Stepping Stone Charlottesville
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 873553555
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
- Location
- Charlottesville, VA, USA
- Phone
- 8045131360
- Rating
- 64
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Family Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $382,003
- Expenses
- $176,559
- Assets
- $426,675
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ROSEMARY MILLER (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- ASHELY SCHNEIDER (EXEC. DIRECT): $49,582 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Stepping stone was established in 2021 to meet a unique need: to provide children age newborn to three from under-resourced families with essentials that ensure their healthy development and safety. By focusing on an underserved demographic and age range, we make sure the most vulnerable members of our community start life on the right foot.
What it reported doing in 2025
Families struggling to pay rent, utilities, and grocery bills often can't afford the basics their children need every day. At stepping stone, we help fill this critical yet overlooked need. To build an inventory of essentials for families, stepping stone relies on the donation of new and nearly new items through individual giving and grassroots community drives. We sort, clean, and bundle items, and then our team of volunteers delivers them to parents, caregivers, and children. When used, high-demand necessities are scarce, for instance, strollers and pack n plays, we purchase them, thanks to financial support from the community and grant funding. To identify children and families in need, we work with a network of local agencies, shelters, hospitals, and nonprofits. Partnering with each other to address needs of the whole child, these organizations perform a wide variety of services, including mental health counseling, early education intervention, at-home wellness visits, and refugee relocation aid. Through this collaborative effort, we can make sure children have access to daily essentials, from diapers and car seats to coats and shoes.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% 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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 38
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 63
- Sustainability: 73
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 27.5%; rating input score 27
- Program expense ratio: 57.6%; rating input score 58
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 90%; rating input score 90; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 53.8%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.42; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 28.1%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 65.4% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 74.1% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 27.5% of revenue deployed · 57.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $102K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 27/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 58/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 36/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.