California · Nonprofit
A STEP BEYOND
A STEP BEYOND (California) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,269,016 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($976,041). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $5.3M
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What A Step Beyond does
Mission
To prepare underserved youth for success in college, career, and life through dance education, academic support, and family services.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Dance training is at the core of the program. Research has shown that learning dance imparts an array of life skills: self-awareness, concentration, discipline, respect, goal setting with accountability, and creative problem solving, to name a few. A Step Beyond (asb) has a total of 245 students in grades 3-12, and will take an additional 45 students each year until it reaches a site capacity of approximately 350 students. Dance training is conducted by highly skilled professional on-staff dance instructors. Each year students perform in a concert attended by parents and supporters. They also perform in numerous other venues.
$480,404 spent$37,319 earned by the program46% of program spendingAcademic programs include tutoring for every student, enrichment exercises, intensive literacy support and summer camps, as well as a robust college and career readiness program. Students have access to a library, computers, makerspace, and a daily "homework cafe." students receive world of work career education experiences in steam industries and college preparation services including financial literacy and weekly counseling to support entry into higher education and/or other career programs after high school.
$335,295 spent32% of program spendingFamily service programs support mental health and wellness, in addition to treating children in crisis, assisting families in crisis, conducting group therapy for students, and providing parent training. Participants receive daily mentoring from staff and volunteers, and engage regularly in counseling groups that promote essential skills to meet social and emotional needs, as well as build a sense of belonging. Families also receive crisis intervention support as needed.
$238,406 spentof which $1,230 as grants23% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,054,105.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $2.1M to $2.8M (+36%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2018 5% · 2019 1% · 2020 16% · 2021 14% · 2022 13% · 2023 8% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of A STEP BEYOND’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
James Wright
CEO/executive director
Board chair
Jose Villarreal
Chairman / director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 27 funders, grant income rose $395k → $804k.
10 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 53% 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 BEYOND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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 BEYOND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
64% 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 BEYOND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 25% · 2018 28% · 2019 30% · 2020 38% · 2021 24% · 2022 15% · 2023 23% — broadly stable.
“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
47% of A STEP BEYOND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% give in more than one year at all.
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
53% of A STEP BEYOND's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $2.5M that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is 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.
Against its field
A STEP BEYOND's revenue grew 67% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding A STEP BEYOND receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $35k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$35k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like A STEP BEYOND
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for A STEP BEYOND: 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.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds A STEP BEYOND?
- A STEP BEYOND (California) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,269,016 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($976,041). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does A STEP BEYOND have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $5,269,016 in grants to A STEP BEYOND, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of A STEP BEYOND?
- THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $976,041 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like A STEP BEYOND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds A Step Beyond →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 55 funders 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 October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing