Stepping Stones

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
364976012
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Nashua, NH, USA
Phone
6037873016
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Homeless Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$495,245
Expenses
$567,692
Assets
$165,646
Liabilities
$11,221

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kathy Farland (Executive Director)
  • George Hickey (Vice- President)
  • Jessica May (President/Treasurer)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kathy Farland (Executive Director): $51,048 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Stepping Stone's mission is to help homeless, unaccompanied youth up to age 25 become happy self-sufficient adults.

What it reported doing in 2023

Step-Up is a 60 bed independent living transitional housing program that opened in May of 2023. Young adults learn skills such as money management, home and self care, safety and soft skills. They do daily chores in both their bedrooms, as well as common areas. 43 youth lived at the Step-Up program in 2023 with some taking job training courses, including pre-school teacher, auto repair, LNA, nursing, home care, audio programming, and computer technologies. Others worked full-time. These young adults got driver's licenses, purchased vehicles, and obtained jobs in their fields of interest.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% 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

STRONG - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 91.2%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -14.6%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.29; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 92.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 65.5% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 34.4% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 91.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $518K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $51K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2022 to 2023
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.