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Friends of Breakthrough Schools at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Friends of Breakthrough Schools

Our mission is to perform fundraising and advocacy activities that exclusively support the opertions and growth of the breakthrough public schools management organization and all its member schools.

$2.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$18MArts & Culture$1.5MOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $51k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
  • $250k+2 grants · $2.0M
$100,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$107M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VILLAGE PREP WILLARD$1,272,424
CITIZENS ACADEMY SOUTHEAST$766,566
BREAKTHROUGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS$100,000
VILLAGE PREP WOODLAND HILLS$19,136
VILLAGE PREP CLIFFS$17,192
CITIZENS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY EAST$14,682
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 15%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 15%THE INTERGENERATIONAL SCHOOLS: $231k → 17%VILLAGE PREP WILLARD: $530k → 17%VILLAGE PREP WILLARD: $525k → 17%VILLAGE PREP WILLARD: $427k → 17%VILLAGE PREP WILLARD: $420k → 17%E PREP WILLARD: $204k → 17%VILLAGE PREP WOODLAND HILLS: $65k → 17%VILLAGE PREP WOODLAND HILLS: $59k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY SOUTHEAST: $602k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY SOUTHEAST: $507k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY SOUTHEAST: $285k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY SOUTHEAST: $193k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY SOUTHEAST: $767k → 17%VILLAGE PREP CLIFFS: $442k → 17%E PREP SUPERIOR: $384k → 17%VILLAGE PREP CLIFFS: $203k → 17%E PREP SUPERIOR: $148k → 17%BREAKTHROUGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $100k → 17%VILLAGE PREP CLIFFS: $84k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY SOUTHEAST: $70k → 17%E PREP SUPERIOR: $65k → 17%LAKESHORE INTERGENERATIONAL SCHOOL: $354k → 17%BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS: $2.0M → 17%VILLAGE PREP WILLARD: $1.3M → 17%BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS: $1.1M → 17%BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS: $956k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY: $575k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY EAST: $573k → 17%CITIZENS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY EAST: $518k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY EAST: $508k → 17%CITIZENS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY EAST: $374k → 17%BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS: $370k → 17%CITIZENS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY EAST: $359k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY: $348k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY EAST: $270k → 17%VILLAGE PREP WOODLAND HILLS: $568k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY EAST: $182k → 17%E PREP WOODLAND HILLS: $243k → 17%CITIZENS ACADEMY: $135k → 17%E PREP WOODLAND HILLS: $186k → 17%VILLAGE PREP CLIFFS: $107k → 17%VILLAGE PREP WOODLAND HILLS: $96k → 17%VILLAGE PREP WOODLAND HILLS: $83k → 17%VILLAGE PREP CLIFFS: $75k → 17%CITIZENS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY: $664k → 17%CITIZENS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY: $349k → 17%CITIZENS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY: $175k → 17%CITIZENS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY: $82k → 17%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.
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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$19M · 11 repeat orgs$648k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +97% since the first grant, against +69% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
4

Total granted

$19M
$648k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+97%
+69%

Still filing today

55%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

  • BP
    BREAKTHROUGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS
    6× · 2017–2025 · $4.6M · revenue +19%
  • VP
    Village Preparatory School III
    7× · 2017–2025 · $3.4M · revenue +151%
  • CA
    Citizens Academy Southeast
    7× · 2017–2025 · $2.5M · revenue +284%

Funded once

  • LI
    Lakeshore Intergenerational Schoolgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $354k · revenue +27%
  • TI
    The Intergenerational Schoolgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $231k · revenue +69%
  • NW
    Near West Intergenerational Schoolgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $42k · revenue +85%
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
Burhan Academy

Burhan Academy provides high-quality, full-time education for Pre-K to 12th grade students, focusing on strong academics, character development, and personal growth. The school is dedicated to creating a supportive learning environment…

Education
2
Golden Bridge Academy

Primary Education

—
3
Cleveland College Preparatory School

Our mission is to prepare students for a college preparatory high school that will ensure success and graduation from a four year college

Education
4
Breakthrough Birmingham

Breakthrough Birmingham works with highly motivated, traditionally underrepresented students in Alabama to achieve post-secondary success while empowering aspiring leaders to become the next generation of educators and advocates.

Education
5
University of Cleveland Preparatory School

Our mission is to prepare students for a college preparatory high school that will ensure success and graduation and acceptance into a four year college.

Education
6
Thaddeus Stevens School

To provide an innovative and effective educational experience for students from Pre-K to 8th grade

Education
7
Charlotte Preparatory School Inc

Charlotte Preparatory School fosters lifelong learning and provides an exemplary educational experience founded on academic excellence, positive character, and leadership development in a diverse, inclusive community.

Education
8
North Columbus Preparatory Academy

North Columbus Preparatory Academy is a public, community school. We are our own school district sponsored by the St. Aloysius Orphanage (Charter School Specialists) which provides oversight and enforces academic, fiscal, and legal…

Education
9
Avery Coonley School

The Avery Coonley School elevates high-achieving and gifted learners through immersion in a mutually talented community where intellect, curiosity, and creativity are enhanced by optimal challenge.

—
10
The School for Global Thinkers

Our mission is to challenge and nurture young women to thrive in future global markets through personalized STEM advanced academics. Through a supportive small school and single-gender environment, project-based learning, and STEM advanced…

Education
11
Bridges Community Academy

The Mission of Bridges Preparatory Academy is to create lifelong learners through high-quality primary education and social skills.

—
12
Bradford Preparatory School

Bradford is a college preparatory school committed to academic excellence, nurturing personal relationships, and inspiring a growing passion for creativity and learning in all of our students.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Citizens Academy; the most unlike its peers is The Intergenerational School. 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

13 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 13 of the 15 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/13
Grantees still filing
12/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BREAKTHROUGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $4,632,243 · EducationBREAKTHROUGH PUBLIC SCHOOLSVillage Preparatory School III: $3,436,829 · EducationVillage Preparatory School IIICitizens Academy Southeast: $2,466,106 · EducationCitizens Academy SoutheastCitizens Leadership Academy East: $1,324,964 · EducationCitizens Leadership Academy EastCitizens Leadership Academy: $1,295,981 · EducationCitizens Leadership AcademyVillage Preparatory School: $976,098 · EducationVillage Preparatory SchoolVillage Preparatory School Woodland Hills: $923,246 · EducationVillage Preparatory School Woodland Hills+3 more: $627,231 · EducationCitizens Academy East: $1,532,648 · OtherCitizens Academy EastCitizens Academy: $1,123,151 · OtherCitizens AcademyCleveland Entrepreneurship Prep: $596,560 · OtherCleveland Entrepreneu…E PREP WOODLAND HILLS: $443,983 · OtherE PREP WOODLAND HILLS+1 more: $20,550 · Other
Education$15,682,698Other$3,716,892

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

25%50%75%100%$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBREAKTHROUGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $4,632,243 over 6y, 23% of budgetVillage Preparatory School III: $3,436,829 over 7y, 15% of budgetCitizens Academy Southeast: $2,466,106 over 7y, 13% of budgetCitizens Academy East: $1,532,648 over 5y, 13% of budgetCitizens Leadership Academy East: $1,324,964 over 6y, 42% of budgetCitizens Leadership Academy: $1,295,981 over 5y, 20% of budgetCitizens Academy: $1,123,151 over 5y, 11% of budgetVillage Preparatory School: $976,098 over 7y, 8.6% of budgetVillage Preparatory School Woodland Hills: $923,246 over 7y, 6.2% of budgetCleveland Entrepreneurship Prep: $596,560 over 3y, 9.8% of budgetLakeshore Intergenerational School: $354,222 over 1y, 17% of budgetThe Intergenerational School: $231,269 over 1y, 8.3% of budgetNear West Intergenerational School: $41,740 over 1y, 1.8% 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 BREAKTHROUGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds Village Preparatory School III ↗
  • Who funds Citizens Academy Southeast ↗
  • Who funds Citizens Academy East ↗
  • Who funds Citizens Leadership Academy East ↗
  • Who funds Citizens Leadership Academy ↗
  • Who funds Citizens Academy ↗
  • Who funds Village Preparatory School ↗
  • Who funds Village Preparatory School Woodland Hills ↗
  • Who funds Cleveland Entrepreneurship Prep ↗
  • Who funds Lakeshore Intergenerational School ↗
  • Who funds The Intergenerational School ↗
  • Who funds Near West Intergenerational School ↗

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.

Breakthrough Public S…Amazonsmile Foundation
Breakthrough Public SchoolsOH22× affinity8 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Breakthrough Public Schools · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Friends of Breakthrough Schools funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Friends of Breakthrough Schools. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 15 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 Friends of Breakthrough Schools’ 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