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Tennessee · Nonprofit

A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC

A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,722,144 to it, the largest being THE ELSA & PETER SODERBERG CHARITABLE ($729,574). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.

$1.8M
Revenue FY2024
32
Funders on record
$2.7M
Grants received
$1.4M
Net assets
22/32 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 37%

Against its field

A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 8,110 health nonprofits its size.

Operating margin28% · top quartile
Months of reserve12.8mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)18% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 8,110 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Three funders worth looking at

Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.

See all 12 prospects and why each one surfaced →
01The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($563k) Expenses 100 ($644k) Net assets 100 ($755k)2018 Revenue 106 ($596k) Expenses 111 ($714k) Net assets 84 ($636k)2019 Revenue 100 ($565k) Expenses 108 ($697k) Net assets 67 ($504k)2020 Revenue 255 ($1.4M) Expenses 147 ($947k) Net assets 131 ($991k)2021 Revenue 153 ($863k) Expenses 206 ($1.3M) Net assets 70 ($529k)2022 Revenue 211 ($1.2M) Expenses 183 ($1.2M) Net assets 72 ($543k)2023 Revenue 248 ($1.4M) Expenses 164 ($1.1M) Net assets 117 ($883k)2024 Revenue 320 ($1.8M) Expenses 202 ($1.3M) Net assets 184 ($1.4M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (320)Expenses (202)Net assets (184)Peer revenue range

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 7% · 2021 62% · 2022 38% · 2023 39% · 2024 38%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (51% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 8,590 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$80k
17
$119k
18
$132k
19
$487k
20
$462k
21
$14k
22
$340k
23
$505k
24
13
months of
reserve
02Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $112k → $520k.

11 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF)32% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

38% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC.

27%
largest funder
49%
top three
~9
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 64% · 2019 45% · 2020 64% · 2021 40% · 2022 36% · 2023 30%diversifying over time.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

50% of A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC draws 55% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 7 states in all.

NY
MA
NJ
CA
DE
TN
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Tennessee out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $871k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 statesis excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

03Its place in the field

Funders to approach

Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 32 funders put you typical among the 400 organizations that share them.

From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.

Organizations like A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC

Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Tennessee

Nationally

04Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

83% of spending goes to programs.

Program 83%Management 11%Fundraising 5%

Governance

13
board members
100%
independent
Conflict-of-interest policyWhistleblower policyDocument retentionBoard reviewed the 990Audited financials

Public support

84%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

TN

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC?
A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,722,144 to it, the largest being THE ELSA & PETER SODERBERG CHARITABLE ($729,574). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC have?
IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $2,722,144 in grants to A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC?
THE ELSA & PETER SODERBERG CHARITABLE is the largest funder on record, with $729,574 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like A STEP AHEAD FOUNDATION CHATTANOOGA INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 32funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing