Kansas · Nonprofit
STEPSTONE INC
STEPSTONE INC (Kansas) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,665,282 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF THE PLAINS INC ($1,470,815). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $936k
What Stepstone Inc does
Mission
In 1995, the adorers of the blood of christ and the sisters of st. Joseph collaborated to establish new hope, now called stepstone, in response to a dangerous gap in services for wichita's domestic violence survivors leaving short-term shelters. Without housing or financial resources, many women and children faced the impossible choice between homelessness and returning to an abusive partner. Stepstone created a solution: transitional housing paired with comprehensive support services. In 2016, stepstone expanded from single family homes scattered throughout wichita by building bluffview place, a 28-unit apartment complex. This massive undertaking significantly increased housing capacity and allowed survivors to receive on-site support in a safe, secure environment. Today, stepstone offers 34 housing units. Supportive services include advocacy, supportive counseling, support groups, children's programs, direct assistance, and survivor-focused events designed to foster community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
See schedule oin fiscal year 2025, stepstone provided 34,581 safe bed nights to survivors and their children in housing. 1,957 instances of legal and victims' rights assistance were provided by our advocate at the sedgwick county courthouse. In all, 1,995 survivors were served through housing, advocacy, supportive counseling, direct assistance, children's programs, and other program activities.
$866,081 spent$16,780 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $866,081.
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 2024 to 2025, from $783k to $1.0M (+29%).
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 31% · 2018 41% · 2019 38% · 2020 44% · 2021 55% · 2022 46% · 2023 30% · 2024 65% · 2025 74%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of STEPSTONE INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (39% 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
Jason West
Executive director
Board chair
Daniel Giroux
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $374k → $395k.
4 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% 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: $68k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Hilltop Aspires Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money STEPSTONE INC raised.
From the IRS filings of STEPSTONE 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
STEPSTONE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 55% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 STEPSTONE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 80% · 2019 79% · 2020 73% · 2021 71% · 2022 35% · 2023 60% — 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
58% of STEPSTONE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
65% of STEPSTONE INC's grant income comes from Kansas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $181k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
STEPSTONE INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,196 housing & shelter nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,196 housing & shelter nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding STEPSTONE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $850k on record.
- Department of Justice$850k
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 STEPSTONE 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 Kansas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Dear Neighbor Ministries Inc · exempt
- Hilltop Aspires Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STEPSTONE 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 STEPSTONE INC?
- STEPSTONE INC (Kansas) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,665,282 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF THE PLAINS INC ($1,470,815). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STEPSTONE INC have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $2,665,282 in grants to STEPSTONE INC, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STEPSTONE INC?
- UNITED WAY OF THE PLAINS INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,470,815 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STEPSTONE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Kansas. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 22 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