How this is funded.

What runs the site today

• Current funding: $0. No grants, no donations, no sponsorships.
• Hosting & database: free tier of our cloud provider (~$0/mo at current traffic).
• Domain: paid out of pocket (~$15/yr) by the founder.
• Editorial & engineering: volunteer hours from students. No one is paid.
• Annual run-rate: roughly $15/yr in cash + volunteer time.

What outside funding could unlock in the future

If Atlas ever accepts outside funding (through a fiscal sponsor or otherwise), here's what it would go to — in priority order:

1. Catalog vetting stipends for student contributors who manually verify listings.
2. Paid auto-discovery (Firecrawl / AI gateway above free tier) so the catalog grows faster.
3. Counselor outreach — printable packets, school visits, partnerships with under-resourced districts.
4. Accessibility audit by a paid professional, not just our internal checks.
5. Domain & infrastructure as traffic outgrows the free tier.

Anything we ever raise will be itemized publicly on the impact page within 30 days.

Ways you can help — for free

• Suggest a program we are missing.
• Report a broken or out-of-date listing from any program page.
• Share the catalog with a counselor, teacher, or student who would use it.
• If you run a program, send us an updated description or fee-waiver details.

Our funding pledge

• We will never charge students to view, save, or apply through the Atlas.
• We will never sell, rent, or share user data with listed programs.
• If we ever accept a grant or donation, the source and amount will be published on the impact page within 30 days.
• We will not list a program in exchange for money or favor. Vetting is editorial-only.

For schools & districts

The catalog is free for any school, library, or community organization to use and link to. See the counselor toolkit for embed snippets and a printable one-pager.

Questions about funding

Email hello@atlasofopportunity.org with the subject "Funding". We respond within a week.