SGO revenue & scholarship projector
Model your Scholarship Granting Organization's potential: enter your expected number of donors and average donation to project gross funds raised, the at-least-90% that goes to scholarships, the up-to-10% left for operations, and how many students you could fund.
The §25F credit is capped at $1,700 per taxpayer (each spouse has their own cap under Treasury's proposed rules). Donors can give more; the extra earns no credit.
Average award per student.
Simple projection: gross = donors × average donation, with the §25F 90% rule applied to it, as under Treasury’s proposed 85% safe harbor, where the test runs on the §25F account. Without the safe harbor, the 90% applies to all of the organization’s gross receipts. Real results depend on your donor mix, award strategy, and renewal rates. Use it to sanity-check a plan, not as a guarantee.
How this works
- Enter your expected number of donors and average donation (the §25F credit cap is $1,700 per taxpayer; under Treasury's proposed rules each spouse on a joint return has their own cap).
- We project gross funds raised, then split it: at least 90% to scholarships, paid by the end of the following taxable year, and up to 10% for operations. This applies the 90% rule to your §25F account, as under Treasury's proposed 85% safe harbor.
- Enter an average scholarship size to estimate how many students you could fund.
- Use it to sanity-check a board plan or a launch budget, then see how software turns the projection into actual donations and disbursements.
Questions, answered
What's a realistic average donation?
Many donors will give to their cap to maximize the credit: $1,700 per taxpayer, and under Treasury's proposed rules a married couple can give $1,700 each for $3,400. Donors who also get a state tax credit may give more, because the state credit comes off before the $1,700 cap (Treasury's example: a $2,500 gift with a $500 state credit still earns the full $1,700). Your real average depends on your donor mix; model a few scenarios (e.g., $500, $1,000, $1,700) to bracket the range.
How many students can I actually fund?
It's the 90% scholarship pool divided by your average scholarship size. Smaller awards spread across more students; larger awards (e.g., full tuition) reach fewer. The projector lets you try different award sizes.
Does the 10% really cover operations?
It has to stretch. §25F requires at least 90% of income to go to scholarships. Under Treasury's proposed rules that means all of the organization's gross receipts unless it qualifies for the 85% safe harbor, which measures the 90% on the §25F account and lets the organization fund overhead with separate, non-§25F gifts. At low volume 10% is thin, which is exactly why lean, low-overhead software matters; at higher volume it becomes a real operating budget.
Learn more
- SGO softwareWhat SGO software does and why the federal §25F 90/10 rule makes it essential: donor onboarding and identity verification, payment processing, per-donor §25F receipts, family applications and income verification, an award engine with renewal and sibling priority, separate-account fund accounting, state reporting, and an audit trail. A buyer's checklist, a build-vs-buy guide, and the four buying-decision questions, pricing model, fund custody, disbursement controls, and data portability, to ask any vendor before you sign.
- How to start an SGOThe complete, start-from-nothing guide to launching a Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) for the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC / ECCA / §25F): incorporating a nonprofit, getting an EIN, filing for 501(c)(3) (Form 1023 vs 1023-EZ, real fees and timelines), opening the required separate bank accounts, registering to fundraise, meeting every §25F operating rule, getting on your state's list, and a step-by-step checklist, written for founders with zero nonprofit experience.
- Scholarship Granting OrganizationsWhat an SGO is, how organizations get designated by their state, the 90/10 rule, what compliance looks like, and how donors and families choose between SGOs.
Get EFTC updates in your inbox
Stay updated on opt-in votes, guidance, and deadlines as the January 2027 launch approaches.