Stepping Stones Growth Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 946069868
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2018
- Forms available
- Form 990 2018
- Location
- Oakland, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5105672608
- Rating
- 67
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Private Operating Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,299,957
- Expenses
- $1,493,424
- Assets
- $0
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- HANK SULLIVAN (PRESIDENT)
- MARYANN DRESNER (VICE PRESIDENT)
- ROSE PADILLA JOHNSON (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- ROSE PADILLA JOHNSON (CEO): $191,870 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Stepping stones growth center is a private, non-profit corporation that provides training and rehabilitation of individuals who are developmentally disabled or suffer from additional handicaps.
What it reported doing in 2018
Youth services - an after-school program offering training in community awareness, socialization, and other areas.personal adjustment tutoring - one on one tutoring for clients in adult services to address barriers to employment.assessments - assessment services for determining appropriate placement of individuals in training and jobs.mobility - instruction in accessing public transportation.hire steps - prevocational training.wellness - day activity program in health & wellness and social recreation program in health & wellness.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 56
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 5
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 95.3%; rating input score 95
- Program expense ratio: 83%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Pass
- 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: -14.9%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: Limited
Growth
- Program expense growth: -4.7% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.9% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.8% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 95.3% of revenue deployed · 83% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $192K · 8 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2009 to 2018
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is not authorized to operate as a charity in California.