Two programs. Two tax credits. One relationship.

Pennsylvania businesses can fund education scholarships through the state-level Educational Improvement Tax Credit (PA EITC). Their individual employees can independently fund those same scholarships through the new federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) via payroll deduction. Different programs. Different credits. Different levels of government. Same mission. 1 Abacus Fund is the only Pennsylvania SGO building infrastructure to administer both — for one employer relationship.

Side-by-side.

PA EITC: who donates — your business. Tax credit — 75% (or 90% with a 2-year commitment), capped at $750,000 per business per year. Tax level — Pennsylvania business taxes (CNI, PA Bank Shares, Insurance Premium, etc.). Mechanism — direct corporate gift to an approved SGO.

Federal EFTC: who donates — your individual employees. Tax credit — 100%, capped at $1,700 per person (or $3,400 per married couple). Tax level — federal individual income tax. Mechanism — voluntary after-tax payroll deduction, aggregated and remitted to the SGO monthly.

The two programs are statutorily independent: claiming PA EITC does not affect the employee's ability to claim EFTC, and vice versa. There is no double-dipping issue because the donors are different legal persons (the company and the individuals).

A worked example — 200-employee PA business.

Assume a mid-size Pennsylvania employer with 200 employees and $50M in annual revenue, already participating in PA EITC at $100,000 per year with a 2-year commitment. Add EFTC Payroll Giving with 40% employee participation at the full $1,700 contribution:

Business PA EITC donation: $100,000 → $90,000 state tax credit → net business cost roughly $10,000.
Employee EFTC donations: 80 participants × $1,700 = $136,000 → $136,000 in individual federal tax credits returned to employees → net employee cost $0.
Employer ACH fee subsidy: about $300 per year, deductible as a business expense → net business cost roughly $200 after tax benefit.
Total annual flow to scholarships: $236,000. Total combined net cost: roughly $10,200 — all on the business side, sourced from PA EITC.
Leverage ratio: about 23:1 dollars-to-scholarships per dollar of actual cost.

This example is illustrative, based on stated tax-credit rates and the program's stated participation assumption. Your specific outcome will depend on your PA tax liability, your workforce demographics, and your enrollment rate. We will model a customized version on a 20-minute discovery call.

Why no other PA SGO offers this combined pitch.

Most national SGOs entering EFTC are not registered in Pennsylvania for PA EITC. Most established PA EITC SGOs are not yet built for the federal EFTC's individual-donor, payroll-deduction architecture. 1 Abacus Fund is operating from the FundEDU business that already manages PA EITC relationships, while spinning up 1 Abacus Fund as the federal SGO — so the same employer relationship covers both programs, with one partnership agreement, one point of contact, and one set of materials your HR team can hand to employees.

What happens if Pennsylvania hasn't opted into EFTC yet.

Pennsylvania businesses can continue to fund PA EITC scholarships exactly as they do today — that program is unaffected by federal opt-in. On the employee side, EFTC contributions can still be claimed by PA employees by donating to SGOs in opted-in states; the scholarships go to students there. Once PA opts in, donations can be redirected to a PA-listed SGO so that scholarships benefit local students. Either way, your business and your employees both receive their respective tax credits.