Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,796,094 to it, the largest being ALLEGHENY FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $3.8M
- Net assets
- $19M
What Propel Schools Foundation does
Mission
The Propel Schools Foundation supports the mission of propel schools: to catalyze the transformation of public education so that all children have access to high-performing public schools. Propel Schools Foundation seeks and accepts donations and other resources that advance our imperative work that empowers our scholars to achieve academic and personal excellence. Funds raised are dispersed to the schools to provide quality programs to the 3,500 scholars attending propel's 13 schools.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Propel Schools Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that supports the work of propel's 13 schools and their 3,500 k-12 scholars. With the mission to catalyze the transformation of public education so that all children have access to high-performing public schools at the forefront. Through our principal fundraising efforts, the schools are able to provide the following programs to our scholars: 1) our award-winning afterschool program, which served over 450 scholars during the 2024-2025 school year; 2) the propel teacher residency program (ptrp) attracting diverse teachers to address the critical challenge of retaining high-quality educators; 3) propel partners in wellness (ppiw), a comprehensive program designed to help scholars and their families maintain a healthy and productive academic year; 4) scholar opportunities, a program that ensures that every scholar has access to a wide range of enriching opportunities that extend beyond the traditional classroom experience; and 5) k-2 literacy program aimed at ensuring all scholars are reading at grade level by the end of second grade setting them on a path to succeed in school and beyond.
$617,142 spentof which $617,142 as grants$1,814,605 earned by the program86% of program spendingCollegiate scholarships to propel schools' students.
$96,927 spentof which $96,927 as grants$169,971 earned by the program14% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $714,069.
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 2024 to 2025, from $16M to $22M (+35%).
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 29% · 2018 25% · 2019 3% · 2020 2% · 2021 7% · 2022 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
67% of PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Tina Chekan
CEO/superintendent
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $307k → $853k.
8 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 65% · 2018 44% · 2019 40% · 2020 35% · 2021 64% · 2022 62% · 2023 39% — 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.
How long its funders stay
30% of PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
100% of PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $477k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $427k on record.
- Department of Education$427k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
56% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 8 related entities
- Propel Schools Inc · exempt
- Propel Charters School-McKeesport · exempt
- Propel Charter School-East · exempt
- Propel Charter School-Montour · exempt
- Propel Charter School-Sunrise · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: 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 SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
- PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,796,094 to it, the largest being ALLEGHENY FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $3,796,094 in grants to PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
- ALLEGHENY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 40 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