Massachusetts · Nonprofit
STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC
STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 128 organizations whose IRS filings report $42,863,976 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,125,513). 88 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 128
- Grants received
- $43M
- Net assets
- $39M
What Steppingstone Foundation Inc does
Mission
Steppingstone prepares students to access, navigate, and graduate from college. In boston, we provide academic, social-emotional, and college readiness programming from as early as fifth grade and continuing through college graduation. Nationally, we connect the people, practices, and innovations essential for eliminating barriers to college and career success.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The steppingstone scholars program in boston admits motivated fifth- and sixth-graders to participate in an intensive after-school and summer academic program designed to help them gain admission to an independent or public exam school in the sixth or seventh grade.after completing the academic component, support services such as mentoring, extracurricular activities, and college guidance are provided to ensure that the students succeed in school and ultimately graduate from a four-year college, career ready. Each year, the steppingstone scholars program serves approximately 1,250 scholars in grades 5 - college. Of the scholars who complete the academic preparation component, approximately 90% are placed in a school that leads to college, 99% graduate from high school, and 91% enroll at four-year colleges. 80% graduate from four-year colleges within six years.
$4,787,272 spent$40,261 earned by the program84% of program spendingThe national partnership for educational access (npea), which the steppingstone foundation formally launched in 2007, is a membership organization for programs and schools working to eliminate barriers to educational access and college and career success. At the end of fiscal year 2025, npea had 232 members from all across the country, including educational nonprofits, schools, and colleges & universities, and more than 850 educators in the network. Npea members have access to best practice sharing, networking, professional development opportunities, including an annual conference, regional gatherings, a career center, newsletters and digests, and products and services offered through npea's partnerships with others in the field of education.
$678,959 spent$493,691 earned by the program12% of program spendingThe organization receives contributions to provide college scholarships to scholars to to fill a financial need or significantly reduce the family's financial aid gap. There is a robust selection process each year for the scholarships. We look at financial impact, academic readiness/effort and engagement with steppingstone in the selection process. Scholarship info is shared with the entire scholar community. All scholarship applications are pre-screened for eligibility and awards are determined by a selection committee.
$207,200 spentof which $207,000 as grants4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,673,431.
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 2023 to 2024, from $23M to $35M (+53%).
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 15% · 2022 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Robert Henderson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 37 funders to 57 funders, grant income rose $1.7M → $4.1M.
18 of 128 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% 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 STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 128 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
STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 56%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
64% 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 STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 42% · 2019 35% · 2020 33% · 2021 44% · 2022 43% · 2023 42% — broadly stable.
“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
51% of STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
58% of STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $18M that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $7k on record.
- (EE) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES$7k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
58%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 15 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION 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 STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC?
- STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 128 organizations whose IRS filings report $42,863,976 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,125,513). 88 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 128 organizations giving $42,863,976 in grants to STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC, 88 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $15,125,513 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Steppingstone →
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 128 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