Step Forward Foundation

Overview

Mission

To provide low and no-cost legal services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.

What it reported doing in 2025

To provide specialized legal services to low income communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 63% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
208172439
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2014
Headquarters
Morgan Hill, CA, USA
Phone
4089158698
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Official website

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.6%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $32.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.7%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.59; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.7% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 20.1% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.6% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $161K · 5 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 annual filings from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • DIEU-MY MIMI NGUYEN (Executive Dir.): $161,338 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2025.