· Public charity
Vela Education Fund
The VELA EDUCATION FUND exists to accelerate education innovation and opportunity for every learner by: supporting everyday entrepreneurs building custom education programs to meet families learners' needs, increasing awareness of nontraditional education, and accelerating adoption by more families and communities.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2020
- $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
- $50k–250k6 grants · $686k
- $250k+4 grants · $2.0M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| NATIONAL PARENTS UNITED INC | $700,000 |
| 40 SCHOOLS | $465,000 |
| CAMELBACK VENTURES | $445,000 |
| HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION | $400,000 |
| YOUTH ENTREPRENEURS | $154,500 |
| TETON SCIENCE SCHOOL | $150,000 |
| GRIPTAPE INC | $150,000 |
| ARIZONA COUNCIL FOR AMERICAN PRIVATE EDUCATION | $100,000 |
| NEVADA ACTION FOR SCHOOL OPTIONS | $81,000 |
| HLS CREATIVE ACADEMY | $50,000 |
| HIGH SCHOOL FOR RECORDING ARTS | $25,000 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY20–20, $700k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
Which US states your grants reach
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Pre-k to 12th grade independent, progressive school tailored for gifted students. the school provides challenging experimental education that recognizes and nurtures the individual strengths of gifted learners, empowering them.
To create and inspire better ways to give every student an educational foundation for lifelong success. we imagine a world where every student attends a school that meets them where they are, adapts to the unique ways they learn, and…
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…
The mission of trillium academy is to break away from conventional schooling and celebrate the incredible capabilities of twice-exceptional (2e) students, providing them with the learning environment they need to discover and develop their…
We empower young people to explore and grow their unique intellectual, ethical, and creative capabilities, and to treasure diversity and growth in others.
The mission of the high tech high graduate school of education is to activate a global network of change leaders to disrupt the status quo through transformative learning experiences.
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…
We take a joyful, community-oriented approach to raising engaged citizens, deep learners, and brave adventurers with the skills, creativity, and heart needed to better the world.
The principal intent of the organization is to conduct activities to advance education reform in public schools, including public charter schools. specifically, the organization will engage in activities to support and transform…
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.
Ps1's mission is to spark curious and critical thinkers who confidently contribute to their communities.
The institution provides educational instruction and activities to students ranging from preschool through 8th grade.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Griptape Org Inc and the most unlike its peers is Hudson Lab School. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 11 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds NATIONAL PARENTS UNION INC ↗
- Who funds 4point0 Schools ↗
- Who funds CAMELBACK VENTURES ↗
- Who funds HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds Youth Entrepreneurs Inc ↗
- Who funds TETON SCIENCE SCHOOLS INC ↗
- Who funds GRIPTAPE ORG INC ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL MICROSCHOOLING CENTER ↗
- Who funds HUDSON LAB SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds HIGH SCHOOL FOR RECORDING ARTS ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: New Schools Fund · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Walton Family Foundation Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Vela Education Fund funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.