Alliance for Catholic Education

What Alliance for Catholic Education does

The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) is a non-profit program of the University of Notre Dame, founded in 1994 and headquartered in Notre Dame, Indiana, with 115 employees. ACE sustains and strengthens under-resourced Catholic schools by recruiting, forming, and placing teachers, principals, and school leaders through a hybrid delivery model that combines on-campus summer intensives at Notre Dame with academic-year online coursework and field placement in partner schools. Its core product portfolio includes the ACE Teaching Fellows program (two-year service program, currently Cohort 33, producing ~130 graduates annually), the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program (25-month graduate program, 500+ alumni since 2002, 76% of whom serve as school leaders), the ACE Principal Academy (two-year Cabrini Fellowship for Catholic school principals), and the ALMA Initiative (a 2024 consolidation of the Catholic School Advantage and English as a New Language programs serving Latino and multilingual learners).

ACE operates additional sub-programs — TutorND (500+ volunteer tutors serving 300+ children), Cognition Connection, the American Indian Catholic Schools Network, Notre Dame ACE Academies, Higher-Powered Learning, the Program for Inclusive Education, and the Notre Dame Centers for STEM and Literacy Education — plus an online Job Board connecting graduates with Catholic school openings across nearly every US state and dozens of countries. The underlying technology is primarily programmatic and pedagogical: hybrid formation curricula, online learning platforms, and research-validated instructional design rather than proprietary software products.

ACE's business model is grant- and donation-funded rather than tuition- or fee-based; no program fees are publicly disclosed. Revenue is sourced from federal grants (notably $640K from AmeriCorps in 2023), private foundation grants (the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation's $450K+ multi-year award in 2023; the Catholic Extension Society's $464K grant in 2025), individual donations routed through Notre Dame's giving platform, and multiple named scholarship endowments. Go-to-market is event-driven and community-led: ACE recruits teachers via university campus recruitment, diocesan partnerships for principal formation, and national convenings such as the Adelante Conference for Spanish-speaking Catholic school teachers, while alumni in nearly every state serve as a referral network driving applicant flow and school partnerships.

Name

Alliance for Catholic Education

Legal name

Alliance for Catholic Education

Website

https://ace.nd.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

ACE is a University of Notre Dame non-profit that forms and places teachers, principals, and leaders in under-resourced Catholic K-12 schools across the US through Teaching Fellows, Remick Leadership, Principal Academy, and ALMA programs, funded by grants and donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Notre Dame

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Primary revenue through federal grants (AmeriCorps) and foundation funding (Bradley Foundation, Catholic Extension Society) to support teacher formation, tutoring programs, and school leadership development.
2. Donations and Charitable Giving: Individual donations through Notre Dame's giving platform support scholarships and programs. Multiple commemorative scholarship funds exist (Chris Lary Memorial, Tim Williamson Memorial, Rachel Quiñones Memorial, Rachel Moreno Endowment, Thomas L. Doyle Endowment for STEM Education, Christopher J. Westdyk Fund).

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) is a University of Notre Dame initiative that recruits, forms, and supports teachers and school leaders for under-resourced Catholic K-12 schools through graduate-level service programs. Participants earn a Master of Education while serving in partner Catholic schools, combining academic coursework, spiritual formation, and supervised teaching or leadership practice. Beyond its flagship Teaching Fellows program, ACE runs the Remick Leadership Program, Principal Academy, ALMA Initiative, Catholic School Advantage, ACE Consulting, and the ENL emerging-leaders program.

Product overview

The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) is a comprehensive education program at the University of Notre Dame that sustains and strengthens under-resourced Catholic schools through multiple interconnected programs. The core offerings include the ACE Teaching Fellows program for teacher formation, the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program for school administrators, and the ACE Principal Academy for executive leadership development. The ALMA Initiative combines the Catholic School Advantage and English as a New Language programs to serve Latino and multilingual learners through specialized sub-programs including ENL Hernandez Fellows, Latino Engagement Institute, LEAD, ECLIP, and ENL Professional Development. Additional support programs include TutorND, Cognition Connection, the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child, Notre Dame Centers for STEM and Literacy Education, the Program for Inclusive Education, the American Indian Catholic Schools Network, Higher-Powered Learning, and the ACE Job Board.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ALMA Initiative: Advancing Latino and Multilingual Achievement through Catholic Education - a formal partnership of Catholic School Advantage and ENL programs focused on supporting multilingual and Latino students.
• ACE Teaching Fellows
• Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program
• ACE Principal Academy
• Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI)
• ENL Hernandez Fellows
• American Indian Catholic Schools Network (AICSN)
• Notre Dame ACE Academies
• TutorND

Products and services

• Teaching Fellows Program
• Remick Leadership Program
• Principal Academy
• ALMA Initiative
• Catholic School Advantage
• ACE Consulting
• Emerging New Leaders (ENL) Program
• Cognition Connection
• TutorND
• Pastoral Life Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 404% growth in print awareness for Head Start children in full tutoring program
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Diocese of ColumbuscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 March 2026New partnership announced for ACE Teaching Fellows to serve Catholic schools in the Diocese of Columbus. Extends ACE's geographic reach for teacher placement.
• Seton Catholic SchoolscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to send 16 school leaders through Remick Leadership Program. Seton serves 3,000 students in greater Milwaukee, 84%+ economically disadvantaged.
• American Indian Catholic Schools Network (AICSN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative effort between Notre Dame's ACE and eight Catholic schools primarily serving Indigenous students. Includes Holy Cross Fellows program for teacher licensing.
• St. Veronica Catholic School (Philadelphia)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner school in North Philadelphia serving predominantly Latino student population (94%). Worked with ALMA Initiative for Latino family outreach and enrollment support.
• St. Augustine Indian SchoolminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAICSN member school in Winnebago, Nebraska serving Native American students. New $10M+ building opened in 2023.
• Lucy Family Institute for Data & SocietyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership for Center for Social Science Research to use data to help strengthen teacher connections in ACE projects.
• South Bend Community School CorporationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership through TutorND to provide tutoring support for students from the South Bend Community School Corporation.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• KIPP Foundation: National charter school network with a defined teacher training and leadership development pipeline (KIPP NYC Teaching Fellowship, etc.). Comparable in building a structured teacher/leader formation pipeline for under-resourced schools, though operates charter public schools rather than faith-based schools.
• Teach For America: National teacher recruitment and formation program placing teachers in under-resourced schools. Comparable operating model of recruiting and forming mission-driven teachers for high-need schools, but operates as a secular, broad-scale program without Catholic formation overlay.
• National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA): Largest professional membership organization for Catholic education in the U.S., serving as the industry umbrella for Catholic K-12 schools. Overlapping mission in sustaining and strengthening Catholic schools but broader in scope (policy, advocacy, accreditation) than ACE's teacher/leader formation niche.
• Jesuit Schools Network: National network of 80+ Jesuit K-12 schools with shared formation mission and Ignatian pedagogy. Comparable in sustaining Catholic K-12 institutions with a faith-based leadership and formation lens, but operates at network level rather than as a single talent formation program.

Direct peers

• Cristo Rey Network: National network of 40+ Catholic colleges and high schools serving low-income urban students, with an integrated corporate work-study model. Comparable as a Catholic K-12 network that sustains under-resourced schools through differentiated operating models.
• Reading Partners: National nonprofit mobilizing volunteer tutors to deliver evidence-based literacy intervention to under-resourced elementary students. Comparable in mission and operating model to ACE's TutorND program (volunteer-based, evidence-based tutoring, focus on literacy outcomes for high-need students).
• University Consortium for Catholic Education (UCCE): Consortium of university-based Catholic teacher formation programs (including ACE at Notre Dame, Boston College, Loyola Marymount, etc.). Directly comparable as a peer consortium of formation programs serving the same Catholic K-12 talent pipeline.
• Loyola Marymount University School of Education: Catholic Jesuit university's educator preparation programs, including Catholic school teacher and leader formation. Directly comparable as a competing Catholic-credentialed provider of teacher and administrator formation for Catholic K-12 schools.
• Boston College Lynch School of Education and Human Development: Catholic research university with educator formation programs including Catholic school leadership development; member of the University Consortium for Catholic Education alongside Notre Dame ACE. Directly comparable mission and target audience of forming educators for Catholic schools.
• DePaul University College of Education: Largest Catholic university in the U.S. with educator preparation programs serving Chicago-area Catholic schools. Comparable mission, faith-based framing, and target audience of Catholic K-12 educators.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ACEatND
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UClZ79Hm2RbHI7ryEUr5naug
• Facebookfacebook.com/AllianceforCatholicEducation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/alliance-for-catholic-education
• Instagraminstagram.com/aceatnd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Alliance for Catholic Education