No pulpit ask. No pledge drive.
Just your name on an email.
About ten minutes of your time: one forwarded email with your name on it, plus copy that sits on your website and in the newsletter. Beginning in 2027, once ECF is on Tennessee's SGO list and giving opens, each of your members could give up to $1,700 to scholarships for Tennessee families at Christian schools and claim a federal tax credit for it under the Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC), created by Internal Revenue Code § 25F. Up to $1,700 per individual; up to $3,400 for a married couple filing jointly if each spouse gives $1,700, under proposed rules, limited to their own federal income tax.
Nothing for your church to buy or sign.
Figures are illustrative. Credit is nonrefundable and subject to your federal tax liability.
Illustration only: at $1,700 per donor, 10, 25, 50 or 100 donors would contribute $17,000, $42,500, $85,000 or $170,000 before operating costs. Smaller gifts produce smaller totals. No donor receives more credit than the federal tax they owe.
The Church Multiplier
One church. Extraordinary impact.
When a congregation participates together, the impact multiplies for local families and for the Christian school down the road.
Shares information with its members.
Illustration: $1,700 each.
Maximum federal tax credit per individual, under proposed rules, limited to the tax they owe.
Illustration only, at $1,700 per donor, before operating costs. Smaller gifts produce smaller totals.
Each donor claims the credit on their own return, up to the federal income tax they owe. Unused credit carries forward for up to five years.
How recipients are chosen.
Federal law prohibits earmarking a gift to a specific student. A donor may name a preferred qualifying Christian school, but cannot choose the student. ECF's independent committee awards scholarships in order of verified
need, lowest income first.
Federal tax credit of up to $1,700 per individual; up to $3,400 for a married couple filing jointly if each spouse gives $1,700, under proposed rules. Credit is nonrefundable and subject to
your federal tax liability.
You are not asking anyone for money.
What members can do
Once giving opens (ECF is on Tennessee's SGO list and the pledge page is live), members could give and claim a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 per individual; up to $3,400 for a married couple filing jointly if each spouse gives $1,700, under proposed rules, limited to the federal income tax each person owes. Anyone who owes less can carry the unused portion forward for up to five years.
What it costs your church
Nothing. There is no ECF gift, no fee, no match, and no budget line. Your church is not a donor here. It is a door.
What it costs you
About ten minutes, once, plus a paragraph that stays on your site. We write the email, the newsletter copy and the website text. You decide whether to use them.
Three steps, and we do most of them.
Forward one email
We write it and send it to you once ECF is on Tennessee's SGO list and giving opens. You add a line in your own voice and send it. We recommend sending to the families already connected to a Christian school rather than the whole roster, because that is where it lands.
Leave it where people already look
Giving page, newsletter, bulletin, plus one reminder in November when people are actually thinking about taxes. Each member gives directly to ECF, as an individual. A member may name a preferred qualifying Christian school as an individual, but never a student. The church itself designates nothing. Each claims their own credit on their own return. Your church never handles a dollar.
See the result in your community
ECF awards scholarships to qualifying Tennessee families and reports back to you on what your church made possible. Children your congregation knows are in a Christian classroom.
Written, formatted, and ready to paste into the channels you already have.
Nothing for your church to buy or sign. No obligation, and no follow-up sequence.
- The email. Five lines, in two versions: one for the whole list, one for the families already at a Christian school.
- Newsletter copy at 50, 120 and 250 words, so it fits whatever space you have.
- Website text for your giving or resources page.
- Bulletin insert. Half sheet, print-ready, black-and-white legible, with a QR code.
- An announcement slide for the pre-service loop.
- Answers for the church office, since the administrator is the one who will field the questions.
- A one-page summary for your board or elders, if they will want to see it before anything goes out.
Pulpit notes are in there too: ninety seconds, for the pastor who is already convinced. The kit works without them.
How recipients are chosen. Federal law prohibits earmarking a gift to a specific student. A donor may name a preferred qualifying Christian school, but cannot choose the student. ECF's independent committee awards scholarships in order of verified need, lowest income first.
Kit requests open when giving opens
The request form opens when giving opens (ECF is on Tennessee's SGO list and the pledge page is live). Until then we are not taking kit requests, and nothing is sent. To hear when it opens, join our email list.
Stay informedThat didn't go through. Please email info@educationchoicefund.org and we'll add you to the list manually.
Thank you. You are on the list.
We will email the kit once ECF is on Tennessee's SGO list and giving opens. Questions? Email info@educationchoicefund.org.
What pastors ask us.
Do you need our pulpit?
No. We built this around a pulpit ask at first, and the pastors we talked to told us Sunday morning is spoken for months ahead. So we rebuilt it: the kit now works entirely through email, the newsletter and your website. If you want to say ninety seconds about it from the platform, the notes are in the kit, but nothing depends on it.
Who at our church actually does this?
Whoever writes your newsletter. Everything in the kit is copy that someone pastes into a channel that already exists. The pastor's only job is letting his name go on the email, which is the reason it gets read.
Are you asking our church for money?
No. Not now and not later. Your church is never a donor, and there is no fee for any of this.
Do our members have to be wealthy?
No. Using the full credit takes at least $1,700 of federal income tax for the year, not wealth. The calculator on our donor page shows your own number.
Will you contact our members afterward?
Only those who ask us to. We do not sell or rent lists, we share information only as described in our Privacy Policy, and we do not run phone campaigns.
Can we direct the money to our own school?
The church directs nothing, and no church-level designation exists. An individual member may name a preferred qualifying Christian school when they give. Donors cannot choose scholarship recipients or earmark gifts for individual students. An independent ECF committee awards scholarships to qualifying Tennessee families in order of verified need, lowest income first.
What if our church has no associated school?
Nothing changes. Members give to ECF and may name any qualifying Christian school in Tennessee as a preference, or name none at all. Many will likely choose the school most of their families already attend.
How much time is this really?
About ten minutes: forward one email, and hand the newsletter and website copy to whoever maintains them. There is no Sunday morning component unless you want one. Congregations that go further may see more participation, but nothing beyond that is required.
What if § 25F is repealed?
ECF cannot promise how a change in law would affect future scholarships. Contributions already made are applied to existing scholarships first, and § 25F requires prioritizing students already receiving awards.
Has the IRS recognized ECF yet?
Yes. The IRS recognized ECF as a 501(c)(3) public charity on September 24, 2026 (EIN 42-4473313). ECF intends to apply to the State of Tennessee as a scholarship granting organization and is not on the state's list yet. We say so on every page. Contributions qualify for the federal credit only once ECF appears on Tennessee's 2027 SGO list, which requires IRS recognition. We will email the list once giving opens. We will not ask your congregation for anything before ECF is on the list and giving opens.
Start with the kit.
Kit requests open when giving opens (ECF is on Tennessee's SGO list and the pledge page is live). Read the kit then and decide. There is no next step you are agreeing to, and no one will call.