Step Up Louisiana

Legal name: Step Up Louisiana Organizing Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851061102
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New Orleans, LA, US
Phone
504-322-4663
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Minority Rights

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,323,797
Expenses
$2,761,594
Assets
$1,382,049
Liabilities
$89,928

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Gabbi Deculus (President)
  • Taryn Branson (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Gabbi Deculus (President)
  • Taryn Branson (Vice President)
  • Kevin Griffin (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Step Up Louisiana builds power with Black and working-class communities to win education and economic justice.

What it reported doing in 2024

Educational Justice - Step Up Louisiana organizes with parents to lead our education justice work. Our organizing committee is called a Parent Union. We utilize the context of the village when defining the role of a parent. A parent is the mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, uncle, aunt, big cousin, or an adult who mentors and cares for the children of our community. Our essential demands for educational equity in Louisiana is the implementation of sustainable community schools throughout our local school districts and for our children to be taught the truth about history through culturally responsive curriculums in our public schools.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.8%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 75.5%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $44.85 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16.9%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 46.3% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 45.4% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 9 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 62.8% of revenue deployed · 75.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $178K reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.