South Carolina · Nonprofit
SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP
SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP (South Carolina) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,498,725 to it, the largest being SOUTH CAROLINA FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS BOARD OF TRUSTEES ($7,544,243). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.4M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $9.5M
- Net assets
- $663k
What Spartanburg County First Steps to School Readiness Partnership does
Mission
Our mission is that every south carolina child will arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Early education: early head start-a comprehensive program designed to support high-quality early care and education, parenting and family support and community-level supports and services for low-income pregnant women with children age 3 and under, young children and their families. Families receive weekly home visits by early head start staff and two group meetings are held monthly for enrolled parents and families.
$4,439,676 spent60% of program spendingChild care quality-first steps assists child care providers through training programs certified through sc endeavors and include topics in the areas of nutrition, health and safety,curriculum, child guidance, professional development and program administration. Additionally, the child care quality enhancement program aims to produce measurable improvements in the quality of care provided to young children. Also, first steps provides scholarships to high quality child care programs for eligible families so their families can return to work or school.
$1,701,898 spent23% of program spendingFamily strengthening-first steps works to increase parents' ability to stimulate their child's intellectual, social and physical development through evidence-based home visitation and parenting programs such as parents as teachers.
$779,388 spent11% of program spendingCore functions, school transition
$476,759 spent6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,397,721.
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 2020 to 2021, from $919k to $2.2M (+136%).
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 92% · 2020 77% · 2021 73% · 2022 47%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% 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.
Board chair
Walker Barnes
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $669k → $1.5M.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP’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
SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 79% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 69% · 2022 95% · 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.
Where its funders are
100% of SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP's grant income comes from South Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP has grown faster than half of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP
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 South Carolina
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
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- South Carolina First Steps to Schoo · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP: 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 SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP?
- SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP (South Carolina) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,498,725 to it, the largest being SOUTH CAROLINA FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS BOARD OF TRUSTEES ($7,544,243). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $9,498,725 in grants to SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP?
- SOUTH CAROLINA FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS BOARD OF TRUSTEES is the largest funder on record, with $7,544,243 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPARTANBURG COUNTY FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS PARTNERSHIP find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South 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 Spartanburg County First Steps to School Readiness Partnership →
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 6 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