Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Apr 2002.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
81 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
18 people listed on the 990; $1.5M paid to officers and key staff.
Brett Alessi’s $183K as Co-Founder and Partner is at the 78th percentile of top reported officer pay among 3394 $1–10M education nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brett Alessi | $183,462 | $179,615 | $180,179 | $170,172 | $168,448 | $153,785 |
| Alyssa Morton | $176,267 | $178,295 | $159,255 | $137,399 | $147,692 | $118,349 |
| Sarah Robb | $143,558 | $163,122 | $149,319 | $148,229 | $118,280 | — |
| Matthew Matera | $162,874 | $160,308 | $160,290 | $138,344 | $144,397 | $112,017 |
| Cara McKenna | $130,525 | $128,665 | $103,592 | $148,616 | $147,738 | $117,749 |
| Malik Stewart | $127,248 | $113,187 | $108,252 | — | — | — |
| Carey Davis | $123,865 | $114,469 | $108,530 | $79,776 | — | — |
| Hannah Foley | $113,402 | $110,077 | $103,180 | — | — | — |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Empowers schools and communities to create better education systems through innovation and policy change.
Questions for Empower Schools INC
Your first name shows with your question. Empower Schools INC answers here, for everyone.
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Empower's cumulative work has led to promising early results, been shown to be repeatable, and has the potential to grow virally allowing a next phase of large-scale education improvement for disadvantaged students in america.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2025 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY25 | End FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $4.3M | $5.1M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $5.9M | $6.4M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $537K | $906K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $5.3M | $5.5M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $80K | $80K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $1.0M | $787K | $198K | $49K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $2.1M | $1.7M | $367K | $44K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $35K | $25K | $9K | $1K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $290K | $215K | $64K | $12K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $223K | $170K | $43K | $10K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $7K | $5K | $2K | |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $38K | $38K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $896K | $886K | $10K | |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $33K | $28K | $5K | |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $43K | $389 | $43K | |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $16K | $16K | ||
| TravelLn 17 | $300K | $296K | $2K | $2K |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $158K | $122K | $36K | |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $17K | $8K | $9K | $411 |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $158K | $96K | $55K | $7K |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $5.4M | $4.4M | $898K | $125K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest Viewing | $5.5M | $5.4M | $142K | $5.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $5.9M | $5.8M | $110K | $5.3M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $6.0M | $5.8M | $273K | $5.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $4.9M | $4.8M | $51K | $4.9M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $5.2M | $3.7M | $1.6M | $4.9M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $3.6M | $3.2M | $403K | $3.3M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2025 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $5,541,200 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 6 of 7 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $5,541,200 across 6 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $5,399,202 across 16 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $6,364,655 assets, 14 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $5,458,976 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2025 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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