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California · Nonprofit

A STEP TO FREEDOM

A STEP TO FREEDOM (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $986,340 to it, the largest being WEINGART FOUNDATION ($350,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$5.3M
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$986k
Net assets
$528k
5/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 11%
01What it does

What A Step to Freedom does

Mission

To enhance the lives of low-income individuals and families who struggle with social and economic disparities such as homelessness, lack of education, substance abuse, mental illness, and recidivism by providing a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment to break cycles, heal and thrive.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Interim Housing - ASF IH sites provide safe, supportive environment where residents can overcome trauma, begin to address the issues that led to homelessness or kept them homeless, and begin to rebuild their support network. The goal is to improve participants' health and increase their housing security. IH provides 24 hour bed availability case management and supportive services; connection to benefits, mental health services, substance use and health services; transportation services, laundry services, three daily meals, access to linens, hygiene products and toiletries with onsite security for residents.

    $2,672,700 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,672,700.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($26k) Expenses 100 ($21k) Net assets 100 ($7k)2020 Revenue 7297 ($1.9M) Expenses 9011 ($1.9M) Net assets 2143 ($159k)2021 Revenue 8906 ($2.3M) Expenses 9892 ($2.1M) Net assets 659 ($49k)2022 Revenue 9708 ($2.5M) Expenses 11983 ($2.5M) Net assets 2228 ($165k)2023 Revenue 12401 ($3.2M) Expenses 15724 ($3.3M) Net assets -61 ($-4532)2024 Revenue 20683 ($5.3M) Expenses 23733 ($5.0M) Net assets 7112 ($528k)
201820202021202220232024
Revenue (20683)Expenses (23733)Net assets (7112)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $684k to $1.1M (+64%).

$7k
$159k
$455k
$468k
$684k
$1.1M
201820202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2022 81% · 2023 83% · 2024 82%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of A STEP TO FREEDOM’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (39% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,214 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$5k
’18
−$21k
’20
$206k
’21
−$26k
’22
−$121k
’23
$320k
’24
2.2
months of
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

Kenya Croom

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.

20202021202220232024
Listed44366
Joined·+0+2+3+0
No longer listed·0300
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $10k → $147k.

2 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 TO FREEDOM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 10 of 11 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 TO FREEDOM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

58% 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 TO FREEDOM.

35%
largest funder
78%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 60% · 2022 68% · 2023 63% — 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 TO FREEDOM's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 45% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

100% of A STEP TO FREEDOM's grant income comes from California funders.

CA

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

’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $78k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

A STEP TO FREEDOM has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,973 housing & shelter nonprofits its size.

Operating margin6% · below the median
Months of reserve2.2mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)143% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,973 housing & shelter nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding A STEP TO FREEDOM receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.0M on record.

Federal$1.0M
grants $1.0Mcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development$1.0M

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 TO FREEDOM

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

05Profile & 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 14%Fundraising 3%

Governance

6
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

99%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for A STEP TO FREEDOM: 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.

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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 TO FREEDOM?
A STEP TO FREEDOM (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $986,340 to it, the largest being WEINGART FOUNDATION ($350,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does A STEP TO FREEDOM have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $986,340 in grants to A STEP TO FREEDOM, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of A STEP TO FREEDOM?
WEINGART FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $350,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like A STEP TO FREEDOM 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 to Freedom →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 11 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing