FillUP Education Foundation

What FillUP Education Foundation does

Foundation for Impact on Literacy and Learning (FILL), operating as FillUP Education Foundation in some materials, is a US-based 501c3 public charity founded in 2003 as the USA TODAY Charitable Foundation and rebranded to FILL in 2020. The foundation develops and distributes free cross-curricular K-12 educational programs in literacy, STEM, financial literacy, environmental education, civic awareness, social-emotional learning, and student leadership, serving teachers, students, and schools across the United States. Active programs include Explore.Act.Tell., Student Eco Citizenship Program, Help Our Teachers Fund, and Kid Witness News (KWN); the Lead4Change program, historically the largest reach initiative (18,000+ educators, 2M+ students), was transferred to David Novak Leadership, Inc. in 2020. The organization is governed by a four-person board (Executive Director Diane Barrett, Secretary Akin Harrison, Treasurer Ross Schaufelberger, Director Mary Beth Pender) and operates with 1-10 employees based in Huntington, NY, with mailing operations in Broadlands, VA.

FILL's technology stack is modest and centered on digital curriculum distribution: programs are delivered through the FILL website via online educator registration, supplemented by third-party educational SaaS tools including Flat.io (music notation) and Appcompanist (choral instruction), with engagement maintained through a quarterly newsletter. The foundation has accumulated a content library built over two decades, much of it co-developed with corporate sponsors, but does not operate any proprietary platform infrastructure or AI-enabled systems.

The business model is donor-dependent and non-commercial: FILL generates no revenue from program delivery to educators or students, instead funding operations through contributions and program-restricted grants from corporate foundations (Panasonic, AT&T, Allstate, ConAgra, Office Depot, Yum! Brands, Visa, HSBC, ADP, United Way, and others), private foundations (notably Lift a Life Foundation historically), and individual donors. Educator-facing economics consist of free curriculum access plus the Help Our Teachers Fund grants of up to $500 per teacher for classroom supplies. The foundation files as a public charity and has no funding rounds, institutional investors, or disclosed financial statements in the available data.

Name

FillUP Education Foundation

Legal name

Foundation for Impact on Literacy and Learning

Website

https://fill.foundation

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

FillUP Education Foundation (FILL) is a 501c3 public charity providing free cross-curricular K-12 educational programs in literacy, STEM, leadership, and civic education to US teachers and students, funded through corporate and private foundation donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Educational Nonprofit Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK)

Keywords

• K-12 educational programs
• Teacher grant funding
• Project-based learning
• Cross-curricular curriculum
• Nonprofit education foundation

Headquarters

HQ city

Huntington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: As a 501c3 public charity, FILL generates revenue through donations from individuals, businesses, and organizations. Donors collaborate with FILL to fund specific educational programs. The foundation also accepts charitable contributions to support the Help Our Teachers Fund.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

FillUP Education Foundation (FILL) is a 501c3 public charity that develops and delivers free cross-curricular K-12 educational programs (STEM, financial literacy, environmental studies, civic awareness, social-emotional learning, leadership) funded through partnerships with corporate and individual donors. The foundation also operates the Help Our Teachers Fund, providing grants of up to $500 to U.S. educators for classroom supplies and special projects. Programs are delivered directly to schools and educators at no cost and incorporate Project Based Learning elements.

Product overview

FILL (Foundation for Impact on Literacy & Learning) operates as a portfolio of educational programs rather than a unified software platform. The foundation manages five active programs: Explore.Act.Tell. (food insecurity awareness for grades 6-12), Student Eco Citizenship Program (environmental education for grades 5-8 in NJ), Lead4Change (student leadership program now operated by David Novak Leadership), Help Our Teachers Fund (teacher grant program), and Kid Witness News (global video production competition for NJ students). FILL also has a history of past programs including Child Hunger Ends Here, X the TXT, Healthy Teens, Dream UP, and CONNECTIONS! All programs are funded by corporate and private donors and provided free to educators and students.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Explore.Act.Tell. An educational program teaching young people in grades 6-12 to become aware of food insecurity issues in their neighborhoods. Through four interactive lessons, students create and implement a hunger solution project and develop a promotional PSA video. Funded by Albertsons Companies Foundation.
• Student Eco Citizenship Program An environmental program inspiring students in grades 5-8 across New Jersey to work as teams exploring environmental issues. Teams conduct research, create action plans, implement solutions, and enter a statewide competition for prizes. Funded by Panasonic Foundation.
• Help Our Teachers Fund A grant program allowing teachers across the U.S. to apply for grants of up to $500 to help with expenses related to special projects or classroom supplies for virtual, hybrid, or in-person teaching scenarios. Applications are reviewed and funds distributed annually or as additional funds are secured.
• Kid Witness News (KWN) A global student team video production competition open to New Jersey students ages 10-18. Student teams create three-minute videos on global social issues aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals. U.S. winners compete at the KWN Global Summit.

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

Feature1 record

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Common Sense Education: Common Sense Education provides free K-12 digital citizenship, SEL, and instructional resources to schools nationally, overlapping with FILL's cross-curricular mission and competing for similar education-focused donor dollars.
• Discovery Education: Discovery Education partners with corporations and foundations to deliver free STEM and cross-curricular K-12 digital content, operating at significantly greater scale and competing for the same corporate-sponsored K-12 program opportunities as FILL.
• Khan Academy: Khan Academy is a large free educational content nonprofit serving K-12 students and teachers; while its delivery is digital rather than grant-based, it competes with FILL for the same pool of corporate CSR funding earmarked for K-12 education impact.
• National Education Association Foundation: NEA Foundation funds and develops K-12 instructional programs and teacher grants through corporate partnerships and is a more established, larger-scale education grantmaking nonprofit that competes for similar corporate CSR budgets as FILL.

Others

• Carol M. White PEP Grant Program (US Department of Education): This federal Physical Education Program grant is a government funding source that competes for the same K-12 wellness and physical-activity program funding that FILL's past Healthy Teens program addressed, illustrating the broader federal funding landscape FILL operates alongside.
• Yum! Brands Foundation: Yum! Brands Foundation is an existing FILL donor and corporate peer in the K-12 nutrition/hunger education space; it funds multiple hunger and education programs across nonprofits, representing both a current partner and an adjacent funder of competing initiatives.
• National PTA: National PTA is a large nonprofit association supporting parent engagement in K-12 education and operates related grant and program initiatives; it is an adjacent ecosystem player that partners with or overlaps mission-wise with FILL's teacher- and student-support model.

Direct peers

• DonorsChoose: DonorsChoose is the largest nonprofit crowdfunding platform for U.S. public school teachers to request classroom supplies and projects, directly overlapping with FILL's Help Our Teachers Fund model of routing donor dollars to individual educators for classroom resources.
• AdoptAClassroom: AdoptAClassroom is a nonprofit that provides teachers with classroom funding through donor sponsorship, closely mirroring FILL's grant-of-up-to-$500-per-teacher model and serving the same K-12 teacher customer segment.

Emerging players

• Learning Ally: Learning Ally is a nonprofit providing literacy-focused educational resources and tools for K-12 students with reading differences; its literacy mission and donor-supported model overlap with the Foundation for Impact on Literacy and Learning's core name and grantmaking approach.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Foundationforimpact
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/foundation-for-impact-on-literacy-and-learning-inc
• Xx.com/FILLFoundation

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FillUP Education Foundation