Skip to content

North Carolina · Nonprofit

BRAVE STEP INC

BRAVE STEP INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $363,951 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($275,988). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$334k
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$364k
Net assets
$146k
6/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 25%
01What it does

What Brave Step Inc does

Mission

Brave step empowers individuals who have been impacted by sexual violence. To shape a strong, supportive community, we: provide personalized services that help adults impacted by sexual violence reclaim the life they deserve; foster brave public conversations about sexual violence; and, cultivate courageous changemakers.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Adult survivor care: brave step serves as a steadfast guide for adult survivors of sexual violence on their personal journey to wellbeing, empowerment, and claiming the life they deserve. To help survivors claim the life they deserve, brave step uses a multi-faceted healing model that includes individual counseling, group therapy, peer-led support groups, empowerment programs, and ways to find one's voice.

    $96,947 spent
    39% of program spending
  2. Changemaker program: brave step's changemaker program provides participants the training and the tools they need to support one another and help prevent future sexual violence. As changemakers, survivors, loved ones, educators, employers and community leaders can access carefully vetted and trusted resources, receive goal setting support, participate in training sessions, and gain the education they need to take steps toward action.

    $14,244 spent
    6% of program spending
  3. Loved ones program: brave step believes that loved ones of sexual violence survivors can play a crucial role in helping survivors claim the life they deserve if effectively armed with knowledge, skills, and support from others in similar experiences. In addition to counseling, brave step has a unique psychoeducation program for loved ones. The program creates a trauma- informed environment and process to safely express one's emotions; builds a baseline of knowledge on sexual violence; and provides tangible ways to support the survivor short and long-term.

    $136,891 spent
    55% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $248,082.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 = 20212021 Revenue 100 ($193k) Expenses 100 ($135k) Net assets 100 ($127k)2022 Revenue 138 ($266k) Expenses 198 ($266k) Net assets 100 ($127k)2023 Revenue 96 ($186k) Expenses 151 ($203k) Net assets 87 ($110k)2024 Revenue 198 ($384k) Expenses 282 ($379k) Net assets 91 ($115k)2025 Revenue 173 ($334k) Expenses 225 ($303k) Net assets 115 ($146k)
20212022202320242025
Revenue (173)Expenses (225)Net assets (115)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 2024 to 2025, from $125k to $150k (+20%).

$127k
$127k
$121k
$125k
$150k
20212022202320242025
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.

2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

102% of BRAVE STEP INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 14,893 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

$59k
’21
$201
’22
−$17k
’23
$5k
’24
$31k
’25
5.5
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.

20212022202320242025
Listed1111111310
Joined·+1+1+4+0
No longer listed·1123
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income fell $100k → $30k.

3 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 80% 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 BRAVE STEP INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

BRAVE STEP INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

86% 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 BRAVE STEP INC.

76%
largest funder
87%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 90% · 2021 99% · 2022 91% · 2023 65% — 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

60% of BRAVE STEP INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

80% of BRAVE STEP INC'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 $74k that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from North Carolina funders.

PA
CT
TN
NC

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

’20
’21
’22
’23
North Carolina out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $290k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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

BRAVE STEP INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 7,883 health nonprofits its size.

Operating margin9% · above the median
Months of reserve5.5mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)15% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,883 health nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like BRAVE STEP INC

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 North Carolina

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 10%Fundraising 8%

Governance

10
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

61%

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

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BRAVE STEP 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. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds BRAVE STEP INC?
BRAVE STEP INC (North Carolina) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $363,951 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($275,988). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does BRAVE STEP INC have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $363,951 in grants to BRAVE STEP INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of BRAVE STEP INC?
FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $275,988 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like BRAVE STEP INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 Brave Step →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 12 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