A national Catholic funding partner
for your diocese
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Catholic Education Fund helps dioceses and Catholic schools participate in the federal scholarship opportunity through a national Catholic donor network and proven SGO infrastructure.
A new funding Pathway
Beginning Jan 2027, the Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) will reward private donors with a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit, up to $1,700 annually, for contributions supporting K-12 scholarships.
For CEF Partner Dioceses, that means a new path to nationwide education funding, without the compliance or infrastructure burden.
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Why dioceses partner with us
Because fundraising is only one element of the challenge. Running an SGO requires legal structure, state compliance, donor management, eligibility verification, scholarship administration, secure systems, and constant oversight. We've absorbed that weight so you don't have to.
Our partner, ACE, handles compliance & infrastructure
You activate donors and administer funds locally
CEF activates Catholic donors nationally
NATIONAL ECOsystem
locally Deployed
What Catholic Education Fund Handles
National fundraising & donor acquisition
SGO administration & compliance
Co-branded donation pages for each diocese & school
Onboarding & ongoing support
What the diocese handles
Relationships with schools
Designating point-of-contacts for CEF at each school
Coordinating school education
Dispersing diocese-delegated funds
What the School Handles
Coordinating with CEF
Activating local donors
Educating school-community on Tax Credit
How partnership works
01
Your diocese or Catholic school network partners with Catholic Education Fund.
02
Participating schools are enrolled with the appropriate diocesan or organizational consent.
03
We activate national Catholic donor channels.
04
Donors support Catholic education through approved scholarship infrastructure, and funds are dispersed to participating and delegated diocese and schools.
Why we are doing this
Catholic schools form students intellectually, morally, and spiritually. Catholic Education Fund exists to help more families access that formation and to help dioceses strengthen schools without carrying the full burden of national fundraising and SGO operations alone.
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Why this will be compelling to donors
The federal scholarship structure, with a 1-1 tax credit on up to $1700 donated by private donors, creates a powerful incentive for Catholic donors to support schools in participating states. The long-term goal is a national Catholic giving channel that allows donors to support dioceses and individual schools through a clear and trusted system.
ACE brings the infrastructure we need
ACE Scholarships has spent 26 years building the systems that make scholarship administration work at scale. We partner with them because good intentions require good execution.
Proven scholarship platform
Donor and school management systems
Compliance and regulatory expertise
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Questions
Find answers about the fund, how it works, and your role in supporting Catholic education.
Catholic Education Fund is a Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) run as an initiative of Aequitas in partnership with ACE Scholarships. It is being built to help dioceses and Catholic schools participate in the federal scholarship opportunity through a shared fundraising, compliance, and scholarship administration model. Our goal is to help Catholic education access national donor support without requiring every local partner to build a full SGO operation on its own.
We are building the national machinery so local Catholic leaders do not have to. That includes donor outreach, program administration, compliance support, scholarship workflows, reporting, and the underlying platform infrastructure needed to operate at scale. Through ACE, this can include co-branded portals, donation processing, eligibility management, dashboards, onboarding, and support.
Your diocese or school remains central to local stewardship, school participation, mission alignment, and relationships on the ground. Our model is meant to support Catholic leadership at the local level, not replace it. That is the point of the partnership: national support in service of local Catholic responsibility.
The federal scholarship tax credit is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2027. To participate, a state or the District of Columbia must choose to opt in and provide the IRS with a list of qualifying SGOs in that state.
Only participating states can be served under the federal credit. The IRS has published a list of states that have made an advance election for 2027, and additional implementation guidance is still being issued. We will work with partners based on where the program is legally available and operationally ready.
Under current federal law, the credit applies to certain cash contributions made by individual U.S. citizens or residents to qualifying SGOs, up to $1,700 per taxpayer each year. The credit is nonrefundable, and federal rules also reduce the credit by any state credit claimed on the same contribution.
From households earning up to 300% of the area median income, who are enrolled or eligible to enroll in public school. Scholarship dollars can be used for:private school tuition, educational technology, tutoring and special education services, dual enrollment, AP exams, and more.
Explore partnership for your diocese or school
We are currently prioritizing conversations with diocesan leaders, Catholic school networks, and Catholic schools interested in participating in the federal scholarship opportunity. Tell us a bit about your organization, and our team will follow up.
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