Itaú Social

What Itaú Social does

Itaú Social is a private nonprofit foundation established in 1993 and headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. It operates as the education-focused arm of Fundação Itaú, the social investment vehicle of Itaú Unibanco, and concentrates its work on two critical school transition stages in Brazilian public education: pre-school (Educação Infantil) and the final years of elementary school (6th to 9th grade). Its mission is to improve learning outcomes and school trajectories while reducing inequalities related to race/color, gender, disability, and socioeconomic status.

The foundation's product portfolio centers on Escola Fundação Itaú, a unified online learning platform formed in 2023 by merging the former Escola Itaú Cultural and the Polo training environment; the platform offers more than 150 free courses in arts, culture, and education and issued over 24,000 completion certificates in its first year. Complementary infrastructure includes Observatório Fundação Itaú, Observatório da Qualidade da Educação Infantil, and the CDEB-Mat research center launched with the University of São Paulo (USP) in 2025. Itaú Social also runs a portfolio of competitive grant programs (editais), including the Edital de Fortalecimento da Educação Integral nos Anos Finais (co-founded with Fundação Lemann and Porticus), the Edital de Matemática, and the Edital Jornalismo de Educação.

Commercially, Itaú Social generates no revenue; its operating budget is funded by Itaú Unibanco, and all programs, courses, and technical support are provided free of charge. Its go-to-market is hybrid and event-driven: direct technical cooperation agreements with municipal and state education secretariats (now covering all 13 Brazilian state capitals), large-scale national listening research exercises, competitive public notices for civil society organizations, and digital self-serve access via Escola Fundação Itaú. Strategic alliances with MEC, Consed, Undime, USP, and multiple peer foundations are central to distribution and policy influence.

Name

Itaú Social

Legal name

Itaú Social

Website

https://itausocial.org.br

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Itaú Social is a Brazilian nonprofit foundation, funded by Itaú Unibanco, that improves public education quality at the pre-school and final elementary years through free online courses, grant programs, policy advisory work, and direct technical support to education secretariats.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Philanthropy and Public Education Support

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Access & Quality (International Development) (BPAGABAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Social Justice & Human Rights Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAN), Education Partnerships for Equity, Inclusion & Gender (EDADALAF), Education Systems & Skills Technical Assistance (BPADAEAI)

Keywords

• Public education philanthropy
• Teacher professional development
• Education grant programs
• Online learning platforms
• Education research and policy

Headquarters

HQ city

São Paulo

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Grants and Social Investment: Itaú Social is a philanthropic foundation funded by Itaú Unibanco. It operates through grants, technical support, and public notices (editais) to support public education improvement. All services and courses are provided free of charge to beneficiaries including teachers, students, and education secretariats.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Itaú Social is a philanthropic foundation that supports the improvement of public education quality in Brazil by providing free online teacher training courses, competitive grant programs (editais) for civil society organizations, technical cooperation with municipal and state education secretariats, and applied educational research. Its work targets two critical school transition stages—pre-school and final years of elementary school (6th-9th grade)—with the goal of reducing dropout, grade repetition, and learning inequalities related to race, gender, disability, and socioeconomic status. All programs and services are delivered free of charge to teachers, students, education professionals, and partner organizations.

Product overview

Itaú Social operates a portfolio of interconnected educational platforms, grant programs (editais), and research initiatives focused on improving learning quality and school trajectories in Brazilian public education. The core platform is Escola Fundação Itaú, a unified online learning portal offering 150+ free courses for teachers and education professionals, which resulted from integrating the former Polo (Itaú Social's training environment) and Escola Itaú Cultural in 2023. Complementing the platform, Itaú Social runs multiple competitive grant programs including the Edital de Fortalecimento da Educação Integral nos Anos Finais (supporting full-time education models), Edital de Matemática (supporting mathematical literacy), and Edital Jornalismo de Educação (supporting education journalism). Research and knowledge dissemination occur through the Observatório Fundação Itaú, Observatório da Qualidade da Educação Infantil, and publications like the 'Caderno de Inspirações – Práticas STEAM'. Itaú Social also provides direct technical support to municipal and state education networks and contributes to national public policy initiatives such as the Compromisso Nacional pela Matemática.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Escola Fundação Itaú A unified online learning platform offering over 150 free courses in arts, culture, and education for teachers and education professionals across Brazil. Provides self-paced courses with recognized completion certificates.
• Observatório Fundação Itaú

Quantifiable outcome

• Pojuca (BA) approval rate from 5th to 6th grade improved from 71.6% (2017) to 89.6% (2023)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

22 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• USP (Universidade de São Paulo)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 June 2025Fundação Itaú and USP signed an agreement to create CDEB-Mat (Centro de Desenvolvimento para Educação Básica em Matemática). The initiative will support mathematics teachers across basic education through teacher training programs, educational materials, and applied research. The partnership includes workshops, exchanges, and technical visits, with plans to develop 16 arithmetic booklets and 8 fractions booklets.
• Jeduca (Associação de Jornalistas de Educação)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Partnership between Jeduca and Fundação Itaú for the Edital Jornalismo de Educação, now in its 8th edition. The initiative awards scholarships of up to R$10,000 for journalism projects focused on Brazilian public education. The 2026 edition expanded from 8 to 10 selected pitches and prioritizes projects on full-time education.
• Undime (União Nacional dos Dirigentes Municipais de Educação)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Undime for conducting large-scale research on early childhood education. Research with 2,712 municipal education secretariats (49% of all municipalities) revealed that written culture and mathematical literacy are the most frequent topics in teacher training programs.
• Fundação LemanncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founder of the Edital de Fortalecimento da Educação Integral nos Anos Finais, supporting organizations that implement full-time education models for final years of elementary school based on principles of integral education, inclusion, and equity.
• PorticuscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founder of the Edital de Fortalecimento da Educação Integral nos Anos Finais alongside Itaú Social and Fundação Lemann, focused on improving learning outcomes for students in the final years of elementary school.
• Instituto CatalisadorcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) mapping across Brazilian schools. The initiative collected 240 teacher reports from all regions of Brazil, with half focused on the final years of elementary school, resulting in the 'Caderno de Inspirações – Práticas STEAM' publication.
• Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto VidigalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the 'Avaliação da Qualidade da Educação Infantil' research, the first assessment of childcare and pre-school quality after BNCC implementation. The study observed 3,467 classrooms in 12 Brazilian municipalities and also resulted in the Observatório da Qualidade da Educação Infantil platform.
• Curitiba (PR) Education SecretariatminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnical Cooperation Agreement to strengthen pedagogical practices in early childhood education, focusing on ethnic-racial relations and environmental education. Includes actions to facilitate children's transition from pre-school to 1st grade.
• Belém (PA) Education SecretariatminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnical cooperation agreement to strengthen pedagogical practices aligned with local culture and territorial needs in early childhood education.
• MEC / Ministério da EducaçãocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerItaú Social provided technical support for the design of Compromisso Nacional pela Matemática (national mathematics policy), participated in the national listening with mathematics teachers, and supported the Escola das Adolescências program for the final years of elementary school.
• Consed (Conselho Nacional de Secretários de Educação)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipated in the national listening survey with more than 57,000 mathematics teachers, alongside MEC and Undime.
• Fundação Carlos ChagasminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founder of the research public notice 'Anos finais do ensino fundamental: adolescências, qualidade e equidade na escola pública', supporting research projects on the final years of elementary school.
• Instituto ReúnacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in developing the 'Referencial Pedagógico de Educação Integral para os Anos Finais do Ensino Fundamental', which serves as the pedagogical framework for the Edital de Fortalecimento da Educação Integral nos Anos Finais.
• Instituto Sonho GrandeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-author of the 'Referencial Pedagógico de Educação Integral para os Anos Finais do Ensino Fundamental' alongside other foundations.
• Instituto NaturaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-author of the 'Referencial Pedagógico de Educação Integral para os Anos Finais do Ensino Fundamental' alongside other foundations.
• MotrizminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-author of the 'Referencial Pedagógico de Educação Integral para os Anos Finais do Ensino Fundamental' alongside other foundations.
• Coalizão pela Pré-EscolaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition created to contribute to the planning and execution of integrated education policies for children aged 4-5, currently working in Mato Grosso do Sul with teacher training, practice monitoring, and family participation initiatives.
• Rio de Janeiro Municipal Education SecretariatminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for teacher training on interdisciplinary approach with intensive technology use, supporting GET (Ginásios Experimentais Tecnológicos) schools with collaboratories and STEAM-based education.
• Itaú Educação e TrabalhocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWithin the Fundação Itaú group, alignment with Itaú Educação e Trabalho and Itaú Cultural to strengthen actions focused on integral education.
• Itaú CulturalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWithin the Fundação Itaú group, alignment with Itaú Social and Itaú Educação e Trabalho to strengthen actions focused on integral education, valuing arts and culture as essential curricular components.
• IMPA (Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArticulation with IMPA for the study 'Contribuição da Matemática para a economia brasileira', which revealed that math-related professions account for 4.6% of Brazil's GDP.
• DatafolhaminorOthersConducted the research 'Opinião das Famílias: Percepções e Contribuições para a Educação Municipal' for Fundação Itaú and movimento Todos Pela Educação.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Instituto Natura: Brazilian nonprofit focused on education, with co-authorship alongside Itaú Social of the Referencial Pedagógico de Educação Integral. Directly comparable as a corporate-affiliated education foundation supporting public policy and teacher development.
• Fundação Roberto Marinho: Major Brazilian education foundation producing curriculum content, teacher training, and digital learning solutions for public schools. Comparable scope of teacher professional development and educational content production.
• Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal: Brazilian foundation dedicated to early childhood education. Direct peer that partnered with Itaú Social on the Avaliação da Qualidade da Educação Infantil research and the Observatório da Qualidade da Educação Infantil platform.
• Instituto Ayrton Senna: Brazilian nonprofit dedicated to public education quality through innovative programs, assessments, and partnerships with state and municipal networks. Comparable as a major foundation executing at scale in basic education across Brazil.
• Movimento Todos pela Educação: Brazilian civil society movement focused on improving basic education indicators and policy. Comparable peer conducting large-scale research on municipal education (including research with Itaú Social via Datafolha) and advocating for education quality.
• Instituto Unibanco: Brazilian nonprofit affiliated with Itaú Unibanco focused on youth education and school management. Most direct structural parallel to Itaú Social given the shared Itaú ecosystem and similar mission supporting municipal education networks.
• Fundação Carlos Chagas: Brazilian foundation focused on education research and policy. Co-founder with Itaú Social of research public notices on final years of elementary school, directly comparable in education research and policy support work.
• Fundação Lemann: Brazilian philanthropic foundation focused on public education quality and reducing inequalities. Co-founder with Itaú Social of the Edital de Fortalecimento da Educação Integral nos Anos Finais and a direct peer in grantmaking, research, and policy influence in Brazilian basic education.
• Instituto Sonho Grande: Brazilian nonprofit supporting public education quality and innovation. Co-author with Itaú Social of the Referencial Pedagógico framework, directly comparable in basic education improvement work.

Broad incumbents

• Fundação Bradesco: Large Brazilian corporate education foundation operating schools and educational programs nationwide. Comparable scale and corporate-foundation structure but with direct school operations rather than grantmaking focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ItauSocial
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/fundacaoitausocial
• Facebookfacebook.com/itausocial
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/itausocial
• Instagraminstagram.com/itausocial
• TikToktiktok.com/@itausocial

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Itaú Social