Turnkey platform reduces cost and administrative burden for schools and scholarship granting organizations

DENVER, May 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ACE Scholarships, a national nonprofit scholarship granting organization (SGO) with more than 25 years of experience, today announced the launch of EmpowerEd by ACE Scholarships, the only white-label, end-to-end scholarship management technology built by a national SGO. The product launch comes as states, schools, and organizations prepare for the 2027 implementation of the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, which provides dollar-for-dollar federal tax credits for donations to qualified SGOs that will expand opportunity for more students to achieve their full potential.

The Education Freedom Tax Credit is expected to dramatically expand access to educational scholarships nationwide, but that expansion introduces new operational complexities for schools, taxpayers, and families. EmpowerEd is designed to address those complexities by providing a management platform that administers, tracks, and reports on scholarships and donor contributions so schools can fill more seats, serve more families, and focus on their mission.

The platform handles the administrative complexity behind the scenes, including application processing, eligibility, awards, donor tracking, secure compliance, and reporting. With scholarships and contributions managed in one place, partners have a clear, real-time view of scholarship and donor operations. EmpowerEd is built to ensure that more dollars go directly to students – all without annual platform fees for partners, product markups, or transaction fees – keeping funds where they belong: with families.

The Education Freedom Tax Credit will incentivize donors to support families through privately funded scholarships that can be used toward tuition, tutoring, and special needs support, and other educational options.

ACE is now positioned to raise funds nationwide and deliver scholarships to students in participating states, enabling the organization to support implementation at a national scale.

"School choice is accelerating faster than the technology to support it," said Norton Rainey, CEO of ACE Scholarships. "EmpowerEd leverages the infrastructure needed for the Educational Freedom Tax Credit on day one. It reduces the cost and complexity of administering programs and allows organizations to focus on delivering scholarships to students."

EmpowerEd is a white-label, end-to-end scholarship management platform built by a national SGO with a proven track record of delivering 121,000 scholarships worth more than $395 million. Built from two decades of administering high-volume private scholarships, tax-credit scholarships, and education savings account programs, the platform reflects what schools and organizations need to operate successful scholarship programs at scale.

Designed to serve the full education ecosystem, EmpowerEd supports nonprofit SGOs, schools and organizations across all learning environments, community partners, donors, and families. Whether supporting students in public, private, charter, homeschool, and other educational settings, the no cost, white-label, turnkey, and SOC 2-compliant platform enables partners to offer scholarships under their own brand without the burden of building and managing their own systems. 

EmpowerEd makes a trusted national infrastructure available to partners seeking to grow their impact. Whether it's a K-12 school looking to strengthen enrollment, a membership organization supporting its community, or a network of schools scaling its reach, EmpowerEd removes the operational barriers that often stand in the way.

ACE is partnering with a growing number of schools and organizations utilizing the platform, including Turning Point USA, PragerU, the Herzog Foundation, Archdiocese of Denver, the Chesterton Schools Network, Colorado Homeschool Enrichment, the Association of Classical Christian Schools, UEL Education, and Aequitas Education. These early partnerships reflect adoption across a diverse range of education models and reinforce ACE's commitment to serving families across every learning environment.

EmpowerEd builds on ACE Scholarships' long-standing role as a national leader in expanding educational opportunity. By combining decades of experience with a scalable, mission-driven platform, ACE is helping ensure that families, schools, and organizations are fully prepared to participate in the next generation of school choice.

For more information about EmpowerEd by ACE Scholarships, visit here.

ABOUT ACE SCHOLARSHIPS

ACE Scholarships is one of the nation's largest nonprofit K-12 scholarship granting organization (SGO) that has—for more than 25 years— promoted educational freedom by delivering privately funded and tax-credit scholarships, and advocating for school choice. With a focus on providing lower-income families access to quality K-12 education, ACE has delivered more than 121,000 scholarships worth $395 million to students across the country. ACE has been awarded a perfect four-star rating for 11 consecutive years by Charity Navigator, the world's largest, most trusted charity evaluator.

ACE believes that education is the key to solving our nation's most pressing problems. From reducing crime and unemployment to enhancing health care and national security, changing education changes everything.

ACE played a pivotal role in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which expanded school choice opportunities for families nationwide. In 2025, working alongside coalition partners, ACE helped secure passage of a federal school choice tax credit provision slated to launch in 2027, enabling taxpayers nationwide to claim a credit for donations to organizations like ACE and giving ACE the opportunity to administer scholarships nationwide.

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SOURCE ACE Scholarships