Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
Propel Schools Inc
Propel Schools Inc (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $974,700 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($600,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $25M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $975k
- Net assets
- $-245396
What Propel Schools Inc does
Mission
Charter school for students in grades Kindergarten through Twelfth. Propels mission is to catalyze the transformation of public education so that all children have access to high performing public schools.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Propel Schools is a charter school granted by a public school district to serve students in the area.
$25,036,529 spent$19,565,723 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $25,036,529.
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 2021 to 2022, from $19M to $26M (+34%).
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 13% · 2018 16% · 2019 15% · 2020 15% · 2021 10% · 2022 19% · 2023 22% · 2024 20% · 2025 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
19% of Propel Schools Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Superintendent, CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $32k → $500.
Left out of every figure on this page: $5.9M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Propel Schools Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Propel Schools Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of Propel Schools Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 8 of 9 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 Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
34% 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 Propel Schools Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 83% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 90% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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
0% of Propel Schools Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
85% of Propel Schools Inc's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
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 Schools Inc is better cushioned than half of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like Propel Schools 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 Pennsylvania
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
0%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 8 related entities
- Propel Charter School - East · exempt
- Propel Charter School - McKeesport · exempt
- Propel Charter School - Montour · exempt
- Propel School Sunrise · exempt
- Propel Charter School-Northside · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Propel Schools 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 Propel Schools Inc?
- Propel Schools Inc (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $974,700 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($600,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Propel Schools Inc have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $974,700 in grants to Propel Schools Inc, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Propel Schools Inc?
- RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $600,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Propel Schools Inc 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 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