School Board Partners

What School Board Partners does

School Board Partners (SBP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2019 and headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, with a mission to support, connect, and re-elect representative, student-focused school board members across the United States. The organization runs a yearlong competitive National Policy and Leadership Fellowship pairing elected school board members with mentors, coaches, and a national peer network, and supplements the Fellowship with a Membership program, an annual 'Our Collective Power' national conference, and Consulting engagements that help districts implement SBP's Empowered Governance framework and related assessment tools (Superintendent 360 Assessment, Board Member Self-Assessment, Issue-to-Impact Framework). As of 2026, SBP has supported more than 500 school board members across 41 states and 192 districts, collectively serving over 8 million students.

SBP's business model blends earned and contributed revenue: membership dues, conference registration fees, and district consulting engagements provide earned income, while grants and donations (notably a $250,000 Salesforce Foundation grant in 2021 and a 2022 EdLoC Boulder Fund grant to co-founder Ethan Ashley) underwrite the Fellowship and programmatic expansion. The organization does not develop or sell a technology product; its competitive differentiation rests on a growing national alumni network, proprietary governance frameworks co-developed with Columbia University's Center for Public Research and Leadership ('Fulfilling Promises' report), and a competitive election-cycle track record — SBP-backed candidates posted an 88% win rate in the 2025 cycle. Leadership transitioned in 2024 from a co-CEO structure to Ethan Ashley as sole CEO, with Carrie Douglass remaining as co-founder.

Name

School Board Partners

Legal name

School Board Partners, Inc.

Website

https://schoolboardpartners.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

School Board Partners is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2019 that supports, trains, and connects elected U.S. school board members through a competitive Fellowship, Membership network, annual conference, and governance consulting for districts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Governance Services

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Elementary and Secondary Schools (611110)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Policy, Governance & Board Administration (EDAJAHAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

K–12 Support & School Improvement Nonprofits (BPAGADAB)

Keywords

• School board governance
• Education leadership training
• Board member fellowship
• Nonprofit consulting services
• Education policy support

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: School board members and education leaders pay to join the SBP membership network, gaining access to tools, training, coaching, and a national peer community. The specific fee structure is not publicly disclosed.
2. Conference registration: The organization hosts an annual national conference ('Our Collective Power') where participants pay registration fees to attend. Registration fees are noted as part of event-driven GTM and community engagement.
3. Consulting engagements: SBP offers consulting services to districts seeking to implement the Empowered Governance framework and address governance challenges, providing a revenue stream from institutional clients.
4. Donations and grants: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, SBP raises funds through donations and grant awards. Notable grants include the Boulder Fund (EdLoC) grant supporting leaders of color, and other philanthropic funding.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

School Board Partners is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports, connects, and re-elects representative, student-focused elected school board members in the United States. It delivers a yearlong National Policy and Leadership Fellowship, an annual 'Our Collective Power' national conference, a paid membership network, and consulting engagements that help districts implement the proprietary Empowered Governance framework.

Product overview

School Board Partners is a nonprofit organization offering a platform of interconnected programs and resources for school board governance excellence. The core offerings include a yearlong Fellowship for leadership development, an annual Conference for peer networking, Consulting services for implementation support, and a Membership network providing ongoing access to tools and training. These are supplemented by specialized resources including a Free Policy Toolkit, Empowered Governance framework, Superintendent 360 Assessment, CSU Certification, Exemplars, Issue-to-Impact Framework, Board Member Self-Assessment, and a Webinar Series. The organization also publishes research such as the Fulfilling Promises report and annual impact reports. Together, these products provide school board members with training, mentorship, policy tools, peer community, and strategic frameworks to drive student-centered governance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 88% overall win rate for SBP-backed school board candidates in the 2025 election cycle; 89% win rate for candidates of color; 91% win rate for women candidates.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Columbia University — Center for Public Research and LeadershipcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 February 2025SBP collaborated with Columbia University's Center for Public Research and Leadership to develop its flagship report, 'Fulfilling Promises: What America's School Boards Actually Need to Succeed.' The collaboration involved extensive research including over 50 interviews and surveys of current and former school board members, providing an evidence base for SBP's governance recommendations.
• Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAngela Cobián, treasurer of the Denver Board of Education and SBP community member, is also a member of Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE), a nonprofit that develops civic leaders dedicated to ending educational inequity. LEE is referenced as a parallel organization supporting education leadership development.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Aspen Institute Education & Society Program: Runs national leadership programs for education leaders including school board members (e.g., the Aspen-Pincoffs Fellowship). Shares SBP's mission of improving K-12 governance and leadership quality but operates with significantly greater philanthropic scale.
• National School Boards Association (NSBA): The largest national membership association for school board members in the US. NSBA serves a similar elected school board audience through advocacy, training, and conferences, but operates at a much larger, more traditional association scale rather than SBP's equity-focused, member-driven model.
• AASA (School Superintendents Association): The national professional association for school superintendents and district leaders. AASA serves the district leadership ecosystem that SBP's board members oversee, and its leadership development programming is comparable in scope and audience.

Direct peers

• Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC): A national nonprofit supporting leaders of color in education, including school board members. EdLoC's Boulder Fund directly funded SBP's co-founder; the two organizations share target audience, mission alignment, and grant-maker relationships.
• Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE): A nonprofit that develops civic leaders — including school board members — committed to ending educational inequity. LEE parallels SBP's fellowship-style leadership development for elected education leaders and is explicitly referenced as a peer community organization.
• Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE): An NSBA-affiliated program serving urban school board members with governance training, networking, and policy support. CUBE overlaps with SBP's district-focused governance engagement and consulting offerings.

Emerging players

• Teach Plus: A national nonprofit that develops teacher and education leader voices in policy. Teach Plus runs fellowship-style leadership programs targeting educators moving into school board and policy roles — directly adjacent to SBP's board-member focus.
• Chiefs for Change: A bipartisan network of state and district education chiefs committed to improving outcomes for students. Operates as a peer leadership cohort similar in spirit to SBP's Fellowship, but targets system-level leaders rather than elected board members.
• America Succeeds: A nonprofit focused on education-to-workforce policy and leadership development, including engagement with state and local education leaders. Shares SBP's orientation around policy reform and leadership pipelines for K-12 governance.

Regional players

• Colorado State University (CSU) — School Board Certification Program: Hosts the school board member certification that SBP distributes (CSU Certification). A regional academic institution with a comparable governance-training offering for school board members in Colorado and beyond.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/schoolbpartners
• Facebookfacebook.com/schoolbpartners
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/school-board-partners

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about School Board Partners