ClearPath Shield
Continuous compliance, not annual reviews
Real-time compliance monitoring with a tamper-evident record underneath: continuous 90/10 tracking with live alerts, a cryptographically hash-chained audit log, one-click audit evidence packages, refund and chargeback integrity, payout reconciliation, and state reporting — built for the audit you hope never comes.
Recent Activity
Compliance failures in an SGO have cascading consequences.
The 90/10 line
A spending-ratio breach can trigger loss of approved SGO status — and year-end math discovers it months too late.
Receipts carry liability
Improper donor receipts can cost donors their federal tax credits — damaging relationships and inviting regulatory complaints.
Deadlines are hard, not aspirational
State reporting deadlines differ by jurisdiction and keep shifting as opt-in rules evolve — and missing one is not a conversation you want to have.
Most organizations discover compliance problems after the fact — at their annual review, or worse, during a regulatory inquiry. By then, the options are limited.
required scholarship spending ratio, monitored continuously
final IRS rules still being issued
The alert arrives before the breach.
Shield watches your 90/10 ratio on every transaction. Push it toward the line and watch the early warning fire while there's still time to act.
Interactive — go ahead, click around.
92.6%
of spending → scholarships
Healthy. Ratio monitored on every transaction — not at year-end.
Why it matters
Real-time 90/10 monitoring, not year-end math
The requirement that 90% of expenditures go directly to scholarships isn't reviewed at year-end — it's enforced continuously. ClearPath Shield monitors your ratio in real time and sends alerts before a breach occurs, giving you time to correct course rather than explain it.
State reporting prepared and submitted on time
State annual report requirements vary by state, change as opt-in rules evolve, and have hard deadlines. ClearPath Shield prepares your state reports in the required format and manages submission — no scrambling, no missed deadlines, no manually tracking multiple state calendars.
Always current with evolving rules
IRS Section 25F final rules are still being issued through 2026. ClearPath Shield monitors regulatory changes and flags anything affecting your SGO's operations — so you're never caught off-guard by a rule change that your compliance posture hadn't accounted for.
An audit trail that proves itself
Every compliance-relevant action — donations, awards, disbursements, settings changes — is written to a hash-chained, tamper-evident audit log. The platform can cryptographically verify the record hasn't been altered, and produce a complete date-ranged evidence package in one click.
When the examiner asks, the answer is a button.
Most SGOs assemble audit responses from spreadsheets, inboxes, and institutional memory. ClearPath Shield maintains the evidence continuously — every record provable, every judgment call documented, every dollar reconciled — so a regulatory inquiry is a download, not a fire drill.
Tamper-evident audit log
IntegrityEvery donation, award, disbursement, and configuration change is written to a hash-chained log. Any alteration breaks the chain — and the platform verifies the chain on demand.
One-click evidence package
ReportingA date-ranged PDF bundle: donations and receipts, awards with board votes and resolutions, disbursements with verification, the 90/10 worksheet, methodology records, and an integrity attestation.
Per-state 90/10 worksheets
Multi-stateFor multistate SGOs, the evidence package adds a worksheet per state account — qualified contributions in, scholarships out, operating releases vs the cap — ready to furnish to every covered state.
Methodology vault
DefensibilityVersioned records of every compliance judgment call — AMI data sources, qualified-expense interpretations, geographic calibrations — with rationale and effective dates. When you're asked “why,” the answer is on file.
Refund & chargeback integrity
Refunds and payment disputes automatically void receipts and claw back credited amounts, so your books and your donors' tax filings never drift apart.
Payout reconciliation
Every bank deposit is matched against processor settlements; unreconciled deposits are flagged for review. Penny-accurate books, continuously — not at year-end.
Fraud detection
ScreeningDuplicate students, shared addresses, income over the eligibility threshold, and donor-applicant relationships are flagged for staff review automatically.
Over-award prevention
An awardable-cash forecast blocks award commitments that would exceed funds actually available — before the board votes, not after the checks bounce.
Dual-control disbursements
GovernanceDisbursements above your threshold require a second approver. Maker-checker segregation of duties is enforced by the platform, not by a policy memo.
Everything Shield covers
ClearPath Shield is a complete solution — not a module you configure yourself or a feature set you have to maintain. Every item below is included and actively managed.
Ongoing monthly fee. Required for all operating SGOs we support.
- Real-time 90/10 spending ratio monitoring dashboard with threshold alerts
- Tamper-evident hash-chained audit log with on-demand integrity verification
- One-click date-ranged audit evidence package (PDF)
- Versioned compliance methodology vault
- Chargeback and refund handling with automatic receipt voiding and credit clawback
- Payout and bank-deposit reconciliation with unmatched-deposit flagging
- Fraud detection across applicants, donors, and disbursement spending
- State compliance reporting preparation and submission by deadline
- Regulatory change monitoring as IRS finalizes Section 25F rules
- Annual compliance review with board-level reporting
- Multi-school distribution requirement tracking
- State-specific compliance calendar management
ClearPath Shield connects to the rest of ClearPath
Talk it through before you decide.
Tell us about your organization and we’ll set up a consultation on your formation path, your state, and the timeline. It costs nothing and there is nothing to sign — and if it’s useful, we’ll walk through the platform on the same call.
What happens next
We read your submission and respond within one business day
A working session, typically 45–60 minutes — your situation, not a sales pitch
Which of the three paths fits, what your state requires, and what the timeline is
You leave with a clear recommendation — including when the answer is to join an SGO rather than form one, or to wait