Own your future
Your SGO, your board, your donor relationships. Gifts raised in your community stay in your network's scholarship pool.
About SGO Direct
One partner to build your SGO, run it, and keep it audit-ready.
SGO Direct gives schools and school networks one partner to form a scholarship granting organization, run it on purpose-built technology, and stay ready for the independent audit the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit requires.
For schools & school networks
Help your school capitalize on the Freedom Tax Credit, more directly.
Instead of sending your community's gifts into a statewide pool, stand up an SGO built around your school or network, with SGO Direct running the back office.
Chart your own path
Set award criteria, timing, and amounts that fit your families, within federal rules, so families can know their award before they enroll.
Tell your own story
Make the case to your donors directly. They see exactly where their credit dollars go: close to home, in schools they know.
What it takes
Three things every SGO has to get right.
Running an SGO under the October 2026 IRS rules means getting the organization, the technology, and the audit trail right at the same time.
The SGO
What's required
- Independent 501(c)(3) public charity with its own board
- On Florida's SGO list each year (2027 list due Feb 15, 2027)
- Scholarships to 10+ students at more than one school
- Households at or below 300% of area median income; returning students and siblings first
- No earmarking for any student
How SGO Direct helps
- Articles, bylaws, and policies built for SGO rules
- Board and selection-committee setup
- IRS exemption and state-list applications
Technology
What's required
- Donors designate credit gifts at the moment of giving
- A separate §25F account per state, never co-mingled
- IRS-format donor numbers, Jan 31 acknowledgements, Feb 28 IRS report
- Income and residency verification for every applicant
- Approved payment rails: direct to school, vendors, or a digital wallet
How SGO Direct helps
- Branded donor portal with card and ACH
- Application, verification, and award workflows
- Direct-to-school disbursement and reconciliation
Audit readiness
What's required
- 90% of income paid in scholarships by the end of the following year
- Annual financial and programmatic audit by a qualified independent third party, shared with the state
- Annual certification filed with Form 990
- Tracking of board, committee, and major-donor families, who can't receive awards
How SGO Direct helps
- Real-time 90% spending tracker
- Audit-ready records, reconciliations, and evidence files
- Introductions to unaffiliated CPA firms, or committee setup for SGOs at or below $500K
- Form 990 and certification preparation as rules finalize
SGO Direct never performs the audit, so your auditor stays independent.
Ready to chart your school's path?
Founding clusters are forming now for the 2027 scholarship year.