Cenpec

What Cenpec does

Cenpec (Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas em Educação, Cultura e Ação Comunitária) is a Brazilian civil society organization (OSC) founded in 1990 and headquartered at Rua Artur de Azevedo 289, São Paulo, focused on promoting quality and equity in public education. The organization delivers four core service lines: educational awards, strategic advisory for state and municipal Education Secretariats, applied research and evaluations on public education, and online courses for educators. Its end beneficiaries are public-school students, teachers, and pedagogical coordinators across Brazil; in 2025 these efforts reached 49,506 students, 4,975 teachers, and 861 public schools, with operational footprint across 60% of Brazilian municipalities spanning all five regions.

The technological backbone is the Biblioteca do Cenpec, a free digital library hosting 165+ pedagogical workshops, podcasts, digital magazines, and structured teaching materials (notably the Cadernos Docentes Portuguese-language series and the Escrevendo o Futuro program). Content is built around didactic sequences aligned with Brazil's BNCC (Base Nacional Comum Curricular), PNE, and PNEI frameworks and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Cenpec has run an experimental generative-AI project (using ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek) for opinion-article writing instruction, and produces national-scale research via partnerships with UNICEF, DataFolha, Cesop/Unicamp, Movimento Pela Base, Ação Educativa, Instituto Paulo Freire, and Plano CDE.

Cenpec is funded through institutional project financing (most notably a 22-year partnership with Itaú Social on Escrevendo o Futuro), corporate social investment directed into authorial projects, strategic contracts with Education Secretariats, individual donations (one-time and monthly, with income-tax deductibility), and individual tax-credit designations via the Nota Fiscal Paulista program. All consumer-facing educational content is distributed free; revenue accrues from B2B/B2G partnerships and donations rather than from content fees. Governance is led by Anna Helena Altenfelder (President of the Board), Beatriz Cortese (Executive Director), and Maria Alice Setubal (President Director), supported by 157 core employees and a network of 300+ regional professionals.

Name

Cenpec

Legal name

Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas em Educação, Cultura e Ação Comunitária

Website

https://cenpec.org.br

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Cenpec is a Brazilian nonprofit (OSC) founded in 1990 that strengthens public education through strategic advisory to education secretariats, applied research, educator training, and a free digital library of BNCC-aligned pedagogical resources, reaching 49,506 students and 4,975 teachers across 60% of Brazilian municipalities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Nonprofit Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Instructional Delivery & Pedagogy (School-Led) (EDAJAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Education Professionals (Teacher/Administrator CE, CPD) (EDAAALAE)

Keywords

• Public education services
• Educational research
• Teacher professional development
• Pedagogical materials
• Educational equity programs

Headquarters

HQ city

São Paulo

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Institutional project financing: Cenpec receives funding from organizations to finance authorial projects. Throughout its history, Cenpec has created projects that have inspired public policies and transformed classroom realities.
2. Partnerships with Education Secretariats: Partnerships with education secretariats for developing public education network strengthening actions.
3. Nota Fiscal Paulista donations: Individual donations through the Nota Fiscal Paulista program, where citizens can designate state tax credits to Cenpec automatically.
4. Individual donations: Donations from individuals, either one-time or monthly, including those eligible for income tax deductions.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Cenpec is a nonprofit civil society organization that promotes quality and equity in Brazilian public education through strategic advisory for education secretariats, applied research and evaluations, educational awards, online courses for educators, and free pedagogical materials distributed via its Biblioteca do Cenpec digital library. Its work targets state and municipal education secretariats, public school teachers, and students across Brazil, with materials aligned to the national BNCC curriculum framework.

Product overview

Cenpec is a Brazilian nonprofit organization (Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas em Educação, Cultura e Ação Comunitária) that offers a portfolio of educational solutions focused on promoting quality and equity in public education. The core offerings include: strategic advisory services for Education Secretariats, educational awards, applied research and evaluations, and online courses for educators. Additionally, Cenpec maintains the Biblioteca do Cenpec, a digital library platform with over 165 pedagogical resources including workshops, podcasts, and digital magazines. The organization also develops educational materials through programs like Escrevendo o Futuro and publishes research studies on topics including school exclusion, educational failure culture, and Youth and Adult Education policies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Assessoria estratégica para Secretarias de Educação Strategic advisory services provided to state and municipal education secretariats for strengthening public education networks, aligned with national frameworks and Sustainable Development Goals.
• Cursos on-line para educadoras(es) Online continuing-education courses designed for public school teachers, pedagogical coordinators, and school directors to develop pedagogical practices and support implementation of integral and anti-racist education.
• Pesquisas e avaliações aplicadas à educação pública Applied research and evaluations on public education topics, including school exclusion, EJA policies, and societal values in education, intended to inform policy and classroom practice.
• Premiações educativas Educational award programs that recognize and promote excellence and quality in public education.
• Biblioteca do Cenpec Free digital library platform hosting over 165 pedagogical workshops, podcasts, digital magazines, and special materials covering integral education, anti-racist education, and classroom topics, accessible for download by educators and the public.
• Cadernos Docentes Teaching guide materials for Portuguese language teachers structured systematically around didactic sequences, working with textual genres such as Poem, Literary Memories, Biography, Chronicle, Documentary, and Opinion Article for students from 5th grade of Elementary School to 3rd year of High School.
• Programa Escrevendo o Futuro Educational program developed in partnership with Itaú Social from 2002 to 2024, focused on improving reading and writing education through didactic sequences and pedagogical workshops for public school students.

Quantifiable outcome

• 49,506 students benefited, 4,975 teachers reached, 861 public schools impacted, and presence in 60% of Brazilian municipalities in 2025

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Agenda 227coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 July 2025Cenpec participates as a member of Agenda 227, a coalition of nearly 100 civil society organizations working on children's and adolescents' rights. The organization contributed to the Education axis of the document 'Prioridade Absoluta – Infâncias e Adolescências: Propostas para o Governo Federal 2027-2030', developed with collaboration from 1,288 children and adolescents across Brazil.
• UNICEFcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUNICEF partnered with Cenpec on the study 'Enfrentamento da cultura do fracasso escolar' (Addressing the culture of school failure), which is part of the Trajetórias de Sucesso Escola strategy. Also partnered on the 'Cenário da Exclusão Escolar no Brasil' study about pandemic impacts on education.
• Instituto ClarocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInstituto Claro partnered with UNICEF and Cenpec on the 'Enfrentamento da cultura do fracasso escolar' study as part of the Trajetórias de Sucesso Escola strategy.
• UNICEF (for school exclusion study)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUNICEF partnered with Cenpec on the study 'Cenário da Exclusão Escolar no Brasil – um alerta sobre os impactos da pandemia da Covid-19 na Educação', released in April 2021, analyzing school exclusion during the pandemic.
• Movimento Pela BasecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitiated the EJA (Education for Youth and Adults) research project. Movimento Pela Base partnered with Ação Educativa, Cenpec, and Instituto Paulo Freire to present a historical panorama of EJA public policies from 1940 to present and analysis of current EJA regulations.
• Ação EducativacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAção Educativa partnered with Cenpec and Instituto Paulo Freire on the EJA research project initiated by Movimento Pela Base, analyzing public policies for youth and adults education.
• Instituto Paulo FreirecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInstituto Paulo Freire partnered with Ação Educativa and Cenpec on the EJA research project, providing expertise on Paulo Freire's educational philosophy.
• Plano CDEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoordinated with Ação Educativa on the 'Educação, Valores e Direitos' research project. Plano CDE collaborated on the qualitative research phase alongside Cesop/Unicamp and DataFolha.
• DataFolhacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDataFolha conducted the quantitative research phase for the 'Educação, Valores e Direitos' study in March 2022, interviewing 2,090 people from 130 municipalities with maximum margin of error of 2 percentage points.
• Centro de Estudos de Opinião Pública (Cesop/Unicamp)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCesop/Unicamp conducted the quantitative research phase for the 'Educação, Valores e Direitos' study, partnered with DataFolha to survey public opinion on conservative agendas in education.
• Ação Educativa (for values research)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAção Educativa partnered with Cenpec to coordinate the 'Educação, Valores e Direitos' research project investigating population views on homeschooling, school militarization, racial relations, gender equality, and education priorities.
• Itaú SocialcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partnership (2002-2024) with Itaú Social for the Escrevendo o Futuro program, which developed didactic sequences for Portuguese language teaching and learning through various text genres for students from 5th grade to 3rd year of High School.
• Secretarias de EducaçãocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCenpec establishes partnerships with state and municipal education secretariats across Brazil for developing public education network strengthening actions, aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (ODS).

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Fundação Itaú Social: Itaú's social-investment arm and Cenpec's longest-running partner (Escrevendo o Futuro, 2002–2024). Operates as a co-funder and parallel practitioner in Brazilian public education programming.
• Fundação Lemann: One of the largest Brazilian philanthropic foundations focused on education, with significantly greater capital and broader K-12 programming. Comparable mission on quality public education and teacher development but at materially larger scale.
• Instituto Unibanco: Brazilian institute focused on youth education and state-level public education management. Closely comparable in its secretariat-facing, network-strengthening orientation but with larger financial backing from Unibanco.
• Instituto Ayrton Senna: Major Brazilian education nonprofit developing scalable solutions for public schools, including assessment, teacher training, and management tools. Competes for the same secretariat contracts and CSR funding.
• Fundação Roberto Marinho: Large Brazilian foundation producing free educational media, content, and K-12 programs. Overlaps with Cenpec on free pedagogical content distribution at national scale, with substantially greater resources.
• Instituto Natura: Brazilian education-focused institute linked to Natura, investing in teacher development, school leadership, and literacy. Comparable in teacher training and pedagogical innovation focus.

Direct peers

• Todos pela Educação: Brazilian education movement/coalition that produces policy research, advocacy, and indicator tracking for K-12 public education. Operates in a closely adjacent policy-influence niche to Cenpec's secretariat advisory work.
• Ação Educativa: Brazilian civil-society organization focused on public education rights, policy, and youth/adult education. Co-partnered with Cenpec on the Movimento Pela Base EJA research and on the 'Educação, Valores e Direitos' study, operating in a near-identical mission space.
• Instituto Paulo Freire: Brazilian education NGO dedicated to popular and emancipatory pedagogy rooted in Paulo Freire's philosophy. Co-partnered with Cenpec on EJA public policy research and shares the same equity-driven, public-education orientation.

Emerging players

• Instituto Inspirare: Brazilian education nonprofit focused on innovative teaching practices and policy. Operates in adjacent niche of public education innovation with a smaller footprint than Cenpec.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cenpec
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@PortalCenpec
• Facebookfacebook.com/cenpeceducacao
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cenpec
• Instagraminstagram.com/cenpec_educacao

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 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 Cenpec