charities.
CHARITY PORTFOLIO
Please check back as we continue to add our donation theses and underwriting materials to this page.
Prison Entrepreneurship Program
Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) provides in-prison education to inmates across Texas, achieving a 100% graduate employment rate (vs. ~60% nationwide joblessness rate for formerly incarcerated individuals) and a <10% cumulative three-year recidivism rate (vs. 28% nationally) for its ~3,500 graduates since 2004. Since the USIT Foundation’s initial donation in 2021, we have observed PEP recover its in-person programming in 2022 after COVID, innovatively create online curriculum for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s tablet rollout in 2023, and launch higher efficiency avenues in scaling, including their incentivized housing program, in 2025.
Our thesis is anchored in our alignment with PEP's novel theory of change in delivering sustained, transformative outcomes within the lives of incarcerated individuals using finance and entrepreneurship. We continue to be impressed with management's courageous vision and data orientation.
Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement
The Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA) is a $4M, Rio Grande Valley-based workforce development charity focused on providing educational and vocational assistance in high-demand fields to students from nontraditional backgrounds (cohort average age of 27, majority low-income and underemployed, 95% acceptance rates into VIDA programming). By guiding participants toward career paths that are both high-paying and in-demand (e.g., nursing, computer science, specialized trades) and leveraging a diverse employer network, VIDA achieves 83% graduation rates (vs. 29% for comparable students at UT Rio Grande Valley) and $42K average wage growth (+375%) for participants.
ABOUT
Charities are sourced and pitched by Junior Analysts and Senior Analysts, reviewed by Portfolio Managers, and presented to the Giving Committee. Portfolio Managers lead annual portfolio reviews to determine how charities have used past donations. These pitches analyze a variety of nonprofit organizations through an investing-inspired diligence process.
giving to date.
Over five giving cycles, the USIT Foundation has disbursed over half a million dollars. We make one set of donations per year each Summer and often make repeat donations.
