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Project Renaissance at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Project Renaissance

To develop and license teachers with diverse backgrounds and experiences for schools in Middle TN.

$613k
Granted FY2017
10
Grants FY2017
2
States reached
$438k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01FY2017 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2017

  • $10k–50k9 grants · $176k
  • $250k+1 grant · $438k
$18,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
RELAY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION$437,500
D2D$37,500
INTREPID COLLEGE PREP$28,000
PURPOSE PREP ACADEMY$18,000
EXPLORE COMMUNITY SCHOOL$18,000
REPUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS$18,000
STEM PREPARATORY ACADEMY$18,000
NASHVILLE CLASSICAL ACADEMY$18,000
STRIVE COLLEGIATE ACADEMY$10,000
NEW VISION CHARTER SCHOOL$10,000
02The need
02

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 (FY17–17) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%RELAY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION: $438k → 17%REPUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS: $18k → 14%EXPLORE COMMUNITY SCHOOL: $18k → 14%NASHVILLE CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $18k → 14%NEW VISION CHARTER SCHOOL: $10k → 14%INTREPID COLLEGE PREP: $28k → 14%D2D: $38k → 14%STEM PREPARATORY ACADEMY: $18k → 14%PURPOSE PREP ACADEMY: $18k → 14%STRIVE COLLEGIATE ACADEMY: $10k → 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.
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 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
North East Carolina Preparatory School Inc

North east carolina preparatory school is a public charter school serving grades k-12 in tarboro, north carolina.

Education
2
Ambition Preparatory Charter School

Through high-quality instruction, intensive academic supports, and hard work, ambition preparatory charter school ensures that all students in kindergarten through grade eight have academic skills and self-discipline for college and life…

Education
3
Episcopal School of Nashville

The episcopal school of nashville, a diverse urban independent school, is dedicated to nurturing the joy of learning and the spirit of discovery in each of its students.

Education
4
Nashville Teacher Residency

To develop and license teachers with diverse backgrounds and experiences for schools in Middle TN.

Education
5
Memphis Rise Academy Inc

To provide students in grades 6-12 with an excellent education, preparing them to pursue ambitious goals and succeed in college.

Education
6
Leadership Preparatory Inc Leadership Prerparatory Charter School

Leadership preparatory charter school is an academically challenging, disciplined, supportive, and joyful school. our mission isa to provide k-8 students with the academic and character foundation necessary to excel in high school,…

Education
7
Ingenuity Prep

Ingenuity prep public charter school was formed to prepare students to succeed in college and beyond as impactful civiic leaders.

Education
8
Elevate Collegiate Inc dba Elevate Collegiate Charter School

To equip all students with the academic knowledge and character development necessary to set forth confidently on the path to college and life filled with success.

Education
9
Harmony Dc Public Charter Schools

The mission of the charter school is to prepare students for higher learning in a safe, caring, and collaborative atmosphere through a quality learner-centered educational program with a strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering,…

Education
10
The New American Academy Charter School

The new american academy charter school empowers learners and inspires leaders to make this a better world. through our collaborative teacher teams, mastery-based career ladder, and looping cycles, we offer personalized rigorous…

Education
11
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
12
Kings Academy Nashville

King's academy is a pre-k-8th grade independent christian school in nashville, tennessee, providing a classically inspired education to a racially and socioeconomically balanced student body.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Intrepid College Preparatory School; the most unlike its peers is Nashville Classical Charter School. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
03the grantee network

9 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. 9 of the 10 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
9/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

RELAY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION: $437,500 · EducationRELAY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATIONINSTRUCTION PARTNERS: $37,500 · EducationINSTRUCTION PARTNERSINTREPID COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $28,000 · Education+4 more: $64,000 · Education+4 morePURPOSE PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC: $18,000 · OtherNEW VISION CHARTER SCHOOL: $10,000 · OtherMARTHA O'BRYAN CENTER INC: $18,000 · Religion
Education$567,000Other$28,000Religion$18,000

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 budgetRELAY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION: $437,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetINTREPID COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $28,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNASHVILLE CLASSICAL CHARTER SCHOOL: $18,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSTEM PREPARATORY ACADEMY: $18,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMARTHA O'BRYAN CENTER INC: $18,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPURPOSE PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC: $18,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetRePublic Schools Jackson Inc: $18,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSTRIVE COLLEGIATE ACADEMY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

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.

Scarlett Family Found…Charter Fund Inc D/B/…Blair J Wilson Charit…Tennessee State Colla…Joe C Davis FoundationCity Fund50can IncDollar General Litera…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Scarlett Family FoundationTN17.9× affinity6 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Scarlett Family Foundation · Charter Fund Inc D/B/A Charter School Growth Fund · Blair J Wilson Charitable Trust · Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education · Joe C Davis Foundation · City Fund · 50can Inc · Dollar General Literacy Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Project Renaissance funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Project Renaissance. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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 10 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 2017, released 2017. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $68k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2017, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Project Renaissance’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