New York · Nonprofit
THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION
THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION (New York) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $111,250 to it, the largest being Schwab Charitable Fund ($56,100). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
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.
- The Near and Far Association Incshared funders
- Prime Coalition Incportfolio match
- Elton Family 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $10k → $9k.
1 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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 THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION’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 STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
50% 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 STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 57% · 2021 78% · 2022 75% · 2023 59% — 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
20% of THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 42% 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
50% of THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION'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 $55k that is directly attributable, 78% of it comes from funders outside New York, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $56k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
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 12 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- The Near and Far Association Incshared fundersCT · backs 23 organizations that share your funders
- Prime Coalition Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Elton Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Craig and Connie Thatcher Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- OK Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Harold and Carole Pump Foundation (Fka the Harold Pump Foundation)portfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Michael Klein Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Unsung Siblings Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Bickerstaff Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Grace Hospice Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Joseph and Cheryl Marino Family Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
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 THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION: 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 THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION?
- THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION (New York) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $111,250 to it, the largest being Schwab Charitable Fund ($56,100). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $111,250 in grants to THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION?
- Schwab Charitable Fund is the largest funder on record, with $56,100 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 12funders 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