Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE
MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $118,943 to it, the largest being AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY ($82,640). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $519k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $119k
- Net assets
- $355k
What Mathematical Staircase does
Mission
The specific purposes for which the corporation is organized are to educate mathematically talented secondary and tertiary students in mathematical thinking and writing. The means of providing such education includes, but is not limited to, establishing residential summer programs for instructing such students.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
MathILy: a residential summer program for mathematically gifted high-school students. Number of students enrolled was 46 in a 5-week program of courses, presentations and leisure activities. Fifteen trainees (staff members) also benefitted.
$278,549 spent$225,067 earned by the program56% of program spendingMathILy-Er: Similar to MathILy with slightly younger students and who are earlier in their mathematical development. Number of students enrolled was 32 in a 5-week program of courses, presentations and leisure activities. Eleven trainees (staff members) also benefitted.
$163,616 spent$161,604 earned by the program33% of program spendingMathILy-EST: A Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) focused on beginning college students. Number of students enrolled was 4 in an 8-week program focused on a program of research, presentations, interactions with the MathILy students and leisure activities.
$46,542 spent$34,140 earned by the program9% of program spendingFaBraC: a stand-alone course offered to students who have completed the MathILy summer program and who are interested in studying additional mathematical topics. Six students were enrolled and one staff member benefitted.
$8,310 spent$8,396 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $497,017.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $244k to $345k (+42%).
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: 2020 19% · 2021 15% · 2022 24% · 2023 27% · 2024 23% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
21% of MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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.
Board chair
sarah-marie belcastro PhD
President and Chair of the Board
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income fell $16k → $11k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE’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
MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
89% 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 MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 50% · 2023 77% — 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.
Where its funders are
MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $24k 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.
Against its field
MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE: 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 MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE?
- MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $118,943 to it, the largest being AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY ($82,640). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $118,943 in grants to MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE?
- AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY is the largest funder on record, with $82,640 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MATHEMATICAL STAIRCASE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Mathematical Staircase →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 5 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