Alabama · Nonprofit
Propel Education
Propel Education (Alabama) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,549,500 to it, the largest being SOUTHERN COMPANY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($17,500,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.5M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $16M
What Propel Education does
Mission
Propel Education (d/b/a "ed farm") equips educators in schools and commmunities with innovative tools and strategies that support active learning for all students. Propel has a mission to provide hbcu students with the knowledge, skills, tools and resources necessary to transform our nation's talent pipeline and workforce. Ed farm provides place-based and virtual instructional services, resources, technology and workforce readiness training to individuals of all ages. Programs are intended for k-12 educators & students, college students, faculty & staff, un- or under-employed adult learners, as well as education technology innovators and entrepreneurs. Propel connects hbcu students with industry partners.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
K-12 educational support: teacher fellows program: school district leaders and administrators partner with ed farm to identify educators who are passionate about innovative teaching and learning. These educators form an annual cohort known as "teacher fellowsed farm equips them with innovative resources and teaching strategies that support active learning for all students. Teacher fellows also collaborate with one another and provide professional learning experiences for other teachers in their schools and districts. Student fellows program: middle and high school students participate in year-long, challenge-based learning experiences designed to solve real community problems. At the beginning of each experience, community leaders identify a challenge and invite student fellows to solve it during the school year. Students work together to investigate the challenge, build digital skills and create actionable solutions. Student fellows present their solutions to the community at the end of the year. Spaces: transform traditional educational environments into technological hubs for the education and exploration of k-12 students.
$3,637,296 spent$1,227,499 earned by the program35% of program spendingCommunity digital skills grants: funds 'kids coding'birmingham can code' programs which encourage, inspire and ignite children and adults to discover and explore technology, learn to code and pursue stem careers. Grants serve to help ed farm achieve its goals of expanding the region's technology ecosystem. Pathways: free courses for adult learners that teaches digital skills, app coding, employability skills and post-secondary credential attainment.
$152,694 spentof which $4,378 as grants$763,791 earned by the program1% of program spendingPropel: propel center provides historically black colleges and universities (hbcu) with shared services to support their work of preparing leaders who improve our world. Via digital learning tools, students from hbcus will connect with the brightest minds in the world, be given global opportunities and develop into civic-minded leaders and entrepreneurs. A phsyical campus is in the planning phases to help continue the center's mission.
$6,235,333 spentof which $108,698 as grants60% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$324,856 spent3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,350,179.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2020 to 2021, from $5.0M to $41M (+723%).
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: 2020 32% · 2021 4% · 2022 21% · 2023 20% · 2024 20% · 2025 53%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
74% of Propel Education’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (16% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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.
Board chair
Anthony Oni
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $4k → $7.5M.
Left out of every figure on this page: $255k from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Alabama Power Foundation Inc); $87k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest Propel Education). These are real filings, and they are not money Propel Education raised.
From the IRS filings of Propel Education’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
Propel Education leans on a few funders — its largest provides 100% of grant income and the top three 100%; 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: 2018 100% · 2021 100% · 2023 99% — broadly stable.
“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
Propel Education draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Alabama, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
Propel Education holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,012 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,012 employment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Propel Education
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 Alabama
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
27%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 7 related entities
- Propel Center LLC · disregarded
- Propel Build LLC · disregarded
- Ed Farm LLC · disregarded
- Ed Farm Operations LLC · disregarded
- Propel Holdings LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Propel Education: 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 Propel Education?
- Propel Education (Alabama) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,549,500 to it, the largest being SOUTHERN COMPANY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($17,500,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Propel Education have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $17,549,500 in grants to Propel Education, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Propel Education?
- SOUTHERN COMPANY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $17,500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Propel Education find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Alabama. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 4 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