MilestoneX

Data and evaluation infrastructure for nonprofits and special education.

About

MilestoneX was founded in 2024 by brothers John and James Church. We build software for nonprofits and schools: organizations whose work is often measured in narrative and outcomes rather than revenue, and which have historically been underserved by commercial technology.

We work in close partnership with the organizations we build for. Our current projects are developed alongside a special education foundation, nonprofit grant writers, and advisors in the philanthropic data space. We build for the long term, with an eye toward the institutions best positioned to operate these tools at scale.

We continue to take on new problems in nonprofit data and program evaluation, shaped by the organizations we partner with.

Projects

Progress tracking and IEP support for special education

A platform for special education teams to document student progress through natural-language observations instead of forms. LilyChart is purpose-built for IEP workflows and compliance, designed in close collaboration with practicing special-education professionals rather than adapted from general-education software. The system turns voice or text notes into IEP-aligned evidence, progress reports, and quarterly narratives. Educators and specialists stay in control of the final document; AI handles the documentation overhead.

LilyChart is in production with the Foundation for Blind Children, Arizona's leading agency serving blind and visually impaired individuals since 1952, where it has processed more than 2,200 student updates across 400 individual goals. Validated through a completed case study.

“It feels like this was written by someone who truly knows the student.”
Fred Hall · Assistant Director (cTVI, COMS), Foundation for Blind Children

In partnership with

Visit LilyChart Read the case study

Grant research and writing for nonprofits

Northstar Toolkit

A nonprofit operating system for grant research, funder matching, and grant writing. Northstar opens up hundreds of thousands of funder profiles and a daily feed of grant opportunities drawn from hundreds of sources. This is data commercial tools typically charge hundreds of dollars a month for; we give it away free. AI-assisted matching and writing are available by subscription. Built in ongoing collaboration with the nonprofit users it serves.

Northstar is live at northstartoolkit.com with a full-featured free tier and a Pro tier for teams that want AI-assisted matching and drafting. We continue to operate and develop it, and welcome conversations with foundations interested in expanding this kind of infrastructure for their grantees.

Visit Northstar Toolkit

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In the Community

Hack for Social Impact

MilestoneX handles the technical infrastructure for Hack for Social Impact, a San Francisco hackathon pairing software engineers and data scientists with mission-driven organizations. Past partners include the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, and Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto.

Past partners

Contact

Get in touch. We welcome conversations with foundations, nonprofit and school leaders, and collaborators working in adjacent problem spaces.

John Church: john@milestonex.ai
James Church: james@milestonex.ai

Who We Are

MilestoneX was founded by two brothers, John and James Church. Before MilestoneX, John was CTO at Jet.AI through its NASDAQ IPO; earlier, he managed the conservation research team at Claremont McKenna's Roberts Environmental Center. James has worked in special education for years, including with Miracle League of Arizona.

Both John and James care deeply about improving outcomes through better qualitative data, tracking, and analysis enabled by AI.