The College of Arts and Letters, San Diego State University, provides the physical home and core support for ISTEP.  The Project also receives funding as the K-12 Outreach Program of the Center for Latin American Studies, SDSU, a federally-funded Title VI National Resource Center and is a proud recipient of a National Ednowment for the Humanities grant.

Past funders have included the Hitachi Foundation, Southern California Edison Company, Danforth Foundation, Global Perspective in Education, Matsushita Foundation, Tinker Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Since 1986, ISTEP has served as the San Diego Regional Resource Center for the California International Studies Project, a California Subject Matter Project.