Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,781,094 to it, the largest being ALLEGHENY FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,072 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,072 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Pitcairn-Crabbe Foundationshared funderslocal
- Chiefs for Changeportfolio match
- The Huron Foundationportfolio match
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.
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
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $307k → $853k.
8 of 39 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 39 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; 64% 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 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 39 funders put you typical among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Pitcairn-Crabbe Foundationshared funderslocalPA · backs 64 organizations that share your funders · funds 82 organizations near you
- Chiefs for Changeportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Huron Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- City Fundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Pennsylvania State Education Associationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Falconhead Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Brook J Lenfest Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Teach for America Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- New Schools Fundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Lenfest Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Bellwether Education Partners Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Neubauer Family Charitable Trustportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
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
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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. 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 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,781,094 to it, the largest being ALLEGHENY FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $3,781,094 in grants to PROPEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION, 25 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 39funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing