Illinois · Nonprofit
INTRINSIC SCHOOLS
INTRINSIC SCHOOLS (Illinois) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,974,322 to it, the largest being FRANK FAMILY FOUNDATION ($18,279,472). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $42M
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $25M
- Net assets
- $23M
What Intrinsic Schools does
Mission
The mission of Intrinsic Schools is to create a revolutionary new school model in order to 1) prepare all students for postsecondary success and world-changing endeavors; and 2) provide the education community with a roadmap to sustainable implementation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The school is a public charter school that promises to integrate technology into teaching and learning in order to personalize the experience for each student. Each student will have an individual mobile device. In order to prepare all their students for 21st century postsecondary success, the school will provide all students with real world experiences. The school served 938 students at the seventh through twelfth grade levels at the belmont campus and 691 students at the downtown campus at the ninth and tenth grade level for the years ended june 30, 2024. For the year ended june 30, 2025, the school served 977 students at the belmont campus at the seventh through twelfth grade levels and 728 students at the downtown campus at the ninth through twelfth grade levels.
$34,049,627 spentof which $1,069,639 as grants$334,119 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $34,049,627.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 $40M to $77M (+91%).
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: 2017 86% · 2018 96% · 2019 60% · 2020 79% · 2021 96% · 2022 91% · 2023 86% · 2024 90% · 2025 80%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of INTRINSIC SCHOOLS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 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
Melissa Megliola
CEO
Board chair
James Frank
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $25k → $4.4M.
7 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 INTRINSIC SCHOOLS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 27 of 29 funders by total. 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
INTRINSIC SCHOOLS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 35% · 2019 61% · 2020 22% · 2021 28% · 2022 26% · 2023 85% — growing more concentrated.
“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.
How long its funders stay
44% of INTRINSIC SCHOOLS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
93% of INTRINSIC SCHOOLS's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 states 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
INTRINSIC SCHOOLS holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like INTRINSIC SCHOOLS
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INTRINSIC SCHOOLS: 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 INTRINSIC SCHOOLS?
- INTRINSIC SCHOOLS (Illinois) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,974,322 to it, the largest being FRANK FAMILY FOUNDATION ($18,279,472). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INTRINSIC SCHOOLS have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $24,974,322 in grants to INTRINSIC SCHOOLS, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INTRINSIC SCHOOLS?
- FRANK FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $18,279,472 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INTRINSIC SCHOOLS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Intrinsic Schools →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 29 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing