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Stepping Stones Museum for Children Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Stepping Stones Museum for Children Inc

The mission of stepping stones museum for children is to broaden and enrich the educational opportunities for children ages ten and under and enhance their understanding of the world.

$33k
Granted FY2018
1
Grants FY2018
1
States reached
$33k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its 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 2018.

Education$75kCivil Rights$33kArts & Culture$15kRecreation & Sports$13kYouth Development$10kHuman Services$5kPublic Safety & Disaster$5k
02FY2018 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$33,207
Median grant
1
States reached
$14M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NORWALK ACTS INC$33,207
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.

None of its grants could be placed against low income need for this view.

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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 50% of Stepping Stones Museum for Children Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Stepping Stones Museum for Children Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its 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
Norwalk Community Health Center

To provide quality, innovative care that enriches the lives of our patients.

Health
2
South Shore Charter School

The mission of south shore charter school is to cultivate students the tenacity, integrity, and curiosity needed to become innovative and socially responsible leaders, ready to face and solve the ever-changing challenges facing our…

Education
3
Norwalk Harbor Keeper
—
4
Norwalk Aquatic Club Inc

The mission of NAC is to support and promote youth swimming in both the City of Norwalk and Fairfield County. We focus on expanding learn-to-swim opportunities, team diversity, inclusion and participation in competitions and team…

—
5
Cold Spring School Inc

Cold spring school challenges children to become self-reliant, curious and resourceful problem solvers with the academic and social skills to engage constructively and ethically in our diverse, changing world.

Education
6
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
7
Stamford Charter School for Excellence

The stamford charter school for excellence prepares young people in stamford, connecticut to compete for admission to and succeed in top public, private and parochial high schools by cultivating their intellectual, artistic, social,…

Education
8
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
9
Norwalk Seaport Association Inc

The norwalk seaport association, inc. offers a cultural, environmental, and historical journey to the norwalk islands. the sheffield island lighthouse and the light keeper's cottage provide a unique historical and educational venue which…

Arts & Culture
10
South Kent School Corporation

South kent school is an independent, college-preparatory school for boys. since its founding, south kent has maintained ties with the episcopal church. three principles define the school: simplicity of life, self-reliance, and directness…

Education
11
Norwalk Hospital Foundation

The mission of norwalk hospital foundation is to raise funds, reinvest and administer these funds and make distributions to norwalk hospital and other not-for-profit norwalk hospital affiliates.

Health
12
Norwich University

Norwich's mission is to give our youth an education that shall be American in its character.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Norwalk Acts Inc; the most unlike its peers is Horizons at Ct State Norwalk Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

11 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. 11 of the 16 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/11
Grantees still filing
7/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT: $40,310 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUTNORWALK PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $15,000 · OtherNORWALK PUBLIC SCHOOLSACHIEVE ENRICHMENT PROGRAM LLC: $5,000 · OtherACHIEVE ENRICHMENT PROGRAM LLCSOUTH NORWALK COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $5,000 · OtherSOUTH NORWALK COMMUNITY CENTER INCMATH AND READING ADVANCEMENT LLC: $5,000 · OtherMATH AND READING ADVANCEMENT LLCGIBSON EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING LLC: $5,000 · OtherGIBSON EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING LLC+1 more: $2,500 · OtherNORWALK ACTS INC: $33,207 · Community ImprovementNORWALK ACTS INCSTEPPING STONES MUSEUM FOR CHILDREN INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureSTEPPING S…THE MARITIME AQUARIUM AT NORWALK INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MARITI…NORWALK RIVER ROWING ASSOCIATION: $5,000 · Recreation & SportsNORWALKSTAMFORD GRASSROOTS TENNIS & EDUCATION INC: $5,000 · Recreation & SportsTHE NEW CANAAN COUNTRY SCHOOL INCORPORATED: $5,000 · EducationHorizons at CT State Norwalk Inc: $5,000 · EducationFAMILY & CHILDREN'S AGENCY INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesSave The Children Federation Inc: $4,556 · International
Other$77,810Community Improvement$33,207Arts & Culture$15,000Recreation & Sports$10,000Education$10,000Human Services$5,000International$4,556

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSTEPPING STONES MUSEUM FOR CHILDREN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NEW CANAAN COUNTRY SCHOOL INCORPORATED: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHorizons at CT State Norwalk Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTHE MARITIME AQUARIUM AT NORWALK INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORWALKSTAMFORD GRASSROOTS TENNIS & EDUCATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFAMILY & CHILDREN'S AGENCY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $4,556 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE RIVERBROOK REGIONAL YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Fairfield County's Co…Ritter Family Foundat…The per and Astrid He…The Bauer Family Foun…The Scripps Family Fu…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Fairfield County's Community Foundation IncCT17.5× affinity6 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fairfield County's Community Foundation Inc · Ritter Family Foundation · The per and Astrid Heidenreich Family Foundation · The Bauer Family Foundation Inc · The Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Stepping Stones Museum for Children Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Stepping Stones Museum for Children Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • Family & Children's Agency Inc: 47% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Norwalk Acts Inc: 6% of income from government
  • The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Stepping Stones Museum for Children Inc: 1% of income from government
  • The Riverbrook Regional Young Men's Christian Association Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 16 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 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2018, the most recent year this funder made grants.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Stepping Stones Museum for Children’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