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The Candelaria Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

The Candelaria Fund

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$678k
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$2.3MCommunity Improvement$1.0MPhilanthropy$844kEnvironment$608kHuman Services$132kPublic Safety & Disaster$47kPublic Benefit$38kEducation$30kOther$0
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k5 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $55k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $600k
$15,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$984k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EAST BROAD TOP FOUNDATION$200,000
RAILROADERS MEMORIAL MUSEUM$100,000
BAY AREA ELECTRIC RAILROAD ASSOCIATION$100,000
WISCASSET WATERVILLE & FARMINGTON RR$75,000
CENTER OF SOUTHWEST CULTURE$75,000
FRIENDS OF THE EAST BROAD TOP$50,000
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE SEASON OF SHARING$20,000
NEVADA NORTHERN RAILWAY FOUNDATION$15,000
THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY$10,000
OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA$10,000
AMERICAN RED CROSS GOLD COUNTRY REGION$5,000
THE SALVATION ARMY DEL ORO DIVISION$5,000
THINK NEW MEXICO$5,000
THE SALVATION ARMY GOLDEN GATE DIVISION$5,000
CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER$2,500
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $82k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%THINK NEW MEXICO: $10k → 12%THINK NEW MEXICO: $8k → 12%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $8k → 10%THINK NEW MEXICO: $8k → 12%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $5k → 10%THINK NEW MEXICO: $8k → 12%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $5k → 10%THINK NEW MEXICO: $5k → 12%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $5k → 10%THINK NEW MEXICO: $5k → 12%AMERICAN RED CROSS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COASTAL REGION: $4k → 10%THINK NEW MEXICO: $5k → 12%THINK NEW MEXICO: $5k → 12%THINK NEW MEXICO: $3k → 12%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
MN
IL
OR
NV
IN
OH
PA
CA
CO
MO
AZ
NM
TN
MS
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.5M · 32 repeat orgs$410k to everyone else

32 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2025, 19 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
18

Total granted

$4.5M
$395k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
+32%

Still filing today

56%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementHealthOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • NS
    NASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETY
    6× · 2017–2023 · $723k · revenue +0% · 42% of their budget
  • CENTER OF SOUTHWEST CULTURE INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $510k · revenue +537%
  • WW
    WISCASSET WATERVILLE & FARMINGTON RAILWAY MUSEUM
    3× · 2022–2025 · $200k · revenue +16%

Funded once

  • CO
    CONGRESS OF COUNTRY MUSIC
    one grant, 2024 · $100k
  • OR
    OREGON RAIL HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
  • PL
    Pacific Locomotive Association Inc Niles Canyon Railwaygraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $30k · revenue +228%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Arizona Railroad Historical Society
Arts & Culture
2
Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association Inc

The Museums mission is the collection, preservation,restoration and operation of vintage railroad equipment at its own facility and on the historic SD&A Railway for the education.

Arts & Culture
3
Arizona Railway Museum

Acquisition preservation and Restoration of Railroad Artifacts Showing the History of Arizona

—
4
The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Southern Ca Chapter

Encouragement of the interest in railway history, the preservation of railway artifacts and equipment, documents and records, and to enable members to study railroad operations.

—
5
Oklahoma Railway Museum Limited

Oklahoma Railway Museum allows you to experience history in motion, with an educational experience of railroads and how they shaped Oklahoma and the Nation.

—
6
San Diego Model Railroad Museum Inc

To research, collect, preserve and present the heritage of american railroading using educational programs, displays, toy trains, and scale models of california railroads.

Arts & Culture
7
Railroad Museum of New England Inc

The railroad museum of new england, inc. is a educational and historical organization. it is dedicated to educating the public about new england's rich railroad hertiage by preserving and restoring railroad artifacts.

Arts & Culture
8
Northwest Railway Museum

The mission of the northwest railway museum is to develop and operate an outstanding railway museum that provides the public a place to experience the excitement of a working railroad and to see and understand the significance of railroads…

Arts & Culture
9
Friends of the Nevada State Railroad Museum the Virginia & Truckee Division

FNSRM provides resources and services for the NeVada State RailRoad Museum, including fund raising, advocacy, and volunteer work ranging from visitor service to restoration and operation of the equipment in its collection.

—
10
Lake Superior Railroad Musuem

Educate the public on the operations of a railroad and its equipment.

Arts & Culture
11
Southern California Railway Museum Inc

To acquire, preserve, maintain, operate and display, in the public interest, documents, artifacts and equipment associated with transportation, and in the course thereof to operate one or more museums where members of the public may obtain…

Arts & Culture
12
Southeastern Railway Museum Inc

Railway Museum operated to preserve historical artifacts and provide information on the history of railways.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Inc; the most unlike its peers is Heyday. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

33 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 33 of the 52 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
32/33
Grantees still filing
22/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

EAST BROAD TOP FOUNDATION: $700,000 · OtherEAST BROAD TOP FOUNDATIONCUMBRES & TOLTEC SCENIC RR COMMISSION: $547,584 · OtherCUMBRES & TOLTEC SCENIC RR COMMISSIONBAY AREA ELECTRIC RAILROAD ASSOCIATION: $475,000 · OtherBAY AREA ELECTRIC RAILROAD ASSOCIATIONCONGRESS OF COUNTRY MUSIC: $100,000 · Other+21 more: $586,500 · Other+21 moreNASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETY: $722,500 · Arts & CultureNASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETYCENTER OF SOUTHWEST CULTURE INC: $510,000 · Arts & CultureCENTER OF SOUTHWEST CULTURE INCWISCASSET WATERVILLE & FARMINGTON RAILWAY MUSEUM: $200,000 · Arts & CultureWISCASSET WATERVILLE & FARMINGTON RAILWAY MUSEUMRAILROADERS HERITAGE CORPORATION: $150,000 · Arts & CultureRAILROADERS HERITAGE CORPORATIONNEW MEXICO STEAM LOCOMOTIVE & RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $105,000 · Arts & CultureWINSLOW ARTS TRUST: $105,000 · Arts & CultureOREGON RAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $100,000 · Arts & CultureHISTORIC PULLMAN FOUNDATION DBA FRIENDS OF PULLMAN: $95,000 · Arts & Culture+11 more: $287,500 · Arts & Culture+11 moreCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY: $135,000 · PhilanthropyCANDID: $9,000 · PhilanthropyTHINK NEW MEXICO: $55,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $26,500 · Human ServicesCALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER: $38,000 · EducationCatching the Dream: $20,000 · EducationTUCUMCARI MAIN STREET CORPORATION: $20,000 · Community ImprovementMendocino Coast Healthcare Foundation: $10,000 · Health
Other$2,409,084Arts & Culture$2,275,000Philanthropy$144,000Human Services$81,500Education$58,000Community Improvement$20,000Health$10,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETY: $722,500 over 6y, 42% of budgetCENTER OF SOUTHWEST CULTURE INC: $510,000 over 9y, 6.6% of budgetWISCASSET WATERVILLE & FARMINGTON RAILWAY MUSEUM: $200,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetRAILROADERS HERITAGE CORPORATION: $150,000 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY: $135,000 over 9y, 0.6% of budgetNEW MEXICO STEAM LOCOMOTIVE & RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $105,000 over 4y, 23% of budgetWINSLOW ARTS TRUST: $105,000 over 3y, 30% of budgetOREGON RAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetHISTORIC PULLMAN FOUNDATION DBA FRIENDS OF PULLMAN: $95,000 over 3y, 5.6% of budgetCHINESE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA: $70,000 over 3y, 4.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CUMBRES & TOLTEC SCENIC RAILROAD INC: $65,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetTHINK NEW MEXICO: $55,000 over 9y, 1.3% of budgetTHE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVANCY: $55,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER: $38,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetDurango Railroad Historical Society: $32,500 over 5y, 14% of budgetPacific Locomotive Association Inc Niles Canyon Railway: $30,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $26,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSAN BERNARDINO RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 59% of budgetRAILROADING HERITAGE OF MIDWEST AMERICA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCatching the Dream: $20,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetFORNEY MUSEUM: $20,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetTUCUMCARI MAIN STREET CORPORATION: $20,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetOAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMendocino Coast Healthcare Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 6.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCOLORADO RAILROAD HISTORICAL FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCANDID: $9,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBELTRAMI COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetMECHANICS' INSTITUTE: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHeyday: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds NASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds CENTER OF SOUTHWEST CULTURE INC ↗
  • Who funds WISCASSET WATERVILLE & FARMINGTON RAILWAY MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds RAILROADERS HERITAGE CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds NEW MEXICO STEAM LOCOMOTIVE & RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds WINSLOW ARTS TRUST ↗
  • Who funds OREGON RAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HISTORIC PULLMAN FOUNDATION DBA FRIENDS OF PULLMAN ↗
  • Who funds CHINESE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE CUMBRES & TOLTEC SCENIC RAILROAD INC ↗
  • Who funds THINK NEW MEXICO ↗
  • Who funds THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Durango Railroad Historical Society ↗
  • Who funds Pacific Locomotive Association Inc Niles Canyon Railway ↗
  • Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
  • Who funds SAN BERNARDINO RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds RAILROADING HERITAGE OF MIDWEST AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds Catching the Dream ↗
  • Who funds FORNEY MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds HISTORIC WATERTOWN INC ↗
  • Who funds TUCUMCARI MAIN STREET CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA ↗
  • Who funds NEVADA NORTHERN RAILWAY FOUNDATION ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Rail Heritage Tru…Bnsf Railway Foundati…Ibm International Fou…Walter and Elise Haas…Xcel Energy FoundationThe San Francisco Fou…Silicon Valley Commun…The James Irvine Foun…Ge Aerospace Foundati…Marin Community Found…Rockefeller Philanthr…National Philanthropi…
The Rail Heritage Trust First Option Bank TrusteeKS17.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 5 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Rail Heritage Trust First Option Bank Trustee · Bnsf Railway Foundation · Ibm International Foundation · Walter and Elise Haas Fund · Xcel Energy Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The James Irvine Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · National Philanthropic Trust

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Candelaria Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Candelaria Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Candelaria Fund?

    Find your warmest path to The Candelaria Fund through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 52 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Candelaria’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home