Shining Light

What Shining Light does

Shining Light is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in the late 1990s and headquartered in Annville, Pennsylvania, that develops educational, character-development, and media programming for incarcerated individuals in the United States. The organization partners with State Departments of Corrections and individual prison facilities to deliver its programs, with end users being incarcerated adults in state correctional systems.

The organization's core products include The Loop magazine (a publication written for and distributed to incarcerated readers), the Shining Light Academy (an educational platform), Creative Labs (arts and creative programming), Character Strengths Courses (co-developed with the VIA Institute on Character), and Loop Groups (peer-facilitated discussion cohorts). Content is delivered through physical distribution and digitally via the Edovo tablet platform, which provides access to more than 800,000 incarcerated users across participating facilities. The technology stack is primarily a content-publishing and distribution model rather than a software platform; tablet delivery is outsourced through Edovo rather than built in-house.

The revenue model is donation- and contribution-based, consistent with its non-profit status. Customer segments are institutional — primarily state correctional agencies and individual facilities — and the organization reports program outcomes including a 67% reduction in participant rule violations, a 25% reduction in violent incidents, and a 5% recidivism rate among participants compared with a national average of approximately 55%. Operational scale is modest at 11-50 employees.

Name

Shining Light

Legal name

Shining Light

Website

https://shining-light.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Shining Light is a Pennsylvania-based non-profit that delivers educational, character-development, and media programming — including The Loop magazine, Academy courses, and peer groups — to incarcerated individuals through State Departments of Corrections.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Annville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Contributions: As a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Shining Light relies primarily on charitable donations from individuals and organizations. The website includes a donation portal.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Shining Light delivers evidence-based rehabilitation programs for incarcerated individuals through direct facilitation, an interactive bi-monthly magazine called The Loop, and tablet-based digital content via the Edovo partnership. Core programs integrate VIA Character Strengths, positive psychology interventions, and creative arts, including the 25-session Shining Light Academy curriculum, peer-facilitated Loop Groups, video courses on character strengths and creative writing, and mentorship programs.

Product overview

Shining Light is a nonprofit organization offering innovative, evidence-based rehabilitation programs for incarcerated individuals through three primary delivery methods: Direct Facilitation (in-person programming), The Loop (interactive magazine), and Tablet Programming (digital content). The core product is The Loop, a bi-monthly interactive magazine exploring VIA Character Strengths with creative writing prompts. Shining Light Academy is the flagship 25-session video conference program integrating positive psychology and creative arts. Additional offerings include Creative Labs (playwriting and spoken word video series), Character Strengths Courses (Learn Your Strengths and Apply Your Strengths), Writer's CoLab mentorship, and Loop Groups peer-facilitated discussions. Creative projects include the Creations of a Caged Bird video anthology, When Light Appears Christmas production, and Influence: A Film in Verse feature film. The portfolio spans interactive publications, video courses, mentorship programs, peer facilitation, and creative productions, all available through in-person, tablet-based, and video conference delivery channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Loop: Extended (formerly Creative Expressions): Extended collections of creative works from The Loop magazine featuring additional creative expressions submitted by readers.
• The Loop
• Shining Light Academy
• Creative Labs
• Character Strengths Courses
• Loop Groups

Products and services

• The Loop An interactive bi-monthly magazine published for incarcerated readers, rooted in Positive Psychology concepts and VIA Character Strengths, featuring creative writing prompts, articles, visual art opportunities, and reflection exercises. Each issue explores a different Character Strength from VIA's classification.
• Shining Light Academy A 25-session evidence-based program delivered via video conference that integrates social-emotional skills, VIA Character Strengths, gratitude interventions, creative writing, hope-building, and positive psychology skills. Includes WRAP and peer facilitation components for incarcerated individuals preparing for reentry.
• Creative Labs A series of three-part Playwriting Lab and four-part Spoken Word Lab video courses taught by theater professors, with support materials and certificates of completion for incarcerated learners.
• Character Strengths Courses Video series including 'Learn Your Strengths' (a 4-part introduction to the 24 character strengths) and 'Apply Your Strengths' (a 4-part course on gratitude, self-regulation, positivity, and goal-setting), featuring formerly incarcerated individuals and professional teaching artists. Available on tablets and as DVDs.
• Writer's CoLab An experimental mentorship program pairing incarcerated writers with professional writers on the outside through three months of written correspondence to develop creative pieces.
• Loop Groups A peer-to-peer discussion program in which incarcerated leaders facilitate weekly groups guided by The Loop magazine pages, with facility partners implementing evidence-based curriculum. 12 peer-facilitated Loop Groups operate nationwide.
• Tablet Programming Self-guided video courses and content available through tablet-based partnership with Edovo, expanding program accessibility to incarcerated individuals nationwide and reaching 800,000+ incarcerated readers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5% participant reincarceration rate vs 55% national average
• +11 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• EdovocoreTechnology or IntegrationEdovo is a prison education tablet company that provides Shining Light's digital content to incarcerated users. Through this partnership, The Loop magazine reaches 800,000+ incarcerated readers and video courses are available on tablets in hundreds of facilities nationwide.
• VIA Institute on CharactercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerShining Light's programs are built on VIA's Character Strengths framework, a peer-reviewed classification of 24 positive traits. The Loop magazine and video courses center on these character strengths, with VIA endorsement of the content quality.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO): Large-scale non-profit providing employment-focused reentry services to people returning from incarceration, with rigorous outcome measurement. Comparable as a reentry-oriented non-profit demonstrating measurable reductions in recidivism.
• Defy Ventures: Non-profit offering entrepreneurship training, mentoring, and career development to people with criminal histories, including in-prison programming. Directly comparable as a prison-to-career non-profit focused on character transformation and reentry.
• Bard Prison Initiative: Bard College's program offering liberal arts degrees to incarcerated individuals across multiple state prison systems. Directly comparable as a long-running, evidence-driven prison education program with documented post-release outcomes.
• Prison Fellowship: The largest U.S. non-profit focused on prison ministry and inmate rehabilitation, operating programs across many state and federal correctional systems. Directly comparable as a faith-inspired, evidence-based prison programming non-profit serving incarcerated populations with reentry support.
• PEN America Prison and Justice Writing Program: Runs writing mentorship, literary programming, and a national writing contest for currently and formerly incarcerated writers. Directly comparable as a creative-writing and arts-based prison programming initiative producing published work by incarcerated authors.
• Hudson Link: Non-profit providing college education and life skills programs inside New York State prisons, with measurable recidivism reduction outcomes. Directly comparable as a prison education provider delivering credentialed programming and documented reentry results.
• The Last Mile: Non-profit providing in-prison technology and entrepreneurship education to incarcerated individuals, including coding and business curricula. Directly comparable as a prison education non-profit that builds workforce-readiness and reentry pathways through structured programming.

Others

• Edovo: Prison education tablet platform that distributes educational and rehabilitative content to incarcerated users across hundreds of facilities. Shining Light's distribution partner and adjacent infrastructure provider rather than direct curriculum competitor.
• VIA Institute on Character: Research organization behind the widely used Character Strengths classification that underpins Shining Light's Academy curriculum and The Loop magazine. Functionally a content framework partner and enabling organization rather than a direct service competitor.

Emerging players

• Unlocked Labs: EdTech platform offering tablet-based learning and reentry support tools to incarcerated populations. Comparable as a technology-enabled prison education provider, though with a different content model and commercial orientation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/shininglightinc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/shininglight

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 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 Shining Light