Our mission is to perform fundraising and advocacy activities that exclusively support the opertions and growth of the breakthrough public schools management organization and all its member schools.
Key facts about Friends of Breakthrough Schools
In short: Friends of Breakthrough Schools gave $2.2M across 6 grants in 2025 (avg $365K), mostly in Ohio. Source: 2025 IRS Form 990.
- EIN
- 20-4948838
- Latest 990 filing
- Form 990, 2025
- Annual giving (2025)
- $2,190,000
- Grants made (2025)
- 6
- Average grant
- $365,000
- Median grant
- $59,568
- Total assets
- $106,999,270
- Primary geography
- Ohio (100% of itemized 2025 grant dollars)
Data from IRS Form 990, 2025; updated September 2026.
Financial Overview
From 2025 IRS Form 990 · View filing
Total Assets
$107.0M
-15.1% YoY
Annual Giving
$2.2M
+750.3% YoY
Grant Count
6
+20.0% YoY
Avg Grant Size
$365K
+608.6% YoY
About Friends of Breakthrough Schools
Based on IRS filings
Friends of Breakthrough Schools is a public charity focused on Education, based in Cleveland, OH. IRS filing data is available from 2019 through 2025. As of 2025, the organization holds $107.0M in total assets. In 2025, it awarded 6 grants totaling $2.2M. Net investment income was $144K.
Focus Areas
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Geographic Focus
Where this funder awards grants
Grant Distribution by State
Share of all 6 itemized 2025 grant dollars.
States
Cities
Giving Over Time
Total grant dollars and number of grants per year
From 2019 to 2025, annual grant giving ranged from $7K (2022) to $5.8M (2019). In 2025 it made 6 grants totaling $2.2M.
Hatched bars: grants paid as reported on the IRS filing, which lists no individual grants for that year.
Grant Insights
How this funder distributes its grants
Top Recipients
Top 6 recipients in 2025
The largest 2025 recipient was Village Prep Willard ($1.3M). Together the top 6 received $2.2M.
Grant Size Distribution
19 grants across all recorded years
The most common grant size was under $50K: 11 grants of 19 (58%).
Giving History
Grant recipients and amounts by year
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Village Prep Willard Cleveland, OH | School Funding | $1,272,424 |
| Citizens Academy Southeast Cleveland, OH | School Funding | $766,566 |
| Breakthrough Public Schools Cleveland, OH | School Funding | $100,000 |
| Village Prep Woodland Hills Cleveland, OH | School Funding | $19,136 |
| Village Prep Cliffs Cleveland, OH | School Funding | $17,192 |
| Citizens Leadership Academy East Cleveland, OH | School Funding | $14,682 |
Financial History
Multi-year comparison from IRS filings
| Metric | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Assets | $106,999,270 | $126,050,795 | $121,077,217 |
| Revenue | $6,680,041 | $17,741,329 | $14,907,169 |
| Expenses | $7,129,832 | $9,347,949 | $9,769,537 |
| Net Investment Income | $144,182 | $7,879,547 | $4,341,643 |
Data update history
When this profile's IRS filing data changed on Grantable
- Added Form 990 for fiscal year 2019 (received by the IRS April 21, 2020)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2020 (received by the IRS March 6, 2021)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2021 (received by the IRS May 16, 2022)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2022 (received by the IRS May 15, 2023)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2023 (received by the IRS May 14, 2024)
- Updated Form 990 for fiscal year 2024 (received by the IRS May 14, 2025)
- Added Form 990 for fiscal year 2025 (received by the IRS May 6, 2026)
Leadership & Key People
Officers and directors from IRS filings
Friends of Breakthrough Schools is led by Susan Ertle, Executive Director since 2021 (on filings since 2019); 4 of 44 officers listed in 2025 are compensated.
Officers on the 2025 filing
Susan Ertle
Executive Director
Executive Di → Executive Director, 2021
On filings since 2019
40 hrs/week
$90K (2019) → $213K (2025)
Craig Panzica
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2019
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Ed Bell
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2019
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Jeff Berlin
Trustee
Treasurer → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2019
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Jeffrey Cristal
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2019
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
John Lemay
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2019
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Larry Orwin
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2019
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Michael Cristal
Trustee
Board Chair → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2019
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Mike De Windt
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2019
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Peter Rome
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2019
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Cosmoronde Danielly
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Dan Mascaro
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Jim Huber
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Lauren Miller
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Mario Pena
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Sanjay Vyas
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Seku Shabazz
Trustee
Director → Trustee, 2021
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Andrew Bennett
Trustee
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Bill Fisher
Trustee
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Celeste Kamasa Scott
Trustee
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Dave Loomis
Trustee
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Free Foutz
Trustee
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Karen Long Cascio
Trustee
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Matt Brewer
Trustee
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Rudy Bentlage
Trustee
On filings since 2021
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Meg Mayhugh
Trustee
On filings since 2022
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Susan Chiancone
Trustee
On filings since 2022
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Bryan Schauer
Trustee
On filings since 2023
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
David Cook
Trustee
On filings since 2023
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Elle Carolan
Trustee
On filings since 2023
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Molly Brown
Trustee
On filings since 2023
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Adebanjo Solaru
Trustee
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Amanda Brady
Trustee
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Andrew Gehrlein
Trustee
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Tom Dittoe
Trustee
On filings since 2024
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Andrew McRae
Trustee
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Aysegul Keskin Zeren
Trustee
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Bradley Schlang
Trustee
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Eric Pound
Trustee
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Jason Lockett
Trustee
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Peter Shipley
Trustee
New on the 2025 filing
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Tim Mann
Senior Advancement Officer
On filings since 2023
40 hrs/week
$121K (2023) → $126K (2025)
Brittany Hurd
Chief Alumni Success Officer
On filings since 2024
40 hrs/week
$152K (2024) → $144K (2025)
Kelly Berg
Chief Development Officer
On filings since 2024
40 hrs/week
$102K (2024) → $127K (2025)
Former officers (91)
- Former: Cecil Lipscomb (2019–2024) — Trustee
- Former: Doug Mangen (2019–2024) — Treasurer
- Former: John King (2019–2024) — Trustee
- Former: Laura Mimura (2019–2024) — Trustee
- Former: Jim Carulas (2022–2024) — Trustee
- Former: Jim Kavalec (2022–2024) — Trustee
- Former: Traci Forrester (2023–2024) — Trustee
- Former: Aurora Kitko (2024) — Trustee
- Former: Jim Lemay (2024) — Trustee
- Former: Brock Milstein (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Celeste Kamasa (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: David Lowman (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Diane Singer (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: John Zitzner (2019–2023) — President
- Former: Karen Long (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Mary Herzac (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Matthew Jones (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Michael Maroon (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Michelle Perez (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Nora Loftus (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Patti Schaar (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Rita Sehgal (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Suresh Bafna (2019–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Bill Welsh (2020–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Jolyn Parker (2020–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Linda Olejko (2020–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Erin De La Mare (2021–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Jeff Ahola (2021–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Jill Arena (2021–2023) — Trustee
- Former: John Grabner (2021–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Wes Gilllespie (2021–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Bill Koehler (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Bob Sims (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Charlie Lougheed (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Chris Di Tullio (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Jeff Cristal (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Lauren Mimura (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Nina Butler (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Tim Coughlin (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Anand Patel (2023) — Trustee
- Former: Angelina Grujic (2023) — Trustee
- Former: Bj Solaru (2023) — Trustee
- Former: Demari Muff (2023) — Trustee
- Former: Jeff Sinclair (2023) — Trustee
- Former: Lauryn Durham (2023) — Trustee
- Former: Yvonne Esiri (2023) — Trustee
- Former: Jamie Cole (2019–2022) — Trustee
- Former: Odell Coleman (2019–2022) — Trustee
- Former: Paul Martin (2021–2022) — Trustee
- Former: George Vonzedlitz (2022) — Trustee
- Former: Marty Gates (2022) — Trustee
- Former: Charles Lougheed (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: Damian Thomas (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: George Von Zedlitz (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: Greg Althans (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: James Carulas (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: James Kavalec (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: Martin Gates (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: Megan Mayhugh (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: Timothy Coughlin (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: William Koehler (2019–2021) — Trustee
- Former: Chris Ditullio (2021) — Trustee
- Former: William Welsh (2021) — Trustee
- Former: Alex King (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Brian Tucker (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Bridget Moreno (2019–2020) — Vice Chair
- Former: Chris Adams (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: David Gunning (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: David Loomis (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Denise Carkhuff (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Jeanette Grasselli Brown (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: John Sinnenberg (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Matt Byrnes (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Maurice Harapiak (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Michael Merriman (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Poppie Parish (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Richard Pace (2019–2020) — Vice Chair
- Former: Rudolf Bentlage (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Thomas Rudibaugh (2019–2020) — Vice Chair
- Former: Walter Kalberer (2019–2020) — Director
- Former: Clayron Kryvicky (2020) — Director
- Former: Andrew Lee (2019) — Director
- Former: Brent Zimmerman (2019) — Director
- Former: David Mannarino (2019) — Director
- Former: Donald Hayes (2019) — Director
- Former: Heather Thiltgen (2019) — Director
- Former: James Manley (2019) — Director
- Former: Jane Outcalt (2019) — Director
- Former: Jennifer Grossman (2019) — Director
- Former: Julia Bolton (2019) — Director
- Former: Robert Gillespie (2019) — Director
Data from IRS Form 990 filings, 2019–2025. "On filings since" is the earliest filing we hold that lists the person; hours are average hours per week as reported.
Compensation Overview
From 2025 IRS filing
The highest reported compensation on the 2025 filing was $213K, to Susan Ertle (Executive Director). 4 officers or directors reported compensation on that filing.
Frequently asked questions about Friends of Breakthrough Schools
How much does Friends of Breakthrough Schools give each year?
Friends of Breakthrough Schools gave $2.2M across 6 grants in 2025, according to its 2025 IRS Form 990. In 2024 it gave $258K across 5 grants.
What is Friends of Breakthrough Schools's typical grant size?
Friends of Breakthrough Schools's median grant in 2025 was $59,568, and its average grant was $365,000, across 6 grants on its 2025 IRS Form 990.
Where does Friends of Breakthrough Schools give grants?
Friends of Breakthrough Schools gives mostly in Ohio: 100% of the grant dollars itemized on its 2025 IRS Form 990 went to recipients there. The most frequent recipient cities were Cleveland, OH (6 grants).
Does Friends of Breakthrough Schools give general operating support?
Not in 2025: none of the 6 grants with a stated purpose on Friends of Breakthrough Schools's 2025 IRS Form 990 were described as general or operating support. Recurring purposes include "School Funding" (6 grants).
Who are Friends of Breakthrough Schools's largest grantees?
Friends of Breakthrough Schools's largest 2025 grantees include Village Prep Willard ($1,272,424), Citizens Academy Southeast ($766,566) and Breakthrough Public Schools ($100,000), according to its 2025 IRS Form 990. Together they received 98% of its itemized 2025 grant dollars.
How large is Friends of Breakthrough Schools?
Friends of Breakthrough Schools reported $107.0M in total assets on its 2025 IRS Form 990. Its revenue that year was $6.7M.
What is Friends of Breakthrough Schools?
Friends of Breakthrough Schools is a public charity focused on Education, based in Cleveland, OH. It holds $107.0M in total assets as of 2025.
What is Friends of Breakthrough Schools's EIN?
Friends of Breakthrough Schools's EIN (Employer Identification Number) is 20-4948838. IRS Form 990 filing data is available on this page for 2019–2025.
Data last updated September 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990 filings.
Here's the math on researching Friends of Breakthrough Schools by hand.
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Friends of Breakthrough Schools down — hundreds of funders to go?