A complete scholarship.

Most scholarship organizations spread donations across as many recipients as possible. A $500 award toward $8,000 in tuition looks generous on paper. In practice, it leaves the family exactly where they started — unable to afford the school.

We do the opposite.

Every scholarship Scholarkids awards is built toward covering 100 percent of tuition for a full school year. We rank every applicant by financial need — lowest household income first. The families who could least afford private school without us move to the front of the line. When we award a scholarship, it is not a contribution toward a solution. It is the solution.

Arizona law requires us to award scholarships to at least two students across at least two schools. Until our donor base grows enough to fund complete school years for more families, we award to exactly two — giving each the maximum we possibly can. We think you deserve to know that.

Arizona’s STO program was designed to help the families who need it most. The data tells a different story.

According to the Arizona Department of Revenue’s own annual report, the majority of Arizona STO scholarship dollars flow to families earning above 342 percent of the federal poverty level — above $106,000 a year for a family of four. These are not the families the program was built for. The lowest-income families — the ones who need a full scholarship most — are quietly ending up last in line across most of the AZ STO ecosystem.

This is not a criticism of any individual organization. It is a systemic pattern that emerges when donor recommendations, school affiliations, and first-come-first-served award systems redirect money away from the bottom of the income ladder.

Scholarkids was built to correct that. We believe the families with the greatest financial need deserve to come first — and that belief shapes every scholarship decision we make.

A full-tuition scholarship for one year changes a child’s life. Uncertainty about the following year takes some of that back. A family that cannot plan beyond the current school year cannot fully commit to a school, build relationships, or let their child settle into the community that is shaping them.

The goal was never one year. The goal is the complete arc of a child’s education — uninterrupted, fully funded, free from the annual anxiety of wondering whether next year is possible.

That is the vision we are building toward. Not one scholarship. Not one year. A sustained commitment to the lowest-income families in Arizona that gives children the stability to learn, grow, and become who they are meant to be.

We are looking for donors who think the same way — who see their contribution not as a transaction but as a multi-year commitment to a child’s future. Monthly giving compounds. Annual renewals build the predictability we need to make multi-year scholarship commitments to real families. Every donor who joins our family for the long term is not just funding a scholarship — they are funding the certainty that makes that scholarship mean something.

90% goes directly to scholarships — by law.
Arizona law requires that a minimum of 90 percent of every dollar donated to an STO be awarded directly as scholarships. Not administration. Not overhead. Not salaries. You know before you give that at least ninety cents of every dollar lands in a child’s education.

Payments go directly to the school. Always.
Every scholarship Scholarkids awards is paid directly to the school — never to the family. Arizona law does not require this. We chose it as our operating standard because we believe it represents the highest level of integrity in scholarship administration. No cash changes hands. Your donation moves from your hands to a child’s education without passing through anyone else’s.

Together these two commitments mean your donation is protected at every step — from the moment you give to the moment a child walks through the school door.

Using the recurring monthly contribution option gives you 12 comfortable installments to reach the full annual maximum before the April 15 tax filing deadline. No last-minute scramble. The full tax credit will be waiting at filing time.

If your family is seeking a scholarship to a qualifying Arizona private school, we want to hear from you.

Applications are ranked by financial need. The families with the lowest household income move to the front of the line. Scholarships are awarded toward a full school year — we do not make partial awards that leave an unaffordable gap we cannot close.

Dozens of families have already applied. If you are wondering whether to apply, the answer is yes.

Scholarkids works with qualifying private schools across Arizona. If your school serves families who could benefit from need-based scholarship support, we encourage you to share our program with prospective and current families.