California · Nonprofit
STEPPING HIGHER INC
STEPPING HIGHER INC (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $325,880 to it, the largest being JUST KEEP LIVIN FOUNDATION ($138,589). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $393k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $326k
- Net assets
- $-4331
What Stepping Higher Inc does
Mission
To alleviate barriers that hamper communties. Provide viable alternatives that will move them into self-sufficiency. We accomlish this by providing a myriad of culturally & linguistically appropriate services including food & nutritional services health & wellness, counseling & referral, substance abuse prevention, work skills development & employment opportunities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Faith-based crisis response peace team is a mobile community-based response program using using funds from county of san dieog health and human services agency has been effective in the assis in de-escalting the crisis by bring peace to crisis and chaotic situations.
$3,890 spent93% of program spendingFaith-based crisis response peace team is a mobile community-based response program using using funds from county of san dieog health and human services agency has been effective in the assis in de-escalting the crisis by bring peace to crisis and chaotic situations.
$300 spent7% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,190.
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 2018 to 2019, from $50k to $4k (−92%).
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 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 94% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% · 2024 100% · 2025 100%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of STEPPING HIGHER INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
William A Benson
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2021: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $10k → $78k.
From the IRS filings of STEPPING HIGHER INC’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
STEPPING HIGHER INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
98% 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 STEPPING HIGHER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 77% · 2019 52% · 2020 39% · 2021 39% — 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
98% of STEPPING HIGHER INC's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
STEPPING HIGHER INC has grown faster than half of the 17,450 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,450 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like STEPPING HIGHER 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
1% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STEPPING HIGHER 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 STEPPING HIGHER INC?
- STEPPING HIGHER INC (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $325,880 to it, the largest being JUST KEEP LIVIN FOUNDATION ($138,589). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STEPPING HIGHER INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $325,880 in grants to STEPPING HIGHER INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STEPPING HIGHER INC?
- JUST KEEP LIVIN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $138,589 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STEPPING HIGHER INC 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.
Play a game about who funds Stepping Higher →
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 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing