Maine · Nonprofit
THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT
THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT (Maine) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $796,430 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($564,491). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $796k
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What The Next Step Domestic Violence Project does
Mission
The Next Step Domestic Violence Project supports and empowers people affected by domestic violence, while striving to prevent and end the cycle of domestic violence through education and social change.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Helpline: the next step operates a free, confidential 24-hour domestic violence helpline that provides crisis intervention, emotional support, safety planning, information, referrals, and connections to shelter, legal advocacy, and other services. The helpline serves victims and survivors of domestic abuse, as well as concerned family members, friends, professionals, and community members, ensuring trained advocates are available at all times to respond with compassionate, trauma-informed support. Legal services: the next steps legal services program provides trauma- informed civil legal advocacy and representation for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, sexual assault, and human trafficking in hancock and washington counties. Services include legal consultation, court advocacy, protection order representation, family law assistance, safety planning, and referrals, helping survivors navigate the legal system, increase their safety, and achieve greater stability regardless of their ability to pay. Shelter: the next step provides emergency shelter and supportive services for adults and children fleeing domestic violence, offering a safe, confidential place to…
$1,574,257 spent$61,582 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,574,257.
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 $1.5M to $1.7M (+13%).
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 82% · 2018 85% · 2019 85% · 2020 86% · 2021 83% · 2022 84% · 2023 83% · 2024 80%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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
Helen Hess
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $91k → $74k.
6 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 77% 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: $5.5M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence). These are real filings, and they are not money THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT raised.
From the IRS filings of THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT’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
THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
90% 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 THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 83% · 2019 86% · 2020 78% · 2021 81% · 2022 88% · 2023 83% — 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
38% of THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
77% of THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT'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 $180k that is directly attributable, 60% of it comes from funders outside Maine, across 10 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $616k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT's revenue grew 36% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.2M on record.
- Department of Justice$2.2M
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 THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT
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 Maine
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT: 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 THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT?
- THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT (Maine) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $796,430 to it, the largest being Maine Community Foundation Inc ($564,491). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $796,430 in grants to THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT?
- Maine Community Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $564,491 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE NEXT STEP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maine. 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 Next Step Domestic Violence Project →
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 20 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