School; the most unlike its peers is Charter School Incubator Initiative. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

89 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 89 of the 99 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

8
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
21
Early backer (in before they grew)
84/89
Grantees still filing
55/89
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PAVE INC DBA PARENTS AMPLIFYING VOICES IN EDUCATION: $6,903,666 · EducationPAVE INC DBA PARENTS AMPLIFYING VOICES IN EDUCATIONKIPP DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS: $5,775,000 · EducationKIPP DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLSDC PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND: $3,601,225 · EducationDC PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDDC CHARTER SCHOOL ALLIANCE: $2,770,000 · EducationEDUCATION REFORM NOW INC: $2,441,000 · EducationCITYSCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE: $2,315,667 · EducationFRIENDSHIP PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC: $2,259,580 · Education+53 more: $28,324,683 · Education+53 moreFEDERAL CITY COUNCIL: $630,000 · OtherFEDERAL C…GIRLS GLOBAL ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: $572,500 · OtherGIRLS GLO…GLOBAL CITIZENS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: $535,000 · OtherGLOBAL CI…KINDRED INC: $481,000 · OtherKINDRED I…DC ASSOCIATION OF CHARTERED PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $443,000 · OtherDC ASSOCI…Advocates for Justice and Education: $389,000 · OtherAdvocates…THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK MALE EDUCATORS: $300,000 · OtherMary's Center for Maternal and Child Care Inc: $246,746 · OtherTHE MEDSTAR-GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER INC: $277,607 · OtherGreenhouse E3: $300,000 · Other+19 more: $1,473,612 · Other+19 moreSCHOOL LEADER LAB: $2,145,000 · Human ServicesFestival Center Inc: $274,928 · Human ServicesDC POLICY CENTER: $1,815,000 · Public BenefitTHE URBAN INSTITUTE: $1,610,000 · Social Science+1 more: $25,000 · Social ScienceTHE BLACK SWAN ACADEMY INC: $800,000 · Youth DevelopmentSCHOOLTALK INC: $555,000 · Youth DevelopmentWASHINGTON REGIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GRANTMAKERS: $400,000 · PhilanthropyGREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $90,000 · PhilanthropyINNOVATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $50,000 · Philanthropy
Education$54,390,821Other$5,648,465Human Services$2,419,928Public Benefit$1,815,000Social Science$1,635,000Youth Development$1,355,000Philanthropy$540,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPAVE INC DBA PARENTS AMPLIFYING VOICES IN EDUCATION: $6,903,666 over 9y, 92% of budgetKIPP DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS: $5,775,000 over 8y, 0.6% of budgetDC PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND: $3,601,225 over 9y, 10% of budgetDC CHARTER SCHOOL ALLIANCE: $2,770,000 over 9y, 21% of budgetEDUCATION REFORM NOW INC: $2,441,000 over 9y, 7.0% of budgetCITYSCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE: $2,315,667 over 8y, 11% of budgetFRIENDSHIP PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC: $2,259,580 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetSCHOOL LEADER LAB: $2,145,000 over 7y, 40% of budgetDC POLICY CENTER: $1,815,000 over 7y, 23% of budgetCORPORATION OF THE WASHINGTON LATIN SCHOOL: $1,799,250 over 5y, 4.5% of budgetRELAY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION: $1,794,786 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetCITY TEACHING ALLIANCE INC: $1,625,000 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetTHE URBAN INSTITUTE: $1,610,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetDistrict of Columbia International School: $1,576,000 over 6y, 1.7% of budgetBELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INC: $1,165,700 over 5y, 2.2% of budgetAPPLETREE INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION INNOVATION: $1,105,000 over 7y, 1.5% of budgetMUNDO VERDE BILINGUAL PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: $1,069,061 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetSURGE INSTITUTE: $1,050,000 over 5y, 8.9% of budgetLawndale Educational and Regional Network Charter School: $1,030,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetROCKETSHIP EDUCATION: $1,015,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetDIGITAL PIONEERS ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: $944,750 over 6y, 16% of budgetWASHINGTON YU YING PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: $822,462 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetTHE BLACK SWAN ACADEMY INC: $800,000 over 7y, 42% of budgetDC PREPARATORY ACADEMY: $780,334 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetEDFUEL: $752,500 over 4y, 14% of budgetTNTP INC: $667,255 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetFEDERAL CITY COUNCIL: $630,000 over 5y, 7.3% of budgetCITIZENS OF THE WORLD CHARTER SCHOOLS: $600,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetPROMISE54: $580,000 over 3y, 4.9% of budgetELSIE WHITLOW STOKES COMMUNITY FREEDOM PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: $574,944 over 7y, 2.0% of budgetGIRLS GLOBAL ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: $572,500 over 3y, 30% of budgetSOJOURNER TRUTH SCHOOL: $572,500 over 3y, 26% of budgetSCHOOLTALK INC: $555,000 over 5y, 6.6% of budgetSPECIAL EDUCATION LEADER FELLOWSHIP: $544,500 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetSTATESMEN COLLEGE PREPARATORY ACADEMY FOR BOYS: $541,000 over 3y, 26% of budgetEDUCATION PIONEERS: $540,500 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetGLOBAL CITIZENS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: $535,000 over 4y, 17% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $520,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetKINDRED INC: $481,000 over 2y, 33% of budgetEDNAVIGATOR INC: $475,000 over 3y, 21% of budgetFREE FELLOWSHIP FOR RACE & EQUITY IN EDUCATION: $461,000 over 7y, 17% of budgetEmpowerK12 Inc: $455,250 over 4y, 15% of budgetTWO RIVERS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC: $448,356 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetDC ASSOCIATION OF CHARTERED PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $443,000 over 4y, 26% of budgetSOCIAL JUSTICE PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC: $409,750 over 5y, 6.3% of budgetEAGLE ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL: $400,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetWASHINGTON REGIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GRANTMAKERS: $400,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetINGENUITY PREP: $392,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds PAVE INC DBA PARENTS AMPLIFYING VOICES IN EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds KIPP DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds DC PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND ↗
  • Who funds DC CHARTER SCHOOL ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds EDUCATION REFORM NOW INC ↗
  • Who funds CITYSCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds SCHOOL LEADER LAB ↗
  • Who funds DC POLICY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds CORPORATION OF THE WASHINGTON LATIN SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds RELAY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds CITY TEACHING ALLIANCE INC ↗
  • Who funds THE URBAN INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds District of Columbia International School ↗
  • Who funds BELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INC ↗
  • Who funds APPLETREE INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION INNOVATION ↗
  • Who funds MUNDO VERDE BILINGUAL PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds SURGE INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds Lawndale Educational and Regional Network Charter School ↗
  • Who funds ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds DIGITAL PIONEERS ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON YU YING PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds THE BLACK SWAN ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds DC PREPARATORY ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds EDFUEL ↗
  • Who funds TNTP INC ↗
  • Who funds FEDERAL CITY COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds CITIZENS OF THE WORLD CHARTER SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds PROMISE54 ↗
  • Who funds ELSIE WHITLOW STOKES COMMUNITY FREEDOM PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds GIRLS GLOBAL ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds SOJOURNER TRUTH SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds SCHOOLTALK INC ↗
  • Who funds SPECIAL EDUCATION LEADER FELLOWSHIP ↗
  • Who funds STATESMEN COLLEGE PREPARATORY ACADEMY FOR BOYS ↗
  • Who funds EDUCATION PIONEERS ↗
  • Who funds GLOBAL CITIZENS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds CHARTER SCHOOL INCUBATOR INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds KINDRED INC ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

New Schools FundWalton Family Foundat…The Morris and Gwendo…Cityschools Collabora…Citybridge Foundation50can IncGreater Washington Co…Gates FoundationCharter Fund Inc D/B/…Carnegie Corporation …Clark Charitable Foun…Gamba Family Foundati…
New Schools FundCA61.8× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: New Schools Fund · Walton Family Foundation Inc · The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation · Cityschools Collaborative · Citybridge Foundation · 50can Inc · Greater Washington Community Foundation · Gates Foundation · Charter Fund Inc D/B/A Charter School Growth Fund · Carnegie Corporation of New York · Clark Charitable Foundation Inc Dba a James & Alice B Clark Foundation · Gamba Family Foundation Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Education Forward DC funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Education Forward DC. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    39report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 99 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Education Forward DC’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home