Minnesota · Nonprofit
STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION
STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,343,807 to it, the largest being Minnesota Council on Foundations ($409,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.8M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $1.3M
- Net assets
- $961k
What Stairstep Foundation does
Mission
The Organization's purpose is to reinforce community values, create community building models and to facilitate community building activities by and with others.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Stairstep Foundation convenes and facilitates His Works United (HWU). HWU is the largest ecumenical collaboration of African American Churches in the state of Minnesota. The church network brings practical services outside the walls of the churches to the spaces and places of community need. There is a Balm - deploys health site coordinators into the church network to promote healthy lifestyles and appropriate prevention activities (screenings, vaccinations, exercise, etc.).
$767,883 spent100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $767,883.
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 $729k to $1.1M (+50%).
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 63% · 2022 74% · 2023 63% · 2024 66%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 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
Alfred Babinton-Johnson
President and CEO
Board chair
Keith Elzia
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $6k → $320k.
5 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION’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
STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
76% 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 STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 52% · 2019 83% · 2020 59% · 2021 77% · 2022 95% · 2023 70% — 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
17% of STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
92% of STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $283k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,263 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION
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 Minnesota
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
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Stairstep Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION: 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 STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION?
- STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,343,807 to it, the largest being Minnesota Council on Foundations ($409,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $1,343,807 in grants to STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION?
- Minnesota Council on Foundations is the largest funder on record, with $409,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STAIRSTEP FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 2020–2024), and the filings of 12 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