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School Smart Kc Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

School Smart Kc Inc

From our inception our mission has been to eliminate the achievement gap for students in kansas city.

$4.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
34
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$948k
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 2024.

Education$41MYouth Development$278kHuman Services$185kHealth$91kReligion$73kInternational$70kHousing & Shelter$25kArts & Culture$20k
02FY2024 · 34 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $338k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $895k
  • $250k+6 grants · $3.1M
$26,668
Median grant
5
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE EDUCATOR ACADEMY$947,500
TEACH FOR AMERICA INC$693,750
SHOW ME KC SCHOOLS$546,881
UMKC FOUNDATION$390,000
KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS$271,080
ACADEMY FOR THE INTEGRATED ARTS$258,990
CITY YEAR INC$226,000
EACH ONE TEACH ONE LEARNING CENTER LLC$125,000
GUADALUPE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM INC$116,668
SPARKWHEEL INC$115,000
ROYAL CHARITIES INC$100,000
TEACHERS LIKE ME$90,000
DELLA LAMB COMMUNITY SERVICES$70,000
LATINX EDUCATION COLLABORATIVE$52,500
CROSSROADS CHARTER SCHOOLS OF KANSAS CITY$32,000
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 (FY17–24, $3.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% 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: $41k → 14%MCEL UNITED INC: $20k → 13%SCHOOL LEADER LAB: $14k → 14%MCEL UNITED INC: $14k → 13%MCEL UNITED INC: $14k → 13%AVENUE OF LIFE INC: $25k → 8%AVENUE OF LIFE INC: $20k → 8%START AT ZERO: $25k → 15%UNITED INNER CITY SERVICES: $25k → 15%ACADEMIE LAFAYETTE: $708k → 15%ACADEMIE LAFAYETTE: $659k → 15%ACADEMIE LAFAYETTE: $617k → 15%ACADEMIE LAFAYETTE: $582k → 15%ACADEMIE LAFAYETTE: $412k → 15%ACADEMIE LAFAYETTE: $175k → 15%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

IL
NY
MA
UT
CO
MO
KS
DC
FL
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.
$40M · 43 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +48% since the first grant, against +43% for those funded once.

43 repeat relationships: 28 still active in FY2024, 15 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

43
20

Total granted

$40M
$925k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+48%
+43%

Still filing today

93%
70%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $263k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyHealthRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • KC
    KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS EDUCATION FOUNDATION
    5× · 2018–2022 · $4.9M · revenue ×20 · 43% of their budget
  • AL
    ACADEMIE LAFAYETTE
    6× · 2017–2022 · $3.2M · revenue +124%
  • SM
    Show Me KC Schools Inc
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.0M · revenue +245% · 86% of their budget

Funded once

  • HM
    HICKMAN MILLS C-1SCHOOL DISTRICT
    one grant, 2020 · $300k
  • CS
    CENTER SCHOOL DISTRICT #58 AND #59
    one grant, 2020 · $135k
  • SJ
    ST JAMES-PASEO UNITED METHODIST CHURCH INC
    one grant, 2020 · $73k
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
City Academy Inc

See schedule o.city academy transforms children, families and our community through exceptional education and bold expectations that empower children to overcome barriers.

Education
2
Thomas Jefferson School

Thomas jefferson school engages its students in the education necessary to live as responsible citizens of the world. through the strongest possible college-prepatory program and within a nurturing community, students develop a…

—
3
Brooklyn Charter School

Students are prepared to meet the needs of an ever changing technological and global society. we use the latest technology in our classrooms as an integral part of its curriculum approach. this approach is based on the latest research in…

Education
4
Kansas City Christian School Association

To bring glory to god by providing children with an excellent christ- centered education rooted in the word of god.

—
5
Washington Leadership Academy Public Charter School

Wla combines best practices in teaching and learning, with the latest in educational technology to create an unparalleled high school experience. students will graduate from wla prepared for college, career, and lives of public leadership.

Education
6
Kipp Chicago Schools

The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…

Education
7
Whitefield Academy Association

The mission of whitefield academy is to support parents by providing students with a top-tier academic foundation in a joyful, christ-centered community of classical learning.

Education
8
Teach St Louis

Founded In 2018, Teach St. Louis (formerly St. Louis Teacher Residency) launched to improve teacher quality and retention in St. Louis, a city where 40% of new teachers exit the classroom in their first three years. Teach St. Louis…

Education
9
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
10
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
11
Topeka Collegiate School Inc

To prepare students for advanced education, successful careers and responsible citizenship through academic excellence and humanitarian ideals.

Education
12
The Peak School

The peak school seeks to ignite a passion for learning, to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity, and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kansas City Girls Preparatory Academy; the most unlike its peers is Global Fc. 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

61 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. 61 of the 70 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.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
59/61
Grantees still filing
44/61
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $4,852,263 · EducationKANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS EDUCATION FOUNDATIONTHE EDUCATOR ACADEMY INC: $4,832,500 · EducationTHE EDUCATOR ACADEMY INCShow Me KC Schools Inc: $2,981,711 · EducationShow Me KC Schools IncTeach for America Inc: $2,975,000 · EducationTeach for America IncHOGAN PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC: $2,830,900 · EducationHOGAN PREPARATORY ACADEMY INCCROSSROADS CHARTER SCHOOLS: $2,558,790 · EducationCROSSROADS CHARTER SCHOOLSBSDS INC BROOKSIDE CHARTER SCHOOL: $1,789,113 · EducationSPARKWHEEL INC: $1,645,677 · EducationGUADALUPE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM INC: $1,590,628 · EducationCITIZENS OF THE WORLD CHARTER SCHOOL-KANSAS CITY: $1,377,654 · Education+31 more: $6,366,268 · Education+31 moreCITY YEAR INC: $1,101,000 · OtherCITY YEAR…KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $549,714 · OtherKANSAS CI…KANSAS CITY NEIGHBORHOOD ACADEMY: $500,000 · OtherKANSAS CI…KC ACTION FUND: $375,000 · OtherKC ACTION…HICKMAN MILLS C-1SCHOOL DISTRICT: $300,000 · OtherHICKMAN M…DE LA SALLE EDUCATION CENTER: $284,556 · OtherDE LA SAL…CENTER SCHOOL DISTRICT #58 AND #59: $135,000 · OtherEACH ONE TEACH ONE LEARNING CENTER LLC: $125,000 · Other+8 more: $221,181 · Other+8 moreACADEMIE LAFAYETTE: $3,153,396 · Human ServicesACADEMIE …+5 more: $197,200 · Human Services+5 moreMO KAN 2020 VISION INC: $268,010 · Youth DevelopmentTEACHERS LIKE ME: $240,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE KANSAS CITY ROYALS FOUNDATION: $250,000 · PhilanthropyDELLA LAMB COMMUNITY SERVICES: $70,000 · PhilanthropyMATTIE RHODES MEMORIAL SOCIETY D/B/A MATTIE RHODES CENTER: $64,350 · HealthThe Children's Mercy Hospital: $6,487 · HealthGLOBAL FC: $35,000 · Recreation & Sports
Education$33,800,504Other$3,591,451Human Services$3,350,596Youth Development$508,010Philanthropy$320,000Health$70,837Recreation & Sports$35,000

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 budgetKANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $4,852,263 over 5y, 43% of budgetTHE EDUCATOR ACADEMY INC: $4,832,500 over 4y, 38% of budgetACADEMIE LAFAYETTE: $3,153,396 over 6y, 5.5% of budgetShow Me KC Schools Inc: $2,981,711 over 8y, 86% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $2,975,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetHOGAN PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC: $2,830,900 over 5y, 6.5% of budgetCROSSROADS CHARTER SCHOOLS: $2,558,790 over 8y, 6.6% of budgetBSDS INC BROOKSIDE CHARTER SCHOOL: $1,789,113 over 7y, 5.3% of budgetSPARKWHEEL INC: $1,645,677 over 8y, 7.6% of budgetGUADALUPE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM INC: $1,590,628 over 6y, 2.6% of budgetCITIZENS OF THE WORLD CHARTER SCHOOL-KANSAS CITY: $1,377,654 over 7y, 16% of budgetCITY YEAR INC: $1,101,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetUMKC FOUNDATION: $1,085,000 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetKANSAS CITY GIRLS PREPARATORY ACADEMY: $1,078,090 over 6y, 14% of budgetKC INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY: $952,787 over 7y, 2.8% of budgetSCUOLA VITA NUOVA: $689,000 over 5y, 4.8% of budgetACADEMY FOR INTEGRATED ARTS: $606,656 over 6y, 4.5% of budgetKANSAS CITY NEIGHBORHOOD ACADEMY: $500,000 over 3y, 8.0% of budgetKC ACTION FUND: $375,000 over 2y, 100% of budgetDE LA SALLE EDUCATION CENTER: $284,556 over 6y, 6.3% of budgetMO KAN 2020 VISION INC: $268,010 over 4y, 32% of budgetTHE KANSAS CITY ROYALS FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetTEACHERS LIKE ME: $240,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetAligned: $200,000 over 2y, 25% of budgetLatinx Education Collaborative: $187,500 over 5y, 7.9% of budgetTURN THE PAGE KC INC: $161,070 over 4y, 13% of budgetUNIVERSITY ACADEMY: $136,668 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetTHE LITERACY LAB: $125,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFRONTIER SCHOOLS INC: $120,400 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI CHARTER SCHOOLS: $115,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetTNTP INC: $107,700 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetGENESIS SCHOOL INC: $104,884 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetBrothers Liberating Our Communities Inc: $100,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetKIPP KANSAS CITY: $76,804 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetDELLA LAMB COMMUNITY SERVICES: $70,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetMATTIE RHODES MEMORIAL SOCIETY D/B/A MATTIE RHODES CENTER: $64,350 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $62,475 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSCHOOL LEADER LAB: $54,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetHOPE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY: $51,640 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetPRINCIPALSCONNECT: $50,000 over 2y, 22% of budgetMCEL UNITED INC: $48,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetAVENUE OF LIFE INC: $45,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetGORDON PARKS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: $42,260 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetThe Transition Academy: $40,000 over 1y, 61% of budgetGLOBAL FC: $35,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF MIDDLE AMERICA INC: $34,681 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPARTNERSHIP FOR REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL PREPARATION - KANSAS CITY INC: $27,474 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetUNITED INNER CITY SERVICES INC: $25,200 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.

  • Who funds KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE EDUCATOR ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds ACADEMIE LAFAYETTE ↗
  • Who funds Show Me KC Schools Inc ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds HOGAN PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds CROSSROADS CHARTER SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds BSDS INC BROOKSIDE CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds SPARKWHEEL INC ↗
  • Who funds GUADALUPE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM INC ↗
  • Who funds CITIZENS OF THE WORLD CHARTER SCHOOL-KANSAS CITY ↗
  • Who funds CITY YEAR INC ↗
  • Who funds UMKC FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds KANSAS CITY GIRLS PREPARATORY ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds KC INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds SCUOLA VITA NUOVA ↗
  • Who funds ACADEMY FOR INTEGRATED ARTS ↗
  • Who funds KANSAS CITY NEIGHBORHOOD ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds KC ACTION FUND ↗
  • Who funds DE LA SALLE EDUCATION CENTER ↗
  • Who funds MO KAN 2020 VISION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TEACHERS LIKE ME ↗
  • Who funds Aligned ↗
  • Who funds Latinx Education Collaborative ↗
  • Who funds TURN THE PAGE KC INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds THE LITERACY LAB ↗
  • Who funds FRONTIER SCHOOLS INC ↗
  • Who funds ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI CHARTER SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds THE SCHOOLWORKS LAB INC ↗
  • Who funds TNTP INC ↗
  • Who funds GENESIS SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds Brothers Liberating Our Communities Inc ↗
  • Who funds KIPP KANSAS CITY ↗

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.

Ewing Marion Kauffman…Greater Kansas City C…The Sherman Family Fo…Jackson County Commun…Health Forward Founda…The Kansas City Royal…United Way of Greater…The Francis Family Fo…Oppenstein Brothers F…The H & R Block Found…The Baum Family Found…The Shumaker Family F…
Ewing Marion Kauffman FoundationMO95.1× affinity46 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation · Greater Kansas City Community Foundation · The Sherman Family Foundation · Jackson County Community Children's Services Fund · Health Forward Foundation · The Kansas City Royals Foundation · United Way of Greater Kansas City Inc · The Francis Family Foundation · Oppenstein Brothers Foundation · The H & R Block Foundation · The Baum Family Foundation · The Shumaker Family 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 School Smart Kc Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from School Smart Kc Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
23report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 70 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on School Smart Kc’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