Partner-school program

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund

Bring tax-credit scholarships to your familieswithout becoming a scholarship fund.

Joining Cornerstone Scholarship Fund costs nothing. Your families get access to scholarships funded by a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit, your donors get a branded page and QR code that names your school as their preferred school, and confirming enrollment takes one click per student.

About 5 minutes · No cost · Nothing to sign today

The offer, in three numbers

$0to join
No entity to form, no certification to chase, no audit to fund.
$1,700back to every donor who gives
A dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit — $3,400 for a couple filing jointly.
2jobs, and that's the list
Share your page. Confirm who's enrolled. Everything else is handled.

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund operates in FL · IA · IN · NC · TX · VA.

Federal scholarship tax credits begin January 1, 2027

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund carries every §25F obligation

Your school stays a school

Follow the dollar

Nobody at this table pays for it

The dollars come out of federal tax your community already owes. That is the whole trick — and it is why this is the rare program with no loser in it.

Your school

Tuition

Scholarship tuition for awarded students is paid straight to you, and the only work it costs you is the enrollment check only a school can do.

Your donors

Net $0

Up to $1,700 each — $3,400 filing jointly — comes back off their federal tax bill. They are redirecting tax they already owed, not adding to their giving budget.

Your families

A smaller bill

Families at or under three times the median income for your area pay less for the school they already chose.

The only way to lose money here is to leave it unclaimed.

A donor claims the credit against federal tax they owe, so a gift larger than this year's bill is not lost — the unused credit carries forward for up to five years.

How it works

Five steps, and only two of them are yours

Money, eligibility, awards, reporting, and the annual audit all stay with Cornerstone Scholarship Fund. You share a page and confirm who is enrolled.

1

Add your school

A short form — contact, website, accreditation, enrollment. No account needed, and no cost.

You · 5 min
2

Your page and kit go live

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund vets your school and switches on your branded giving page, your print-ready QR code, and the whole marketing toolkit.

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund · a few days
3

Your community gives

Every supporter gets up to $1,700 back on their federal taxes — $3,400 for a couple — and names your school as their preferred school.

Your donors
4

You confirm who's enrolled

Families who named your school land in your portal. One click per student. You see a name and a grade, never a family's finances.

You · 30 sec each
5

Tuition lands

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund pays scholarship tuition for awarded students straight to your school, on a ledger you can see.

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund pays
What you get

Everything you would otherwise have to build

Your own giving page

Branded in your colors, hosted by Cornerstone Scholarship Fund, embeddable on your site — plus a print-ready QR code for the lobby, the car line, and the bulletin.

Scholarships for your families

Every gift that names your school builds the pool Cornerstone Scholarship Fund's committee sees next to your students who applied. Tuition is paid straight to your school, on a ledger you can see.

A one-click enrollment portal

The only recurring job you have. Confirm a student is enrolled and you are done — income verification, award decisions, and payments are not yours.

The compliance, carried

State listing, segregated accounts, the 90/10 split, donor receipts, the annual audit — all Cornerstone Scholarship Fund's obligations under §25F. You stay a school.

Included, not extra

And the marketing team comes in the box

Schools rarely miss this money because their families do not qualify. They miss it because nobody told the community it exists. So the outreach tools ship inside your portal, at no extra cost.

Contacts

Parents, grandparents, alumni, local businesses. Import your roster straight from a spreadsheet.

Links & QR codes

A trackable code per placement, so you can see which poster actually brought people in.

Outreach emails

Drafted one at a time in your school's voice, from what you know about each family. You approve every one.

Content studio

Social posts, letters home, bulletin inserts, call scripts, printables — checked for the required legal language.

Analytics

Where supporters came from, what your outreach did, and how close you are to your goal.

Who does what

Two jobs are yours. The other eight are Cornerstone Scholarship Fund's.

Your school

  1. 1

    Share your page

    Print the QR poster, drop the drafted letter into the Friday folder, email your alumni list. One afternoon to set up.

  2. 2

    Confirm who's enrolled

    One click per student, whenever a family who named you applies. Thirty seconds each.

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund

  • Registering with the state and staying listed
  • Holding every gift in a segregated state account
  • Verifying family income and eligibility
  • Making award decisions on need
  • Paying scholarship tuition to your school
  • Issuing donor tax-credit receipts
  • Keeping the 90/10 split intact
  • The annual independent audit
Apply

Join Cornerstone Scholarship Fund as a partner school

One form, about five minutes, no account required. Nothing is owed unless and until you go live.

What happens after you apply

  1. Cornerstone Scholarship Fund reviews your school — accreditation, website, contact — usually within a few business days.

  2. On approval you get an email with your live page, your QR code, and an invitation to the partner portal.

  3. Share your page; families apply and name your school; you confirm enrollment from the portal.

  4. Cornerstone Scholarship Fund awards scholarships on need and pays the tuition straight to your school.

Every award stays need-based.

A donor's preference for your school guides Cornerstone Scholarship Fund's awards but cannot bind them — federal law keeps every scholarship need-based and prohibits earmarking a gift to a school or a student.

Already a partner? Sign in robert+cornerstone-info@sgoguide.com

Apply to become a partner school

About 5 minutes. No account, no cost, and no commitment until you're approved.

Only Cornerstone Scholarship Fund sees this. Two fields are required; the rest speeds up review.

1Your school
2Who we'd talk to
3Where you are

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund runs a separate scholarship account per state.

4A little moreoptional

Free to apply. Nothing is owed unless you go live.

Before you ask

Common questions

Do we have to start our own fund?

No — and most single schools should not. Federal law bars donors from earmarking gifts and requires awards to reach ten or more students who do not all attend the same school, so a school cannot run a fund for its own families alone. Joining one that already exists takes days and costs nothing.

What does it cost us?

Nothing up front and nothing ongoing. There is no fee to join and no subscription — what your school puts in is the time to share your page and confirm enrollment, and what it gets back is tuition for the families who are awarded.

How much staff time is this?

Two things: share your page, and confirm enrollment for families who name your school. Confirmation is one click per student. Income checks, award decisions, payments, receipts, and audits stay with the fund.

What do we see about our families' finances?

Nothing. Your portal shows the student's name, grade, and guardian name so you can confirm enrollment. Income, documents, and eligibility decisions are visible only to Cornerstone Scholarship Fund's reviewers.

Can donors give directly to our school?

They can name your school as their preferred school, and Cornerstone Scholarship Fund's committee sees that pool of dollars next to your students who applied. But federal law prohibits earmarking — a preference guides awards; it never binds them.

What's the catch?

Genuinely small. A donor claims the credit against federal tax they owe, so if their bill is smaller than their gift, the balance lands on a later return instead — it carries forward up to five years rather than being lost. Beyond that, the program runs only in states that have opted in, and it begins January 1, 2027.

Cornerstone Scholarship Fund

Ready to plug your school into Cornerstone Scholarship Fund?

$0 to start, a branded page your community can give through, and the compliance stays where it belongs.

Apply to become a partner school