Georgia · Nonprofit
First Step Staffing Inc
First Step Staffing Inc (Georgia) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,397,771 to it, the largest being TRUIST FOUNDATION INC ($5,000,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $53M
- Funders on record
- 60
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $-3065485
What First Step Staffing Inc does
Mission
First Step's mission is to end homelessness by helping men, women, and families develop a reliable source of income. We accomplish the mission with two programs. First Step Staffing provides jobs to individuals who can work. First Step Disability Services fast-tracks individuals with severe disabilities for disability income and health insurance.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
First Step Staffing, an Alternative Staffing Organization, is designed to eliminate barriers to employment. First Step believes in providing an economic opportunity for everyone. To do so, First Step contracts with businesses and directly employs men and women who have experienced homelessness, veterans, and returning citizens to fill these contract jobs. To help our clients successfully re-enter the job market and support job retention, First Step provides training, job coaching, transportation assistance to/from work, and any necessary uniforms, tools, or equipment. First Step has had a powerful impact on individuals' lives and in the community. Since being founded in Atlanta in 2007, First Step Staffing has helped thousands of individuals re-enter the workforce in its eight current locations (Atlanta, Augusta, Nashville, Orlando, Philadelphia, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Fontana) and paid millions in earned wages.
$52,785,969 spent$49,352,938 earned by the program98% of program spendingFirst Step Disability Services helps men and women with severe disabilities access Social Security Disability Income (SSI) and Medicaid. Prior to First Step Disability Services, only 19 percent of homeless people who applied for disability are approved. In contrast, over 80 percent of First Step's clients are approved and in an average of 12-24 months (compared to 3-5 years in Georgia). Over the last five years, First Step Disability Services has secured approximately $3,000,000 in retroactive benefits and almost $200,000 in recurring monthly benefits.
$869,675 spent$230,890 earned by the program2% of program spendingFirst Step operates a housing assistance program in Atlanta, GA and Philadelphia, PA. The program provides direct housing assistance to those facing eviction and/or homeless during their employment with FSS. Housing payments vary and do not extend past 6 months.
$197,570 spentof which $197,570 as grants0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $53,853,214.
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 2018 to 2019, from $18M to $28M (+56%).
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 1% · 2018 2% · 2019 2% · 2020 3% · 2021 4% · 2022 4% · 2023 2% · 2024 3% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
7% of First Step Staffing Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (13% 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
Amelia Nickerson
CEO
Board chair
Aubrey Harrell
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $110k → $7.4M.
8 of 60 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 First Step Staffing Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 60 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
First Step Staffing Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 64% · 2019 51% · 2020 20% · 2021 37% · 2022 45% · 2023 40% — 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
48% of First Step Staffing Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
First Step Staffing Inc draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Georgia, across 15 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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
First Step Staffing Inc has grown faster than three-quarters of the 274 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 274 employment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like First Step Staffing 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 Georgia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- First Step Staffing Philadelphia LLC · disregarded
- First Step Staffing Los Angeles LLC co Dentons US LLP · disregarded
- First Step Staffing Support Corporation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for First Step Staffing 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 First Step Staffing Inc?
- First Step Staffing Inc (Georgia) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,397,771 to it, the largest being TRUIST FOUNDATION INC ($5,000,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does First Step Staffing Inc have?
- IRS filings report 60 organizations giving $17,397,771 in grants to First Step Staffing Inc, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of First Step Staffing Inc?
- TRUIST FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $5,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like First Step Staffing Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Georgia. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 60 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