What Instituto Positivo does

Instituto Positivo is a non-profit social investment institute founded in September 2012 in Curitiba, Paraná, as part of Grupo Positivo's 40th anniversary and sustainability strategy. The institute's core product is the Arranjo de Desenvolvimento da Educação (ADE), a collaboration framework through which neighboring Brazilian municipalities work jointly to improve public education quality. The institute has directly implanted two flagship ADEs: ADE Granfpolis (22 municipalities in eastern Santa Catarina, launched July 2015, serving over 102,000 students in 431 schools) and ADE Litoral Paranaense (6 municipalities in Paraná, formed 2024 with a minimum three-year technical support commitment). It also coordinates a broader network of 222 municipalities across six Brazilian states and operates CEI Maria Amélia, an early childhood education center serving approximately 100 vulnerable children in Curitiba.

The institute's underlying technology consists of an exclusive self-applicable evaluation methodology for assessing ADE collaboration culture and sustainability, plus a territorial educational indicators monitoring tool with pre-set formulas for visualizing municipal education data. Supporting the methodology is an extensive knowledge production engine (12 editions of Revista ColaborAÇÃO, multiple books and e-books, annual reports from 2018-2025, podcast series) and a 2025 expansion into reading promotion via the Manifesto pela Leitura Transformadora and Programa Ler Transforma.

As a CEBAS-certified non-profit, Instituto Positivo does not charge for its core methodology, publications, or evaluation tools. Its funding comes primarily from Grupo Positivo's private social investment budget, supplemented by donations from families, students of partner schools, and corporate partners. Distribution is achieved through direct technical mentorship to ADEs, partnerships with municipal associations (Granfpolis, Amlipa, AMFRI), and free online self-serve access to publications and assessment tools, reaching municipal education secretariats as its primary customer segment.

Name

Instituto Positivo

Legal name

Instituto Positivo

Website

https://institutopositivo.com.br

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Instituto Positivo is a Brazilian non-profit that promotes Arranjos de Desenvolvimento da Educação (ADEs), collaborative frameworks through which neighboring municipalities jointly improve public education quality, serving municipal education secretariats and related public school networks in Brazil.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Education Collaboration Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Professional and Management Development Training (61143), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Intergovernmental Education Cooperation & Bilateral/Multilateral Programs (EDADALAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Institutional Planning, Performance Management & Accreditation Liaison (EDADAKAM), Regional Education Service Agencies (ESAs/BOCES/Intermediate Units) (EDADABAC), Teacher Professional Development & In-Service Training Institutes (EDAHAFAM)

Keywords

• Public education collaboration
• Education development arrangements
• Municipal education consulting
• Education knowledge dissemination
• Reading incentive programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Curitiba

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Private Social Investment (ISP): Funded by Grupo Positivo's private social investment budget, aligned with the company's sustainability strategy. The commitment to education was established in 2015 after consulting Grupo Positivo's stakeholders about their interest in directing educational expertise and private social investment resources toward improving Brazilian public education quality.
2. Donations and Partnerships: Receives contributions from parents and students of Grupo Positivo, as well as partner companies. Various donation modalities are offered including monetary donations, support donations, partnership donations, and media space donations.
3. NGO/Nonprofit Operations: Operates as a non-profit beneficent entity certified by CEBAS (Certificação de Entidades Beneficentes de Assistência Social), receiving public contracts and donations to support its mission.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Instituto Positivo is a Brazilian nonprofit organization that promotes and disseminates the Intermunicipal Collaboration Regime to improve public education quality through Arranjos de Desenvolvimento da Educação (ADEs). It facilitates the implementation of ADEs by providing technical mentorship, evaluation methodologies, and knowledge products to municipal education secretariats across Brazil. The institute also runs the CEI Maria Amélia early childhood education center and the Ler Transforma reading incentive program.

Product overview

Instituto Positivo is a social institute focused on improving the quality of public education in Brazil through the promotion of the Intermunicipal Collaboration Regime. The core offering consists of Arranjos de Desenvolvimento da Educação (ADEs) - regional education development arrangements that unite nearby municipalities to work collaboratively on educational improvement. The institute supports two active ADEs: ADE Granfpolis (22 municipalities in Santa Catarina) and ADE Litoral Paranaense (6 municipalities in Paraná). Supplementary offerings include a monitoring and evaluation system for ADEs, educational indicators monitoring tools, the CEI Maria Amélia early childhood education center, the Revista Colaboração annual publication, the Ler Transforma reading incentive program, and LEGO Education selection grants. The product portfolio is structured as a methodology (ADEs) with supporting tools, publications, and social programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CEI Maria Amélia: Centro de Educação Infantil Maria Amélia - Early childhood education center founded in 2010, now jointly administered by Instituto Positivo and Colégio Positivo
• ADE Granfpolis
• ADE Litoral Paranaense
• Manifesto pela Leitura Transformadora
• Programa Ler Transforma
• Revista ColaborAÇÃO
• Rede ADEs do Brasil

Products and services

• ADE Granfpolis Education Development Arrangement covering 22 municipalities in the Greater Florianópolis region of Santa Catarina, serving 431 public municipal schools with 102,490 students, 5,700 teachers, and 400 education managers. Focuses on collaborative improvement of public education quality across municipalities.
• ADE Litoral Paranaense Education Development Arrangement in Paraná's coastal region, formed by 6 municipalities focusing on Portuguese Language and Mathematics teaching strengthening and public management support. Selected through rigorous analysis of 8,000+ data points from 399 municipalities.
• CEI Maria Amélia (Centro de Educação Infantil Maria Amélia) Non-profit early childhood education center providing free full-time childcare to approximately 100 children aged 0-5 in social vulnerability situations, located near UP Ecoville campus in Curitiba. Families access through direct enrollment and social services referrals.
• ADE Collaboration Evaluation Methodology Exclusive self-applicable instrument for evaluating the internalization of collaboration culture within an ADE context and the degree of sustainability and autonomy of initiatives. Offered free of charge to municipalities and education professionals.
• Educational Indicators Monitoring Tool Dynamic, user-friendly tool for monitoring historical data of municipalities in an ADE territory. Features pre-set formulas and territorial-level data visualization for educational indicators such as IDEB, flow indicators, and proficiency levels.
• Revista ColaborAÇÃO Annual magazine publication dedicated to sharing knowledge about the Collaboration Regime and Education Development Arrangements, published regularly with issues from 2018 onwards. Available for free download.
• Programa Ler Transforma Video interview series dedicated to reading encouragement and building a reading culture, featuring guests discussing literature, literacy, reading habits, and the transformative power of reading.
• LEGO Education Selection Program Selection program administered by Instituto Positivo in partnership with LEGO Education, inviting public schools to apply for robotics education support. Provides LEGO Education resources to selected schools.
• Publications Library (Books, E-books, Reports) Knowledge products including books such as 'Arranjos de Desenvolvimento da Educação: caminhos para implantação e gestão', e-books on collaboration topics, technical notes, and annual activity reports from 2018-2025. All available for free download.

Quantifiable outcome

• ADE Chapada Diamantina nearly doubled IDEB scores over 10 years of joint actions
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Amlipa (Associação dos Municípios do Litoral do Paraná)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Strategic partner selected in 2021 to receive technical support for developing ADE Litoral Paranaense. Amlipa coordinates 6 municipalities (Antonina, Guaraqueçaba, Guaratuba, Matinhos, Morretes, Paranaguá) with minimum 3-year support from Instituto Positivo. Selection process involved analyzing 8,000+ data points from 399 Paraná municipalities.
• Granfpolis (Associação de Municípios da Região da Grande Florianópolis)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2015Primary strategic partner for ADE Granfpolis, established in July 2015. Granfpolis serves as the organizational anchor for 22 municipalities in eastern Santa Catarina working collaboratively on education improvement. Instituto Positivo acts as facilitator and technical mentor while Granfpolis articulates and mobilizes municipalities according to ADE phases.
• SPVS (Sociedade de Proteção da Vida e da Natureza)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnvironmental organization listed as a partner of Instituto Positivo. Collaboration focuses on potential intersections between environmental sustainability and educational initiatives in municipalities.
• AMFRI (Associação dos Municípios da Região de Foz do Rio Itajaí)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMunicipal association listed as partner, representing municipalities in the Foz do Rio Itajaí region of Santa Catarina. May be involved in ADE collaboration or other educational initiatives.
• Instituto Ayrton SennaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Brazilian education foundation listed as a partner. Potential collaboration on education quality improvement initiatives and knowledge sharing between organizations focused on Brazilian public education.
• Ponto DesignminorOthersDesign agency listed as partner, credited with website development for Instituto Positivo. Relationship appears to be service-based rather than strategic.
• Humanii Desenvolvimento de Pessoas e OrganizaçõesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization development consultancy listed as partner. Potential collaboration on human resources and organizational development aspects of ADE implementation and municipal education management.
• Colégios da Rede PositivocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner schools of Grupo Positivo collaborating on various initiatives including donation programs that have benefited 20,000+ people in Paraná. Also partners on Manifesto pela Leitura Transformadora (Transformative Reading Manifesto) and CEI Maria Amélia administration.
• LEGO EducationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLEGO Education selection program administered by Instituto Positivo, inviting public schools to apply for robotics education support. Program includes selection processes (2023/2, 2024/1) and provides LEGO Education resources to selected schools.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Instituto Natura: Brazilian corporate-backed institute that invests in education, teacher development, and social impact measurement. Comparable as a privately funded Brazilian education nonprofit targeting public school systems and producing knowledge products.
• Instituto Unibanco: Brazilian education-focused nonprofit funded by Itaú Unibanco that supports public high school management and governance innovation in Brazilian state networks. Comparable corporate-funded nonprofit model targeting municipal/state education secretaries, similar to IP's ADE approach.
• Instituto Ayrton Senna: Major Brazilian nonprofit foundation focused on improving public education quality, partnering with states and municipalities on curriculum, teacher development, and learning assessment. Directly comparable to IP in mission, funding model (corporate-backed philanthropy), and target customer (Brazilian public school systems).
• Fundação Lemann: Large Brazilian education foundation investing in public school management, leadership, and learning outcomes across municipalities. Operates an explicit ADE / inter-municipal collaboration program, making it the closest functional peer to Instituto Positivo's methodology.
• Todos pela Educação: Brazilian civil society movement focused on education policy advocacy, indicator monitoring, and public education quality improvement. Comparable as a knowledge-producer and policy influencer operating at the national/regional intersection of education governance.

Broad incumbents

• Fundação Bradesco: Major Brazilian corporate education foundation running its own schools and teacher training programs as well as broader public education initiatives. Comparable as a large corporate-backed education nonprofit; broader portfolio than IP but serves overlapping public education improvement goals.
• Fundação Roberto Marinho: Long-established Brazilian education foundation operating multimedia learning platforms, teacher PD, and public school programs at national scale. Comparable in mission and Brazilian public-education focus but with a much broader portfolio and larger footprint than IP.

Others

• UNICEF Brazil: Brazil office of UN agency working on child education, adolescent learning, and municipal-level education programs across Brazil. Adjacent as an international development organization engaging the same municipal education secretariats IP works with, often in the same states.
• Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas em Educação, Cultura e Ação Comunitária (CENPEC): Brazilian nonprofit organization working on public education quality, teacher training, and educational management across municipalities. Adjacent/peer in the Brazilian education philanthropic ecosystem, sharing target audiences (education secretariats) but with a different program mix.

Emerging players

• Instituto Pluralidade: Brazilian education nonprofit focused on school leadership and management improvement in public systems. Smaller and more focused than Fundação Lemann but addresses overlapping problems (public school management capacity) that IP also targets through ADE collaboration.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/positivoinstituto

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Instituto Positivo