Training support
Guides and heads of school seeking sponsorship toward the AMI diploma, or funding for continuing development. Tell us where you teach and which pathway you are pursuing.
Take part
Help widen the door.
How to apply for training or tuition support, and how to give, said plainly and without overclaiming.
Apply
Three paths, when we open.
Applications open once the Initiative is established and each program is funded. Until then we welcome enquiries and expressions of interest. Write to us and we will be in touch as each program opens.
Tuition assistance
Families who want a Montessori education for their child and need help meeting tuition. Grants are made through participating schools; write to us to learn how the fund will work.
Research funding
Researchers with work on Montessori pedagogy or outcomes that deserves funding and a route to publication. Send a short description of the question you want to pursue.
No deadlines or grant sizes are set yet. We will publish them when programs open.
Support this work
Help widen the door.
If you would like to help train a guide, fund tuition for a family who could not otherwise attend, or support Montessori research, we would be glad to talk. Gifts go to the programs, not to overhead dressed up as mission.
The Initiative is a Delaware nonstock corporation in formation, and its application for 501(c)(3) recognition is pending. Tax-exempt status has not been granted and gifts are not yet confirmed to be tax-deductible, so please confirm deductibility with your own adviser before making a gift you intend to deduct. We will say so plainly here the moment that changes.
Questions
Plain answers.
Is my gift tax-deductible right now?
Not yet. The Initiative is in formation and its application for 501(c)(3) recognition is pending. Federal tax exemption has not been granted, so we cannot yet tell you a gift is deductible. If you plan to deduct a gift, confirm the current status with your adviser first. We will update this page the moment recognition is in hand.
Does the Initiative control the schools or the company?
No. Control of Tessera Education Group, PBC sits in The Tessera Stewardship Trust, which holds the controlling Class M Mission Stock. The Initiative holds no controlling stock and has no seat on the company's board. It is a charity that runs programs and, separately, holds the Trust to account as an enforcer. Those are different jobs from running a company.
Which training do you fund?
Recognised training from the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) only. Our credentialling program funds the AMI diploma pathways and AMI-grounded professional development. We do not endorse or fund any other credential body.
Does giving to the Initiative fund the for-profit company?
No. The money flows the other way. The company makes a charitable contribution to the Initiative. Donations to the Initiative go to its charitable programs: educator training, tuition access, and research. They do not flow up into the company.
How do families receive tuition help?
Through their school. Grants from the tuition-access fund are administered by participating schools, which know their own communities and fee structures. When the fund opens, families will apply through a participating school rather than directly to the Initiative, and the terms will be published here.
Is the Initiative the same thing as the Trust?
No. They are separate entities with separate jobs. The Trust is the control vehicle: a Delaware purpose trust that holds the mission-lock over the company. The Initiative is a public charity that runs programs and serves as one of the Trust's named enforcers. The Initiative can hold the trustees to their purpose, but it does not sit inside the Trust and it does not control the company below it.
How much of a gift reaches the programs?
The commitment is that gifts go to the programs rather than to overhead dressed up as mission. We are a charity in formation and will not quote a ratio we cannot yet stand behind. Once we are operating and audited, our accounts and annual filings will show where the money went, and an independent audit committee will oversee them.