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THE CHILDRENS SCHOLARSHIP FUND
New York, NY · EIN 134002189 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE B820 · Education · Large ($10M-$50M) · scholarshipfund.org
revenue
$31.7M
expenses
$25.5M
net assets
$46.0M
employees
34
volunteers
133
program ratio
93%
mission · from form 990

The Children's Scholarship Fund (CSF) empowers families by providing children in need with scholarships, and by supporting expanded educational opportunities for all children.

profile · synthesized from sources

The Children's Scholarship Fund (CSF) provides private school scholarships to children from low-income families, primarily in grades K-8, by administering state-funded education freedom accounts and supporting a national network of local scholarship programs. It operates primarily in New Hampshire and partners with local programs across multiple states to expand access to private education. The organization is scaling its impact through a newly enacted federal tax credit for donations to scholarship granting organizations.

irs program accomplishments · form 990 part iii · fy2024

What they reported doing

  1. #1 primary $2.44M
    Program management and administration of New Hampshire Education Freedom (EFA) program: The EFA program provides students who are not enrolled full time in a New Hampshire public school and whose family earns 350% of the poverty line or below with a state grant to spend on eligible education related expenses. CSF administers the funding provided from the State of New Hampshire to each student account. Program staff verifies eligibility of students through the application process, reviews and approves payment of eligible education expenses, and approves educational providers. In addition, program staff provide outreach and support to NH families to inform them about the EFA program. During fiscal year 2025, CSF received approximately $28.7 million from the State of NH to fund over 5,800 EFAs.
  2. #2 $1.12M
    Program management, outreach and support: CSF's program staff works with parents and schools to ensure the integrity and efficient management of the program. The program staff verifies eligibility and student attendance, disburses the tuition assistance payments to schools and annually requalifies returning students. The Children's Scholarship Fund maintains partnerships with local scholarship programs in communities around the country. In addition to providing matching grants to these organizations, the Children's Scholarship Fund also trains local program staff and has developed and maintains specialized software that is used to manage scholarship awards.
named programs · 2 · from sources

What they call their work

National Partner Program Network
Supports and partners with local scholarship programs across the U.S. by providing matching grants, training, and specialized software to manage scholarship awards for low-income K-8 students.
New Hampshire Education Freedom Account (EFA) Program
Administers state-funded education freedom accounts for students from low-income families (up to 350% of poverty level) not enrolled full-time in public school; verifies eligibility, approves payments for educational expenses, and supports families and providers.
activities · 3 groups

What they do

  • Financial Aid and Scholarship Access Programs 2 activities
    • Funding private school scholarships for low-income families
      Provides partial tuition scholarships to children in kindergarten through eighth grade, prioritizing early educational intervention and requiring family financial contribution. Since 1998, has awarded over $1.23 billion in scholarships to 224,252 children nationwide, with scholarships averaging $2,568 nationally for the 2025-26 school year.
    • Supporting state tax credit scholarship programs
      Provides funding and support to partner organizations that operate state tax credit scholarship programs in multiple states.
  • Local High School Scholarship Programs 1 activity
    • Operating the CSF New York scholarship program
      Directly operates a scholarship program for private school tuition in New York from its New York headquarters.
  • Uncategorized 2 activities
    • Administering Education Freedom Accounts in New Hampshire
      Directly administers state funding for Education Freedom Accounts, supporting over 5,800 students in fiscal year 2025, 4,900 in 2024, 3,300 in 2023, and over 2,000 in 2022.
    • Providing capacity-building support to scholarship organizations
      Offers matching grants, training, specialized software, financial support, and management and operations assistance to local scholarship programs nationwide, including helping launch new programs and advising education reform efforts.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$31.73M
Contributions & grants$27.04M85%
Program service revenue$2.26M7%
Investment income$2.43M8%
Other revenue$-5K
expenses
Total expenses$25.48M
Program expenses93%
Admin / overhead2%
Fundraising5%
Salaries & benefits$3.89M
Grants paid out$20.15M
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$64.84M
Cash$53.43M
Investments$0
Liabilities$18.83M
Net assets$46.01M
Liquid reserves25.2 mo
5 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue +7.2%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

paid leadership · 8
NameTitleHours/wkCompensation
Darla M Romfo President & CEO 40 $399K
Kathleen Doran CFO 40 $281K
Katie J Baker Demers Executive Director New Hampshire Programs 40 $221K
Michele Mitola VP Strategic Planning & Development 40 $219K
Elizabeth Toomey Corporate Secretary 40 $192K
Amy Popadick Director of Strategic Partnerships 40 $181K
Marie M Bathelmy Director of Scholarship Operations 40 $154K
Kelly D Belmonte Director of Donor Engagement 40 $114K
board members · 12
  • Christopher Halpin — Board Member
  • David E Johnson — Board Member
  • Jeffrey Chang — Board Member
  • Juan Williams — Board Member
  • Kevin Short resigned Sept 12 2024 — Board Member
  • Margot McGinness — Co Chair
  • Matthew Bonanno — Co Chair
  • Mike McCurry — Board Member
  • Remy Trafelet — Board Member
  • Sandra Swirski — Board Member
  • Stephen Fraidin — Board Member
  • Xavier James — Board Member
relationships · 36

Who they work with

  • ACE Scholarships Partner — Administers tax credit programs in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, and Montana
  • ACE Scholarships – Colorado Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Colorado.
  • ACE Scholarships – Kansas Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Kansas.
  • ACE Scholarships – Mississippi Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Mississippi.
  • ACE Scholarships – Montana Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Montana.
  • ACE Scholarships – Texas Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
  • ACE Scholarships – Wyoming Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Wyoming.
  • American Enterprise Institute Partner — CSF President was interviewed on an AEI podcast regarding private schools and pandemic-related challenges.
  • BISON Children’s Scholarship Fund Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Wyoming, and Orleans Counties, New York.
  • CSF Baltimore Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in the city of Baltimore, Maryland.
  • CSF Charlotte Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
  • CSF Massachusetts Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Massachusetts.
  • CSF New Hampshire Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in New Hampshire.
  • CSF New Hampshire Partner — Partner program that runs a state tax credit program
  • CSF New York Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in New York City and Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester Counties.
  • CSF New York Partner — Local scholarship program operated directly by The Children's Scholarship Fund in New York.
  • CSF Philadelphia Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
  • CSF Philadelphia Partner — Partner program that runs a state tax credit program
  • CSF of Omaha Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in metro Omaha and northeast Nebraska.
  • CSF – Oregon Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Oregon.
  • Catholic Partnership Schools Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Camden and Pennsauken, New Jersey.
  • Education for a Brighter Future Fund Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Wayne County, Michigan.
  • Gov. Hochul Government — Voices support for Education Freedom Tax Credit in New York State
  • Heartland Education Reformation Organization (HERO) Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Kansas.
  • Kids’ Scholarship Fund Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Connecticut.
  • MOST (Memphis Opportunity Scholarship Trust) Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Shelby County, Tennessee.
  • Manhattan Institute Partner — CSF President participated in a discussion on private schools post-Covid hosted by the Manhattan Institute.
  • Michele Mitola Partner — Development contact for donation inquiries and support.
  • Seeds of Hope Partner — Local partner program administering CSF scholarships in Denver, Colorado.
  • State of New Hampshire Government — Receives and administers state funding for the Education Freedom Account program.
+ 6 more
strategies · 5

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Early Educational Intervention
    methodology: early-education-intervention
    By prioritizing scholarship awards for elementary school students, we promote earlier placement in productive learning environments, because evidence shows that early intervention leads to better long-term academic outcomes.
  • Education Continuity Through Emergency Relief
    methodology: emergency-relief-for-education-continuity
    By providing emergency financial relief to scholarship families during crises, we prevent school disruption, because maintaining consistent educational placement supports student stability, engagement, and long-term success.
  • Federal Tax Credit Incentive Mechanism
    methodology: tax-credit-incentive
    By leveraging a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit, we incentivize donations to scholarship funds, because donors can redirect existing tax liability to support scholarships without additional personal cost, thus increasing donation volume.
  • Full-Cost Coverage via Dedicated Overhead Funding
    methodology: full-cost-coverage
    By covering operational overhead through separate funding sources, we ensure 100% of public donations go directly to scholarships, because this maximizes donor impact and trust, increasing the scalability of the program.
  • School Choice Model
    methodology: school_choice
    By providing need-based private school scholarships to low-income families, we expand access to quality education options, because enabling family choice increases the likelihood of finding a school that meets a child’s specific academic and developmental needs.