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Sacramento Steps Forward at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Sacramento Steps Forward

The Organization's mission is to ensure that individuals and families experiencing homelessness or the risk of homelessness are able to access housing services and resources on their path to economic stability.

$14M
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$4.7M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Housing & Shelter$109MHuman Services$28k
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $42k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $160k
  • $250k+6 grants · $14M
$303,587
Median grant
1
States reached
$24M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Shelter Inc$4,666,931
Lutheran Social Services$4,411,343
SAEHC$4,294,898
Lao Family Community Dev$340,111
Sacramento Cottage Housing$303,587
My Sisters House$250,923
Waking the Village$107,979
Bridging Initiatives Internat$51,651
Community Link Capital Region$41,831
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $23.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Lutheran Social Services: $2.5M → 9%Lutheran Social Services: $2.0M → 9%Lutheran Social Services: $2.0M → 9%Lutheran Social Services: $1.9M → 9%Lutheran Social Services: $4.4M → 9%Lutheran Social Services: $3.4M → 9%Community Link Capital Region: $42k → 12%Lutheran Social Services: $3.0M → 9%Feed Sacramento Homeless: $28k → 12%Lutheran Social Services: $2.5M → 9%Bridging Initiatives Internat: $52k → 12%Wind Youth Services: $584k → 12%Wind Youth Services: $414k → 12%Wind Youth Services: $299k → 12%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$107M · 12 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

12 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
8

Total granted

$107M
$1.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
+33%

Still filing today

83%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $201k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesHousing & ShelterEmploymentCrime & LegalYouth DevelopmentOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • LS
    LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
    8× · 2017–2024 · $22M · revenue +119%
  • GI
    Goodwill Industries Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada Inc
    5× · 2020–2024 · $18M · revenue +36%
  • VO
    VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND NORTHERN NEVADA INC
    7× · 2017–2023 · $18M · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • CO
    COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO VOTER REGISTRATION AND ELECTIONS
    one grant, 2020 · $884k
  • SC
    Sac CTY Dept of Human Assist
    one grant, 2021 · $476k
  • SL
    SACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHESgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $116k · revenue +33%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
San Francisco Network Ministries Housing Corporation

San Francisco Network Ministries Housing Corporation works to empower and support women who are experiencing housing instability and sexual exploitation or trafficking, by creating survivor-centered spaces, services advocacy and community…

Unclassified
2
Welcome Home Housing Inc

Welcome Home Housing is a non-profit organization in Sacramento California that provides affordable housing and services to individuals with mental illness.

Human Services
3
Sonoma Applied Village Services

Address the homeless crisis in California.

Housing & Shelter
4
City of Refuge Sacramento

City of Refuge Sacramento, a community-based organization, exists to support people living in marginalized communities of Sacramento and to empower their ability to create a personal transformation that will lead to a healthy and thriving…

Human Services
5
Sacramento Steps Forward

The Organization's mission is to ensure that individuals and families experiencing homelessness or the risk of homelessness are able to access housing services and resources on their path to economic stability. The Organization is the lead…

Human Services
6
Bay Area Community Services Housing Corp

Improve the quality of life for individuals in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Solano County, Monterey County, Sacramento County and the surrounding area in the State of California.

Housing & Shelter
7
Mary's Mercy Center

Mary's Mercy Center reaffirms the dignity of the poor and marginalized by providing food, clothing, and transitional housing to homeless families and individuals.

Food & Nutrition
8
The San Francisco Particular Council of the Society of St Vincent De Paul

The mission of the st. vincent de paul society of san francisco (svdp-sf) is to offer hope and service on a direct person-to-person basis, working to break the cycles of homelessness and domestic violence.

Human Services
9
Insight Housing Fka Berkeley Food and Housing Project

IH's programs are grounded in the core components of food, emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent housing, and rapid re-housing/ homelessness prevention services. Core programming is enriched with wraparound supportive…

Human Services
10
Solano Affordable Housing Foundation
Housing & Shelter
11
Larkin Street Youth Services

The mission of Larkin Street Youth Services is to create a continuum of services that inspires youth to move beyond the street. We will nurture potential, promote dignity, and support bold steps by all.

Human Services
12
Hands of Hope Resources for Homeless Families

Hands of Hope works to enhance the quality of life in the Yuba-Sutter area by: Providing core support services to the homeless; Reintegrating the homeless within our community; Engaging the community to respond to the challenge of…

Housing & Shelter
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Shelter Inc; the most unlike its peers is Bridging Initiatives International. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 23 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/17
Grantees still filing
12/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND NORTHERN NEVADA INC: $18,273,018 · OtherVOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND NORTHERN NEVADA…SACRAMENTO SELF-HELP HOUSING INC: $14,846,872 · OtherSACRAMENTO SELF-HELP HOUSING INCCity of Sacramento: $13,253,482 · OtherCity of SacramentoNext Move Homeless Services: $10,694,723 · OtherNext Move Homeless Services+6 more: $1,853,932 · OtherLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: $21,756,604 · Human ServicesLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES…WIND YOUTH SERVICES INC: $1,297,384 · Human ServicesWIND YOUTH SERVICES INC+5 more: $242,893 · Human ServicesGoodwill Industries Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada Inc: $18,398,211 · EmploymentGoodwill Industries…SHELTER INC: $4,894,808 · Housing & ShelterSacramento Cottage Housing Inc: $2,519,416 · Housing & Shelter+1 more: $183,304 · Housing & ShelterMy Sisters House: $797,015 · Crime & LegalWAKING THE VILLAGE: $107,979 · Youth Development
Other$58,922,027Human Services$23,296,881Employment$18,398,211Housing & Shelter$7,597,528Crime & Legal$797,015Youth Development$107,979

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: $21,756,604 over 8y, 24% of budgetGoodwill Industries Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada Inc: $18,398,211 over 5y, 4.8% of budgetVOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND NORTHERN NEVADA INC: $18,273,018 over 7y, 11% of budgetSACRAMENTO SELF-HELP HOUSING INC: $14,846,872 over 7y, 36% of budgetSHELTER INC: $4,894,808 over 2y, 21% of budgetSacramento Cottage Housing Inc: $2,519,416 over 8y, 47% of budgetMy Sisters House: $797,015 over 4y, 13% of budgetLAO FAMILY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INC: $466,100 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetMERCY HOUSING INC: $183,304 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES: $115,600 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetWAKING THE VILLAGE: $107,979 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetBRIDGING INITIATIVES INTERNATIONAL: $51,651 over 1y, 37% of budgetCommunity Link Capital Region: $41,831 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetFEED SACRAMENTO HOMELESS: $28,311 over 1y, 78% of budgetCarmichael HART (Homeless Assistance Resource Team): $5,500 over 1y, 9.7% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Kaiser Foundation Hos…Sacramento Region Com…Sacramento Food Bank …Dignity HealthSutter Valley Hospita…East Bay Community Fo…United Way California…Teichert FoundationCalifornia Foundation…The California Endowm…Shelter Providers of …The Blackbaud Giving …
Kaiser Foundation HospitalsCA27.5× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · Sacramento Region Community Foundation · Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services · Dignity Health · Sutter Valley Hospitals · East Bay Community Foundation · United Way California Capital Region · Teichert Foundation · California Foundation for Stronger Communities · The California Endowment · Shelter Providers of Sacramento Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Sacramento Steps Forward funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sacramento Steps Forward. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 23 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Sacramento Steps Forward’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home