The RenewaNation Virginia Scholarship Foundation is a part of RenewaNation, specifically designated to providing Christian education scholarships to eligible students in Virginia through the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program. RenewaNation is a certified foundation to work with Virginia’s Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program.

The Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program provides Virginia state tax credits for resident persons or businesses making monetary or marketable securities donations to approved scholarship foundations that provide scholarships to eligible students for qualified educational expenses incurred in attending eligible nonpublic schools.

Individuals or businesses can receive state tax credit for their donation.

Donation may be made in the form of cash, check, credit card, or other monetary gift or marketable securities, but not goods, services, or property.

Individuals must give a minimum of $500 in order to qualify for the tax credit program but can give up to, but may not exceed, $125,000 per tax year.

Business entities, including sole proprietors, are not limited in the amount they can give.

The state tax credit value is equal to 65% of the donation. If you pay taxes and itemize, you may further reduce your tax liability beyond the tax credit related to the overall donation qualifying as a charitable contribution and the opportunity for itemized tax deductions. (RenewaNation is not a certified tax service organization. Reduced tax liability needs to be determined by donor’s tax professional).

Individuals may not be issued less than $325 or more than $81,250 in tax credits for a taxable year.

Business entities, including sole proprietorships, are not limited in the amount of tax credit they can receive.

There is a statewide cap of $25 Million dollars available in tax credits per program year.

The tax credit may be claimed against the individual income tax, corporate income tax, bank franchise tax, insurance premiums license tax, or tax on public service corporations.

Individuals and businesses seeking to donate to the Virginia Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit Program through a certified scholarship foundation must first complete the required Preauthorization. Please contact Renew Scholarships at info@virginia.renewscholarships.org or Curtis Cornell at curtis@renewanation.org to obtain your Preauthorization Form.

As there is a state mandated annual cap of $25 million in credits, tax credits are preauthorized to donors on a first come, first served basis.

After the Preauthorization form has been completed, the Approval Letter is obtained by RenewaNation from the VDOE and then issued to the donor by RenewaNation, as the qualified Scholarship Granting Organization.

Upon receipt of the donation RenewaNation Virginia Scholarship Foundation will promptly, report the donation and accompanying notice to the VDOE through a secure portal, certifying the donor, the amount of the donation, and the date it was received from the donor.

Once the donation is approved the VDOE will issue a tax credit certificate which will be provided to the donor by RenewaNation (or a qualified Scholarship Granting Organization), which must be submitted by the donor, with the applicable Virginia tax return to claim the credit.

Preauthorization notices (Approvals) not acted upon by the donor within 180 calendar days of issuance will expire and become void.

At a minimum, 90% of your donation will provide scholarships to eligible students for qualified educational expenses incurred in attending eligible nonpublic schools.

The RenewaNation Virginia Scholarship Foundation specifically scholarships qualified students to help them receive a Christian worldview education.

Scholarship values are based on the state share of Standards of Quality (SOQ) funding and vary by state school district.

Scholarship values do not exceed SOQ funding or the published costs of the eligible school.

Eligible schools, selected by eligible students to which tax credit derived funds may be paid, will be (i) in compliance with the Commonwealth’s and locality’s health and safety laws and codes; (ii) hold a valid occupancy permit as required by the locality; (iii) comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; and (iv) be nonpublic schools that comply with nonpublic school accreditation requirements as set forth in Section 22.1-19 of the Code of Virginia, and administered by the Virginia Council for Private Education or nonpublic schools that maintain an assessment system that annually measures scholarship students’ progress in reading and math using a national norm-referenced achievement test including, but not limited to, the Stanford Achievement Test, California Achievement Test, and Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Any other achievements tests used for this purpose must have been developed using a norm group that is representative of the United States.

The RenewaNation Virginia Scholarship Foundation only supports scholarships to eligible schools (as stated above) that also provide Christian worldview education.

All donations must be submitted for approval by completing a Preauthorization Form. RenewaNation can furnish a copy of the form to you. There are two options in obtaining a Preauthorization Form.

Option 1) (Preferred & Quickest): Contact Curtis Cornell via email (curtis@renewanation.org) and he will email a link to you that will allow you the ability to securely complete and submit the Preauthorization form directly to RenewaNation (real time).

Option 2) Curtis Cornell can email or mail you a PDF version of the form. Once you have fully completed filling out the Preauthorization Form, you should then scan and return the signed form, via email to Curtis (curtis@renewanation.org) or by mail to PO Box 12366, Roanoke, VA 24025.

Upon receipt RenewaNation will electronically submit the form to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) for you.

Once your form has been approved (usually within 15 min if using the secure link), the Preauthorization Notice, which is your Approval to donate, will be emailed or mailed to you by RenewaNation (a qualified Scholarship Granting Organization) at the email or physical address you provided on your Preauthorization Form.

Once you have received your Preauthorization Notice (Approval), within 180 calendar days of the date at the top of your notice mail it along with your donation to:

RenewaNation
P.O. Box 12366
Roanoke, VA 24025
ATTN: Curtis Cornell

For marketable securities, make arrangements for direct fund transfer by contacting Curtis Cornell via email at curtis@renewanation.org

The donation amount can be paid all at once or can be divided into multiple installments as long as the total donation amount is paid within the 180-calendar day period. Each donation must be accompanied with a copy of the signed Approval Notice. (Just a reminder, the 180 days starts as of the date on your Preauthorization Notice.) Should the total amount paid, and the amount of the approved donation amount differ at the end of the 180-day period, your Tax Credit Certificate will reflect the actual amount paid.

Eligible Contribution Types for the Virginia EISTC  Program: Cash, checks, credit cards, and marketable securities (stock transfers).

To qualify for RenewaNation Virginia Scholarship Foundation assistance, a student must meet the following criteria:

Be a resident of Virginia and (i) eligible to enter kindergarten or first grade or (ii) in the current school year has enrolled and attended a public school in the Commonwealth for at least one-half of the year or (iii) for the school year that immediately preceded his/her receipt of a foundation scholarship was enrolled and attended a public school in the Commonwealth for at least one-half of the year or (iv) is a prior recipient of a foundation scholarship or (v) for the school year that immediately preceded his/her receipt of a scholarship foundation scholarship was domiciled in a state other than the Commonwealth and did not attend a nonpublic school in the Commonwealth for more than one-half of the school year.

A resident of Virginia means that the student meets the requirements of Section 22.1-3 of the Code of Virginia, for admission to a Virginia public school.

Have a family household income that does not exceed 300 percent of the current federal poverty level, or in the case of special needs students, a current IEP on file and a family household income that does not exceed 400 percent of the current federal poverty level.

Enroll in a qualified school.

Determine eligibility. (See FAQ – Is my child eligible for a scholarship?)

Apply for RenewaNation Virginia Scholarship Foundation assistance through your qualified school.

Contact Curtis Cornell at curtis@renewanation.org or call 1-540-890-8900.