Step Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 410874998
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Fairmont, MN, USA
- Phone
- 5072384341
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,251,750
- Expenses
- $3,911,459
- Assets
- $2,272,087
- Liabilities
- $401,846
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- HEIDI SMITH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- HEIDI SMITH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $96,698 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To enable people with disabilities to live and work together with others in our communities. Step provides support, training and employment to people with disabilities in our local communities and in our services sites.
What it reported doing in 2024
In 2024, step, inc. Provided support, training, and employment services to over 120 individuals with disabilities at our 3 service locations and in community locations throughout 3 counties in southern Minnesota. Throughout this year, step has continued to develop more individualized employment services, including moving individuals into competitive, integrated employment settings. Step has worked with over 35 local employers to provide a variety of work options for adults with cognitive and physical disabilities. Besides a variety of seated work at our offices, community-based work opportunities have also included assisting dietary, laundry and housekeeping duties at several long term care facilities in the area, breakfast host work at a local hotel, greens and facility maintenance at local golf courses and multiple commercial cleaning crews. In addition to work, step staff provided individuals with the opportunity to utilize their communities for other aspects of daily life and to participate in leisure and recreational time in the community and at our locations. Step continues to grow, especially in the area of competitive, integrated employment, and has a waiting list of individuals seeking a variety of services from step, inc.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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.
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: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 24
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85.7%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 71.4%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -20.3%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.58; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.5%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85.7% of revenue deployed · 71.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $97K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.