Florida · Nonprofit
STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC
STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC (Florida) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,239,881 to it, the largest being Tiphne Darshay Hollis Foundation Inc ($1,520,057). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $859M
- Funders on record
- 51
- Grants received
- $6.2M
- Net assets
- $743M
What Step Up for Students - Florida Inc does
Mission
Step up for students empowers families to pursue and engage in the most appropriate learning options for their children, with an emphasis on families who lack the information and financial resources to access these options. By pursuing this mission, we help public education fulfill the promise of equal opportunity.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Transportation stipend program: the florida's transportation stipend program provides eligible households with $750 to cover the cost of transporting their children to florida nonvirtual public schools different from the school to which the student is assigned.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Florida tax credit scholarship program: in the 2024-25 school year, 58,414 students attended 1,776 private schools on a step up for students' tax credit scholarship. The k-12 scholarship program was created in 2001 to help alleviate the enormous educational challenges faced by children who live in poverty, and it is now the largest such scholarship in the nation. In 2023, the florida state legislature opened the scholarship to all eligible residents of florida. Qualified students could receive a maximum scholarship of $14,039 depending on grade level and county residence, for private school tuition and fees. Florida tax credit personal education program (ftc pep): k-12 florida students who are not enrolled in public school or a home education program can qualify for a personalized education program through the florida tax credit scholarship program. The program allows students to receive an average scholarship of $8,000, regardless of household income, to receive parent-directed education. The funds are placed into an education savings account (esa) and can be used to pay for instructional materials/curriculum, contracted services provided by a public school (including classes),…
$819,139,603 spentof which $790,233,792 as grants91% of program spendingThe family empowerment scholarship program was established in 2019 to provide children and families in the state of florida which have limited resources with educational options to achieve success in their education. The family empowerment scholarship was expanded into two branches: family empowerment scholarship for educational options and for students with unique abilities (formerly known as gardiner scholarship). Family empowerment scholarship educational options: this scholarship is intended to help reduce the wait list for the tax credit scholarship program and similarily serves students from low-income and working-class households. Step up for students-florida, as an approved sfo, administered this scholarship and served 266,023 k-12 students for the 2024-2025 school year. In 2023, the florida state legislature opened the scholarship to all eligible residents of florida. Qualified students could receive up to a maximum scholarship of $14,039 depending on grade level and county residence, for private school tuition and fees.family empowerment scholarship for students with unique abilities (formally known as gardiner scholarship): in the 2024-25 school year, step up for…
$69,264,499 spent8% of program spendingNew worlds scholarship accounts program: the new worlds scholarship was created in 2018 to provide academic support for elementary school students in district or charter schools, who struggled in reading and was expanded to include math in 2023. Step up for students-florida, as an approved scholarship funding organization, administers the program. The scholarship is available to students in k- through fifth-grade who have scored a level 1 or 2 on the english language arts and/or math sections of the florida standards assessment. Each scholarship is worth $1,200, irrespective of whether the student needs help in either or both areas of study. The parent can use these funds to pay for tuition and fees related to part-time tutoring, summer and after-school literacy programs, instructional materials and more. Through the new worlds scholarship account program, 31,764 students received scholarships in the 2023-24 school year and 24,551 students for the 2024-25 school year. The state of florida elected not to fund the program for the 2025-26 school year.
$3,688,148 spent0% of program spendingFlorida hope scholarship program: effective july 1, 2024, the florida hope scholarship program was merged into the florida tax credit scholarship program (ftc) by florida house bill 1 (2023). The tax credit donation process mentioned below continues, funding more ftc scholarships. The florida hope scholarship program was established by florida statute 1002.40, which was created in 2018 to provide the option of private school scholarships to students in public schools who have experienced acts of bullying and intimidation. Sufs-fl, as an approved sfo, is authorized to administer florida hope scholarships. The florida hope scholarship program provides that automobile buyers may redirect up to $105 of their state taxes on each purchase toward an authorized sfo. Those contributions must be used to provide tuition scholarships to participating private schools to a public school in another district.
Policy, innovation and empowerment: this department takes the message of the scholarship programs to constituency groups, community and political leaders, and local, state, and national news publications. It issues press releases on topics of special concern and writes commentary for various publications. The team analyzes demographic, achievement and participation data, and trends in the program and education choice movement. The team responds to numerous information requests from newspapers, other media, and legislative and agency offices. The team also organizes advocates and supporters who believe children should be educated based on how they learn, rather than where they live. The team educates, informs, and trains parents to be advocates and supporters for the protection and expansion of choice opportunities. These services are provided to parents of children participating in programs administered by the organization and may also be provided to parents utilizing other choice options.
$2,856,251 spent0% of program spendingTransportation stipend program: the florida's transportation stipend program provides eligible households with $750 to cover the cost of transporting their children to florida nonvirtual public schools different from the school to which the student is assigned. Transportation stipends are available to students enrolled in kindergarten through grade eight (k-8). Qualifying public schools may include: a magnet school or other school of choice operated by a school district. A charter school. A developmental research school operated by a state university. A school participating in a school district's open enrollment policy.a "household" is a group of people who share housing and other significant expenses. The funding is from direct state appropriation. A transportation stipend account is established for each child that is awarded a transportation stipend scholarship. Through the transportation stipend program, 17,805 eligible students received scholarships for the 2024-2025 school year.
$1,654,193 spent0% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $896,602,694.
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 $591M to $918M (+55%).
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: 2021 1% · 2022 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Gretchen Schoenhaar
Chief executive officer
Board chair
John F Kirtley
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $92k → $1.8M.
12 of 51 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $346M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Aaa Scholarship Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC raised.
From the IRS filings of STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 51 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
STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% 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
57% 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 STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 49% · 2019 32% · 2020 39% · 2021 64% · 2022 30% · 2023 84% — growing more concentrated.
“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 STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC draws 64% of its grant income from funders outside Florida, across 23 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC is better cushioned than half of the 684 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Organizations like STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA 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 Florida
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 39 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Step Up for Students West Virginia Inc · exempt
- Step Up for Students Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA 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 STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC?
- STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC (Florida) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,239,881 to it, the largest being Tiphne Darshay Hollis Foundation Inc ($1,520,057). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC have?
- IRS filings report 51 organizations giving $6,239,881 in grants to STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC?
- Tiphne Darshay Hollis Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $1,520,057 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STEP UP FOR STUDENTS - FLORIDA INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. 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 Step Up for Students - Florida →
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 51 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing