California · Nonprofit
CRYSTAL STAIRS INC
CRYSTAL STAIRS INC (California) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,982,267 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($1,300,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $376M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $17M
What Crystal Stairs Inc does
Mission
Improving the lives of families through child care services, research and advocacy
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Child care assistance program - under contracts with the california department of social services (cdss) childcare and development division, we administer a child care payment program for low-income families who are cycling off welfare (calworks) as well as those who are not in the welfare system. The goal of the program is to promote and support family economic self-sufficiency by paying for child care so that parents can work, seek work or attend school/training. The program also provides child care payment assistance to families referred by public and private agencies because their children are "at risk" of abuse or neglect. We certify the family's eligibility for child care, assist them to look for and select child care, provide referrals to other supportive services as needed, and make monthly payments for child care providers they select to care for their children. We enrolled 13,368 families with a total of 22,950 children from birth to 12 years old, and made monthly payments to 7,667 licensed and license-exempt child care providers for their services to enrolled children.
$262,215,552 spent$96,273 earned by the program72% of program spendingCalworks stage 1 child care - under a contract with the los angeles county dept. Of public social services (dpss), we administer a child care payment program for cash-aided families starting the transition from welfare to work. The goal of the program is to promote a family's economic self-sufficiency through employment and/or education/training that will lead to employment. We certify the family's eligibility for child care, assist them to look for and select child care, and make monthly payments for services rendered by child care providers they select to care for their children. We enrolled 6,379 families with a total of 10,753 children from birth to 12 years old, and made monthly child care payments to 4,790 licensed and license-exempt child care providers for their services to enrolled children.
$67,817,747 spent19% of program spendingHead start and state preschool: under three grants with the department of health and human services, administration for children and families we administer head start, early head start and child care partnership grants funded for 1,258 children ages 1 to 5 years old. Although the program was under enrolled every month it accumulatively serviced 1,586 children and 1,487 families this past year. There were 1,372 volunteers participating in class and at home learning. Of those children enrolled, 240 were students that were dually serviced in our california department of education's state preschool and head start program which allows us to provide full-day services and 398 children where serviced through our child care partnerships who provided full day services to working parents and those who are in school and needed extended hours. The program provided full-day services at our 16 centers for 195 days for 849 children. Of the children and families enrolled, 39% had eligibility at 100% below federal poverty guidelines; 47% were receiving public assistance (tanif or ssi); 5% were in foster care; 5% were reported as being homeless; and 4% were over income. In addition, 10% of those…
$27,218,479 spent7% of program spendingChild care resource and referralqslacommunity voiceschild care bridge
$7,471,718 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $364,723,496.
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 $50M to $89M (+80%).
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: 2017 96% · 2018 97% · 2019 96% · 2020 96% · 2021 97% · 2022 98% · 2023 98% · 2024 89% · 2025 86%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of CRYSTAL STAIRS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (55% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Jackie Majors
CEO
Board chair
Heidi Roth
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $5k → $901k.
4 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 CRYSTAL STAIRS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 15 of 18 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
CRYSTAL STAIRS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
94% 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 CRYSTAL STAIRS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 49% · 2019 57% · 2020 47% · 2021 52% · 2022 83% · 2023 56% — 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
38% of CRYSTAL STAIRS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
57% of CRYSTAL STAIRS 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 $1.3M that is directly attributable, 96% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
CRYSTAL STAIRS INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 42 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 42 arts & culture nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding CRYSTAL STAIRS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $252.4M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$252.4M
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 CRYSTAL STAIRS 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 CRYSTAL STAIRS 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.
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 CRYSTAL STAIRS INC?
- CRYSTAL STAIRS INC (California) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,982,267 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($1,300,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CRYSTAL STAIRS INC have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $2,982,267 in grants to CRYSTAL STAIRS INC, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CRYSTAL STAIRS INC?
- GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CRYSTAL STAIRS INC 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 Crystal Stairs →
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 18 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