Open Future Institute

What Open Future Institute does

Open Future Institute (OFI) is a New York-based nonprofit founded in 2012 that operates the QUESTion Project, an evidence-based social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum targeting Title 1 public high school students in underserved urban communities. Its core product is the QUESTion Class, a semester-long, credit-bearing, daily classroom course built around five foundational pillars — Choice, Purpose, Fearlessness, Interconnectedness, and Bigger Picture — designed to help adolescents develop agency, identity, and a sense of meaning. Supporting offerings include QUESTion Day (school-wide events), the QUESTion Ambassador Program (student leadership pipeline), the QUESTion Class Weekly Wellness Program, and the QUESTion Academy (teacher training). The curriculum was validated by a Stanford University Center on Adolescence two-year qualitative impact study led by Dr. William Damon, with reported outcomes including a 95% positive Empowerment Shift among students completing the class.

The organization has partnered with 14+ US-based high schools across New York City (Bronx, Queens) and Los Angeles (Alliance charter network), reaching more than 7,500 students cumulatively. Its go-to-market is direct outreach to school principals, superintendents, and district administrators, with implementation delivered at no direct cost to Title 1 schools. Revenue is grant-funded rather than commercially priced: the organization relies on foundation grants (including a $1M grant from the Fetzer Institute in 2021), New York City DYCD discretionary and council-funded grants, and support from multiple private foundations (EKTA, Hassenfeld, Jesra, Argosy, JCF, among others). Recognition includes Zephyr Impact's inaugural Spark Cohort (2024, 5 of 250 applicants), feature in Dr. Heather Malin's 'Teaching for Purpose' (Harvard Education Press), and coverage in The Hechinger Report. The team is small (1-10 employees) and founder-led, with co-founders Gerard Senehi (President) and Francesca Rusciani (Executive Director).

Name

Open Future Institute

Legal name

Open Future Institute

Website

https://openfutureinstitute.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Open Future Institute is a New York-based nonprofit that delivers the QUESTion Project, a semester-long, credit-bearing social-emotional learning curriculum built around five pillars (Choice, Purpose, Fearlessness, Interconnectedness, Bigger Picture) to Title 1 public high school students in NYC and Los Angeles.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social-Emotional Learning Education

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 Instructional Design & Curriculum Development Services (EDAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Youth-to-Adult Transition & Life Skills (Independent Living, Soft Skills) (EDAAAFAN)

Keywords

• Social-emotional learning
• SEL curriculum
• K-12 education
• Youth development
• Teacher training

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grants: Open Future Institute operates primarily through foundation grants and philanthropy. Major funding includes a $1 million grant from the Fetzer Institute to advance the social-emotional learning curriculum and build out the program. The organization also receives support from Zephyr Impact's Spark Cohort, DYCD discretionary and council-funded grants, and various private foundations including EKTA, Hassenfeld, Jesra Foundation, Argosy Foundation, JCF, and others.
2. Government Grants: The organization receives discretionary and council-funded grants from the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) and other municipal sources. These grants support program expansion in NYC public schools.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Open Future Institute offers the QUESTion Project, a social-emotional learning curriculum designed for high school students, delivered through multiple program formats including QUESTion Class, QUESTion Day, the QUESTion Ambassador Program, QUESTion Academy, and the QUESTion Class Weekly Wellness Program. The curriculum serves Title 1 public high schools in New York City and Los Angeles, reaching 14+ schools and 7,500+ students, and is provided to schools at no cost as a nonprofit service.

Product overview

Open Future Institute operates primarily through its flagship program, The QUESTion Project, which encompasses multiple interconnected offerings: the QUESTion Class (a semester-long credit-bearing course as the core educational delivery mechanism), QUESTion Day (single-day school-wide events), the QUESTion Ambassador Program (student leadership development), and the QUESTion Academy (educator training). The organization also offers a QUESTion Class Weekly Wellness Program for partner schools. These products work together as an integrated social-emotional learning ecosystem that supports students from initial classroom instruction through alumni engagement and teacher development.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• QUESTion Project: The flagship semester-long credit-bearing course in which high school students address their most important questions about life and humanity, supporting their transition to adulthood.
• QUESTion Class
• QUESTion Academy
• QUESTion Day
• QUESTion Ambassador Program

Products and services

• QUESTion Class

Quantifiable outcome

• 95% positive Empowerment Shift recorded among students completing the QUESTion Class
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered major, minor, flagship and core.

• SXSW EDUmajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2025Featured at SXSW EDU 2025 Conference with panel 'What Makes Us Human: Preparing Young People for the AI Age' including co-founder Gerard Senehi, Dr. Heather Malin, Principal Michael Barakat, and moderator Joshua Mesnick.
• Coalition for Transformational Education (CTE)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Co-hosted the Presidents' Convening on College Student Mental Health and Wellbeing at NYU alongside LearningWell and NYU.
• LearningWell MagazineminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Editor-in-Chief Marjorie Malpiede facilitated a session on Purpose and Belonging at the Presidents' Convening. Published article 'Questions to Live By: A different take on social and emotional learning in high schools.'
• TranscendflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023The QUESTion Class was featured in the inaugural wave on Transcend's Innovative Models Exchange, a dynamic library driving innovation for schools. Transcend supports school communities to create extraordinary, equitable learning environments and has worked with hundreds of schools in over 30 states.
• Stanford University Center on AdolescencecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Dr. William Damon (Director) and Dr. Heather Malin (Director of Research) conducted a 16-month impact study of the QUESTion Class. The two-year qualitative study evaluated lasting effects on students up to five years post-enrollment.
• New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDYCD plays a crucial role in empowering New Yorkers by investing in community-based organizations and programs that alleviate poverty and create opportunities for growth. Their support has been instrumental in helping secure discretionary and council-funded grants that enable program expansion.
• National Center for School Mental HealthmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerPresented at the 2025 Advancing School Mental Health Conference, leading a session on students' humanity as a foundational dimension of mental health and wellbeing in the AI age.
• Bronx High School for Law and Community ServicecoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerLong-standing partner school implementing the QUESTion Class and Weekly Wellness Program. Principal Michael Barakat serves as active advocate and presenter at conferences. The program reaches the entire school of over 400 students.
• Bronx Center for Science and MathematicscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFounding partner school where the QUESTion Project first launched. Principal Ed Tom was recognized as 'Principal of the Year' for the Bronx. Students regularly serve as ambassadors and teaching assistants.
• Alliance Schools (Los Angeles)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with Alliance charter school network in Los Angeles, including Alliance Bloomfield High School and Alliance Marine Innovation & Technology. Organization provides teacher training for program implementation.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Peekapak: Peekapak offers K–5 SEL curriculum with character education themes (resilience, empathy, responsibility); comparable in mission and school-distribution GTM, though younger in grade band than the QUESTion Class.
• Base Education: Base Education provides online SEL and character education courses for K–12, addressing topics like self-awareness and responsible decision-making; competing with QUESTion's credit-bearing, semester-long approach.
• Move This World: Move This World provides pre-K–12 SEL curriculum with daily rituals and educator toolkits; comparable to the QUESTion Class in classroom-embedded SEL but delivered as a packaged digital product.
• Character Lab: Character Lab partners with researchers (including Angela Duckworth) to translate character-science findings into school-based practices, overlapping with the QUESTion Project's research-backed approach to identity, purpose, and courage.
• Wayfinder (formerly Project Wayfinder): Wayfinder provides purpose-development and social-emotional curricula for high school students, very closely overlapping with the QUESTion Project's purpose-and-identity focus and credit-bearing course model.

Broad incumbents

• Ashoka: Ashoka supports youth changemaking and empathy-driven education globally; thematically comparable to QUESTion's 'change-makers of today and tomorrow' framing but operating at a broader ecosystem scale.
• Search Institute: Search Institute develops youth developmental assets frameworks widely used by schools and youth-serving nonprofits; comparable in the broader purpose/identity space but at a framework/research level rather than a curriculum level.
• EVERFI: EVERFI delivers digital K–12 SEL, mental wellness, and life skills curricula to schools at scale; it competes for the same district SEL budget as the QUESTion Project but with a much broader portfolio and tech-enabled delivery.
• CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning): CASEL is the field-defining SEL framework provider used by most U.S. districts; Open Future Institute's curriculum is evaluated against CASEL competencies and competes for the same SEL mandate-driven funding.

Emerging players

• iCouldBe: iCouldBe provides online mentoring and SEL support for underserved middle and high school students; comparable in serving Title 1 populations and addressing purpose/identity, but with a mentoring-driven delivery model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/QUESTion_OFI
• YouTubevimeo.com/questionproject
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheQUESTionProject.OFI
• Instagraminstagram.com/questionproject.ofi
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/openfutureinstitute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Open Future Institute