California · Nonprofit
ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC
ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,006,891 to it, the largest being CHARTER FUND INC D/B/A CHARTER SCHOOL GROWTH FUND ($825,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $41M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $-975418
What Rocketship Education DC Public Charter School Inc does
Mission
Rocketship education dc public charter school is a non-profit corporation whose mission is to eliminate the achievement gap by building a scalable and sustainable school model that propels student achievement in underserved communities. The core of rocketship's instructional model is a teacher-led, technology supported approach to personalized learning that matches each student with the right content at the right time utilizing the right method of instruction. By deeply engaging parents in their student's learning and the school community, rocketship develops parents who become lifelong advocates for their children and their community. Working alongside parents, community organizations, districts, and other charter schools, rocketship is catalyzing a movement to eliminate the achievement gap in our lifetime.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Rocketship dc rise academy, a public elementary charter school at 2335 raynolds place se in ward 8, and rocketship legacy prep, located at 4250 massachusetts ave se, continued to have strong enrollment serving more students and families. In august 2021, rocketship successfully opened its third school, rocketship infinity community prep, at 5450 3rd street ne, washington, d.c. 20011. Rocketship dc was also able to quickly move to fully serve students and families in a distance learning model in spring 2021 with students having 1:1 access to remote technology, distance learning curriculum, and family supports.
$35,024,945 spent$191,107 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $35,024,945.
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 $11M to $126M (+1103%).
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 4% · 2018 13% · 2019 17% · 2020 17% · 2021 20% · 2022 26% · 2023 22% · 2024 95% · 2025 92%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC’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. 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
Preston Smith
CEO
Board chair
Rena Johnson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2021: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $360k → $22k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC’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
ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 82% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
99% 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 ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 90% · 2018 85% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 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.
Where its funders are
ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $117k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC has grown faster than three-quarters 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 ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Rocketship Education · exempt
- Launchpad Development Company · exempt
- Rocketship Education Wisconsin Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL 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 ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC?
- ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,006,891 to it, the largest being CHARTER FUND INC D/B/A CHARTER SCHOOL GROWTH FUND ($825,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $1,006,891 in grants to ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC?
- CHARTER FUND INC D/B/A CHARTER SCHOOL GROWTH FUND is the largest funder on record, with $825,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ROCKETSHIP EDUCATION DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Rocketship Education DC Public Charter School →
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 5 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