What Steppingstone Foundation does

Steppingstone Foundation, Inc. is a Boston-based nonprofit educational organization founded in 1990 that operates the Scholars Program, a comprehensive college-access and success pipeline serving 1,200+ Boston students each year from 5th grade through college completion. The organization's primary beneficiary segment is first-generation college-bound students and their families, with a stated mission to eliminate barriers in education and promote economic mobility. The Scholars Program reports an 80% bachelor's degree completion rate within six years, and alumni outcomes include placements at selective institutions such as Milton Academy, Harvard University, and Columbia Law School. Program components include Career Success support, Scholarly Achievements tracking, and a Placement Schools network, with an affiliated National Partnership for Educational Access (NPEA) extending influence to hundreds of thousands of US students annually.

The underlying technology is a web-based educational platform with multilingual accessibility delivered through Google Translate integration across 11 languages (Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, French, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese). The platform supports a digital admission flow with direct-apply and nominate-a-student channels, an information-request form, and an alumni/spotlight content layer. There are no proprietary AI/ML components, mobile applications, or APIs disclosed.

The business model is a donation-funded nonprofit: the Scholars Program is provided at no cost to participants, with all program expenses covered through charitable contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Online giving is processed via Donorbox, and the organization has earned a Charity Navigator four-star rating. The go-to-market motion is community-led, relying on school partnerships, direct website inquiries, nominations, and word-of-mouth within Boston's first-generation college-going communities. The organization is headquartered at 200 High Street, Suite 210, Boston, MA, with a staff of 51–100.

Name

Steppingstone Foundation

Legal name

Steppingstone Foundation, Inc.

Website

https://tsf.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Steppingstone Foundation is a Boston-based nonprofit founded in 1990 that runs the Scholars Program, serving 1,200+ first-generation college-bound students annually from 5th grade through college completion, with an 80% six-year bachelor's completion rate, funded entirely through charitable donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Support Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (6117), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Title I & Compensatory Education Programs (EDAJAGAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC), Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

Keywords

• College access programs
• Educational nonprofit
• Scholarship programs
• First-generation students
• College readiness

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: As a nonprofit educational organization, Steppingstone Foundation relies on donations from individuals, foundations, and corporate sponsors to fund its Scholars Program. The organization operates a 'Support Our Work' page and accepts donations through Donorbox. The program is free for students, with all costs covered through charitable contributions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Steppingstone Foundation provides a comprehensive, long-term educational support program through its Scholars Program, serving Boston students from 5th grade through college completion. The program celebrates individual talents while cultivating academic, social, and emotional skills, and places Scholars in partner schools such as Milton Academy. All program costs are covered through charitable contributions, with 80% of Scholars earning a bachelor's degree within six years. The organization also operates the National Partnership for Educational Access (NPEA) to extend impact nationally.

Product overview

Steppingstone Foundation operates as a single unified educational nonprofit offering, centered around its Scholars Program. The organization provides a comprehensive, long-term educational support system spanning from 5th grade through college completion. The core portfolio includes the Scholars Program as the primary offering, complemented by Career Success support, Scholarly Achievements tracking, and Placement Schools networking. The organization also hosts the National Partnership for Educational Access (NPEA) to extend impact nationally. Serving approximately 1,200 Boston students annually with an 80% college completion rate, the organization focuses on eliminating barriers in education and promoting economic mobility for first-generation college students.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Scholars Program A comprehensive, long-term educational program serving first-generation college-bound students from 5th grade through college completion. The program cultivates academic, social, and emotional skills, supports Scholars at partner schools, and achieves an 80% bachelor's degree completion rate within six years. Provided free of charge to Boston students.
• Career Success

Quantifiable outcome

• 80% of Scholars earn a bachelor's degree within six years
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• National Partnership for Educational Access (NPEA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSteppingstone Foundation is affiliated with NPEA, which connects people, practices, and innovations across the country to make it possible for all students to access high-quality learning opportunities and to thrive at every phase of their educational journeys. Hundreds of thousands of students are impacted across the US every year through NPEA.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bottom Line: Bottom Line runs a college-access program serving first-generation students from high school through degree completion — closely matching Steppingstone's Scholars Program duration, target population, and outcome-tracking approach.
• QuestBridge: QuestBridge connects high-achieving low-income students with selective colleges via full scholarships, sharing Steppingstone's selective-school placement outcomes for first-generation/low-income populations.
• Scholarship America: Scholarship America is one of the largest scholarship administration nonprofits in the US, managing scholarship programs for various donor partners — directly comparable to Steppingstone's scholarship-funding component and beneficiary population.
• Jack Kent Cooke Foundation: Jack Kent Cooke Foundation provides scholarships and educational support services to high-achieving students with financial need, mirroring Steppingstone's model of supporting high-potential, underrepresented students across the educational pipeline.
• College Advising Corps: College Advising Corps places recent graduates as near-peer advisors in underserved high schools to expand college access — overlapping Steppingstone's college-access target segment and beneficiary schools.
• Posse Foundation: Posse identifies and supports underrepresented students through scholarship, mentoring, and cohort-based college persistence models — directly comparable in mission (educational access for underrepresented students) and selective-school placement outcomes.

Broad incumbents

• KIPP (KIPP Foundation): KIPP is a large-scale charter school network serving low-income students through college — a broader educational-access incumbent whose pipeline-to-college mission parallels Steppingstone's Scholars Program.
• Year Up: Year Up is a larger workforce-development nonprofit serving opportunity-youth populations; while its core focus is job placement rather than college completion, the target demographic and educational-equity mission overlap significantly with Steppingstone.
• UNCF: UNCF is a major educational-access nonprofit funding scholarships for African American students — a much larger incumbent in the same sector whose scholarship-administration and college-success programs parallel Steppingstone's offerings.

Emerging players

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: Big Brothers Big Sisters operates youth-mentorship programming with education-to-career outcomes; while broader than Steppingstone, its mentoring model for underserved youth intersects with Steppingstone's advisor/mentor network approach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-steppingstone-foundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/steppingstonefoundation
• Xx.com/steppingstone90
• Facebookfacebook.com/steppingstonefoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Steppingstone Foundation