Texas · Nonprofit
ESSENCE PREP INC
ESSENCE PREP INC (Texas) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,143,004 to it, the largest being CHARTER FUND INC D/B/A CHARTER SCHOOL GROWTH FUND ($990,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.9M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $-1854484
What Essence Prep Inc does
Mission
Developing leading agents of changeEssence Preparatory Public School, through rigorous academics, intentional character development, and cultivating student knowledge of self, prepares all kindergarten through eighth grade students for high school, college, and beyond as leading agents of change in their communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Essence Preparatory Charter School ("Essence Prep") prepares kindergarten through eighth-grade scholars for high school, college, and beyond. We employ a student-centered approach, where rigorous academics, character development, and a structured environment build a strong foundation. Cultivating our scholars' knowledge of self is an essential step in preparing them for a future full of possibilities. At Essence Prep, every scholar makes a Journey of Self-Discovery, and it underpins everything we do. "Social-emotional learning" (SEL) is ubiquitous in schools these days but, it is clear to our team that something is lacking from existing programs. Educators have the best intentions to launch SEL programming for positive outcomes. Yet our team knows what most educators do not: real social-emotional learning starts from a deep and genuine understanding of one's self. Scholars can only be expected to uncover deep sociological or emotional truths in their world once they truly understand their own minds, bodies, and places in the world. This is especially true of the scholars we aim to serve.
$6,831,000 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $6,831,000.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $1.1M to $30M (+2681%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2022 44% · 2023 51% · 2024 74% · 2025 69%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of ESSENCE PREP INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Akeem Brown
CEO/superintend
Board chair
Brian Dillard
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $251k → $583k.
2 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of ESSENCE PREP INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
ESSENCE PREP INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
96% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ESSENCE PREP INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 72% · 2022 77% · 2023 51% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
ESSENCE PREP INC draws 61% of its grant income from funders outside Texas, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $83k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
ESSENCE PREP INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like ESSENCE PREP INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ESSENCE PREP INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ESSENCE PREP INC?
- ESSENCE PREP INC (Texas) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,143,004 to it, the largest being CHARTER FUND INC D/B/A CHARTER SCHOOL GROWTH FUND ($990,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ESSENCE PREP INC have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $2,143,004 in grants to ESSENCE PREP INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ESSENCE PREP INC?
- CHARTER FUND INC D/B/A CHARTER SCHOOL GROWTH FUND is the largest funder on record, with $990,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ESSENCE PREP INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Essence Prep →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 9 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing