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.
Against its field
STEPPING HIGHER INC has grown faster than half of the 22,771 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,771 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Christ-Centered Ministrieslocalportfolio match
- James a and Faith Knight Foundationshared funders
- Alliance Healthcare Foundationportfolio match
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.
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%. 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 (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 5 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Christ-Centered Ministrieslocalportfolio matchCA · funds 179 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- James a and Faith Knight Foundationshared fundersMI · backs 15 organizations that share your funders
- Alliance Healthcare Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Sacramento Loaves & Fishesportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- California Association of Dui Treatment Programsportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Catholic Charities of Californiaportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Arlene and Michael Rosen Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Los Angeles Regional Food Bankportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Doris Goodwin Walbridge Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- United Movement Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Los Angeles Mission Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Deroy Testamentary Foundationshared fundersMI · backs 19 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like STEPPING HIGHER INC
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
3% 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. 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.
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 5funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing