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The Right Educational Opportunity
Can Change Everything

ACE Scholarships helps organizations expand educational opportunities without having to build the scholarship infrastructure from the ground up. EmpowerEd by ACE Scholarships™ provides the technology, administration, compliance, and operational support to help partners get started and grow.

What Is EmpowerEd?

EmpowerEd is an end-to-end scholarship management platform backed by ACE’s decades of proven experience delivering scholarships at scale. Partners get more than software – they gain the technology and operational infrastructure to launch and manage scholarship initiatives while staying focused on the students and communities they serve.

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EmpowerEd

Partner Organizations

Partnering with ACE bridges your established community relationships with our EmpowerEd technology platform. Partners can manage key scholarship processes, contributor information, applications, and reporting in one centralized hub while ACE works alongside you to expand educational opportunities for more students.

Everything You Need to Launch a
Scholarship Initiative

EmpowerEd equips you with the tools and functionality needed to efficiently and effectively participate in the EFTC.

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Co-Branded Platform

Launch a scholarship initiative under your organization’s brand while leveraging ACE Scholarships’ trusted infrastructure.

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Zero Out-of-Pocket

Launch without the cost and complexity of building your own scholarship management platform.

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Administration & Compliance

ACE supports scholarship administration, reporting, compliance, and operational workflows so your team can stay focused on its mission.

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Secure Technology

EmpowerEd uses trusted systems that prioritize privacy, security, transparency, and responsible stewardship. Our platform is SOC 2 Type II compliant.

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End-to-End Scholarship Management

From contributor tracking and applications through enrollment verification and scholarship delivery, EmpowerEd supports the complete scholarship lifecycle.

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Revenue Sharing

Qualified partners may participate in the revenue-sharing model of EmpowerEd as part of approved partnership agreements.

How a Partnership Works

You Bring the Relationships

You already have trusted relationships with families, clients, members, donors, or your local community.

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ACE Provides the Infrastructure

ACE Scholarships’ EmpowerEd platform provides the technology, scholarship administration, compliance, reporting, and operational support needed to establish, launch, and manage scholarship programs through the EFTC.

Your Community Participates

Taxpayers and community members participate through your organization using a trusted platform.

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ACE Administers Scholarship Funding

ACE manages eligible contributions and scholarship funding while handling the operational complexity behind the scenes.

More Students Benefit

Together, we expand educational opportunity by helping more students access educational environments where they can learn, grow, and thrive.

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Why You Should Partner With ACE

For more than 25 years, ACE Scholarships has helped expand educational opportunities for students and families. Today, ACE combines that scholarship experience with EmpowerEd to give organizations the technology, infrastructure, and support to participate in the EFTC initiative.

ACE has:

  • Delivered more than 121,000 scholarships
  • Distributed more than $395 million in scholarships and Education Savings Accounts
  • Built secure systems that help manage contributions responsibly

When organizations partner with ACE Scholarships, they gain an experienced Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) committed to expanding educational opportunities for more students.

Why You Should Partner With ACE

Learn How ACE Supports Organizations Like Yours

See how ACE Scholarships and EmpowerEd can help your organization expand educational opportunities.

Schools

Launch and scale scholarship initiatives while reducing administrative complexity.

Financial & Tax Advisors

Equip your clients to participate in the EFTC with confidence.

Faith-Based Organizations

Activate your community to help expand educational opportunities for students and families.

Professional & Industry Associations

Engage your members in an opportunity to expand educational access and student potential.

Nonprofits & Other SGOs

Scale your scholarship impact with trusted technology, administration, and operational support.


Connect With Our Team

Interested in learning more?

Whether you’re ready to establish a scholarship fund or expand an existing initiative, ACE can help you discover how EmpowerEd can support your organization.

Complete the form and our team will connect with you about the partnership opportunity that best fits your organization.

EFTC FAQs

The EFTC is a federal tax credit for eligible contributions to qualified SGOs. Those contributions help fund scholarships for qualifying K–12 educational expenses.

Eligible taxpayers make qualifying cash contributions to participating SGOs. They may then claim a federal income tax credit of up to $1,700 per taxpayer, or $3,400 for married couples filing jointly, for the qualifying contribution, subject to federal requirements and their federal income tax liability.

SGOs use qualifying contributions to provide scholarships that help eligible K–12 students access educational opportunities.

A Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) is a qualifying nonprofit organization that receives contributions and provides scholarships for eligible K–12 students.

For an EFTC contribution to qualify for the federal tax credit, the SGO must meet federal requirements and be included on the applicable participating state’s SGO list.

Under the EFTC initiative, scholarship funds may be used for expenses incurred in connection with an eligible K–12 student’s enrollment or attendance at a public, private or religious school, including*:

  • Tuition, uniforms, transportation and other fees
  • Books and supplies
  • Academic tutoring
  • Extended day programs
  • Computer technology, equipment, or internet access
  • Educational therapies (e.g., occupational, speech, behavioral, physical)

*as defined by the U.S. Department of the Treasury

Yes. Beginning January 1, 2027, eligible taxpayers in all 50 states with a federal income tax liability can participate in the EFTC and receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 per taxpayer, or $3,400 for married couples filing jointly. However, only states that have opted to participate in the federal tax credit can receive scholarship funding.

Yes. The IRS refers to the EFTC as the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC). Both names refer to the same federal tax credit.

The SGO is responsible for administering qualifying contributions and scholarships in accordance with federal requirements. This includes determining student eligibility, distributing scholarships, maintaining required records, and meeting applicable compliance requirements.

A qualifying EFTC contribution must be made to an eligible SGO included on the applicable participating state’s list.