California · Nonprofit
Sacramento Steps Forward
Sacramento Steps Forward (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,970,254 to it, the largest being SUTTER VALLEY HOSPITALS ($1,759,366). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $24M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $4.0M
- Net assets
- $19M
What Sacramento Steps Forward does
Mission
The Organization's mission is to ensure that individuals and families experiencing homelessness or the risk of homelessness are able to access housing services and resources on their path to economic stability. The Organization is the lead agency for the Sacramento Homeless Continuum of Care and administers and oversees grants for homeless related programs in Sacramento County which are received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and are passed through to various non-profit organizations as sub-grants. The Continuum of Care Program is designed by HUD to promote community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness. Since becoming the lead agency in the Continuum of Care in 2011, the annual level of grant funding provided to the Sacramento community by HUD has increased by five million dollars. This funding supports twenty-two permanent supportive housing programs and retains housing and supportive services for people who were previously homeless.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Facilitate Access to Shelter, Housing & ServicesINCREASED THE CAPACITY OF THE COORDINATED ACCESS SYSTEM:The Coordinated Access System (CAS) was launched through a partnership among Sacramento Steps Forward, 2-1-1, the City of Sacramento, and Sacramento County. This initiative aimed to create a streamlined and accessible support system for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The CAS has been instrumental in connecting service providers and partners, fostering efficiency and a person-centered approach. Aside from facilitating quick access to emergency services, the initiative also prioritized preventing homelessness proactively. In the past year, Sacramento Steps Forward continued to enhance the Coordinated Access System (CAS) to serve our community. This single point of entry provides a valuable front door for those in need, whether it is to find shelter for a night or more, to avoid eviction, to access mental health support, or any number of services. IMPACT: 73,890 households connected to supportive resources. 840 households prevented from entering homelessness. 2,734 individuals enrolled in shelter. 1,518 individuals transitioned into housing.Supported a Youth…
$24,387,302 spentof which $14,469,254 as grants86% of program spendingIncrease Capacity & KnowledgeFacilitated the Sacramento Homeless Policy Council:The Sacramento Homeless Policy Council (SHPC) was established to foster regional collaboration among leaders to combat homelessness. The SHPC brings together elected officials from across Sacramento County and representatives from Sacramentos Continuum of Care community. Sacramento Steps Forward facilitates quarterly meetings of the group to foster discussion and partnership on strategic and practical responses to homelessness in our region. The SHPC serves to accelerate knowledge sharing and best practices and to provide a forum for the public to observe the efforts and impacts of providers and partners involved in the homelessness response system. Towards the end of 2024, members of the SHPC, SSF, the county, and surrounding cities identified a need for better integration between the SHPC and the CoC. SSF coordinated with the County to procure a consultant to recommend a revised countywide governance structure for resolving homelessness and simultaneously placed the SHPC on hold.Implemented Provider and Partner Trainings:Increasing the capacity of homelessness service providers within Sacramentos…
$3,195,120 spent11% of program spendingLead Community-wide Planning & Engagement COORDINATED A REGIONAL PLAN TO RESOLVE HOMELESSNESS:The Sacramento Local Homeless Action Plan (LHAP) was laaunched in 2022. Sacramento Steps Forward spearheaded this initiative in collaboration with the Sacramento City and County Continuum of Care, Sacramento County, City of Sacramento, and Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. The plan fostered a unified, cross-jurisdictional approach to tackling homelessness throughout Sacramento County. Together, we convened a diverse group of community leaders and stakeholders representing various interests to develop an actionable, relatable plan that serves as a roadmap for future funding and initiatives. In early 2024, Sacramento Steps Forward coordinated a series of public conversations and sector-specific meetings to prepare for Sacramentos fifth application to Californias Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program. IMPACT: The All In Regionally Coordinated Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. Framework for implementing 8 core solutions among regional partners. $53.2 million in state HHAP-5 funding.MANAGED THE WORK OF THE CONTINUUM OF CARE:In serving as the…
$702,964 spent2% of program spendingCollect, Process & Share DataLAUNCHED NEW TOOLS AND IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE HOMELESSNESS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM:As the lead agency for the Continuum of Cares Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS), Sacramento Steps Forward continued to strengthen the quality, accessibility, and transparency of data. HMIS is a foundational tool (mandated for Continuum of Care agencies to receive federal funding) for the homelessness response system. The integrity of the information that is logged correlates to the capacity of our system to be responsive and plan for community services. The HMIS also facilitates collaboration among community agencies which enables service coordination, trend identification, and system improvements. IMPACT: Fulfilled all federal reporting requirements, including the Longitudinal Systems Analysis (LSA), Point-in-Time Count (PIT), Housing Inventory Count (HIC), and System Performance Measures (SPM). Provided ongoing technical support to approximately 1,200 service provider staff serving more than 100 organizations. ORGANIZED THE BIANNUAL POINT-IN-TIME COUNT AND ANALYSIS:In early 2024, Sacramento Steps Forward led the regions biannual unsheltered…
Improve Equity, Fairness, Efficiency & EffectivenessConvened the Partners with Lived Experience Committee:The Partners with Lived Experience Committee (PWLEC) advises the Sacramento Continuum of Care (CoC) by sharing personal insights to improve how the system serves people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Members act as a voice for the unhoused community, helping to identify barriers, gaps, and opportunities across all system efforts. The PWLEC has been instrumental in designing and proposing solutions to the challenges identified via various committees, projects, work groups, and other system efforts. In 2024, PWLEC members led quarterly Housing Problem Solving trainings for providers, participated in the NOFO review and rank process, and contributed to the development of the Housing Conversation Tool.Established Community-Wide Standards:Sacramento Continuum of Care, and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency established community-wide standards for publicly funded programs addressing homelessness in Sacramento. These standards, published in December 2023, were developed through collaborative efforts shaped by community feedback and adopted by the Sacramento…
Manage Funding & ComplianceSECURED $40.5M IN FEDERAL CONTINUUM OF CARE FUNDING:In our role as the lead agency for the Sacramento Continuum of Care (CoC), we play a crucial role in overseeing the federal funding process, from initial application to ongoing monitoring, compliance, and reporting. We lead an extensive public process within the CoC to identify eligible housing activities and projects for funding. Once selections are made, our team collaborates closely with chosen agencies and projects to ensure strict adherence to funding regulations, providing guidance on proper fund use and helping to report on these investments outcomes. Our objective is to fulfill our HUD-mandated responsibilities while ensuring that projects are executed with maximum efficiency and impact. Sacramento Steps Forward, as the lead agency for the regions Continuum of Care, manages the extensive application process, sub-recipient contracting process, program monitoring, and reporting for annual federal funding. In 2024, the Sacramento CoC was awarded $40,485,239 by HUD, an increase of approximately $7 million from FY 2023. IMPACT: 2,281 Permanent Supportive Housing beds (1,427 dedicated units); 133…
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $28,285,386.
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 $16M to $28M (+72%).
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 90% · 2018 95% · 2019 98% · 2020 97% · 2021 78% · 2022 96% · 2023 96% · 2024 91%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of Sacramento Steps Forward’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Lisa R Bates
CEO
Board chair
A Jonathan Porteus PhD
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019, and between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $725k → $408k.
3 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% 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 Sacramento Steps Forward’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
Sacramento Steps Forward leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 Sacramento Steps Forward.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 92% · 2019 77% · 2020 50% · 2021 51% · 2022 53% · 2023 37% — 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
67% of Sacramento Steps Forward's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
81% of Sacramento Steps Forward's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $261k 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
Sacramento Steps Forward holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,288 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,288 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding Sacramento Steps Forward receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $147.8M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$147.8M
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 Sacramento Steps Forward
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
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Sacramento Steps Forward: 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 Sacramento Steps Forward?
- Sacramento Steps Forward (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,970,254 to it, the largest being SUTTER VALLEY HOSPITALS ($1,759,366). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sacramento Steps Forward have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $3,970,254 in grants to Sacramento Steps Forward, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sacramento Steps Forward?
- SUTTER VALLEY HOSPITALS is the largest funder on record, with $1,759,366 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sacramento Steps Forward 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 10 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