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· Private foundation

The Rail Heritage Trust First Option Bank Trustee

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$250k
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
12
States reached
$27k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$1.3MPublic Benefit$65kHuman Services$28kEnvironment$22kRecreation & Sports$22kEmployment$15k
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $19k
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $231k
$15,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$6.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OREGON RAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION$27,000
RAILWAY RESTORATION PROJECT #113$25,000
TENNESSEE VALLEY RAILROAD MUSEUM INC$20,000
WESTERN MARYLAND SCENIC RAILROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION$15,000
NICKEL PLATE HERITAGE RAILROAD INC$15,000
TRI-STATE RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC$15,000
UNITED RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NJ INC$15,000
COLEBROOKDALE RAILROAD PRESERVATION TRUST$15,000
IRON HORSE SOCIETY AT STEAMTORN INCORPORATED$15,000
FORT WAYNE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC$15,000
BELLEFONTE HISTORICAL RR SOCIETY INC$13,100
BLACK RIVER RAILROAD HISTORICAL TRUST INC$11,000
FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC$10,000
RAILROADING HERITAGE OF MIDWEST AMERICA INC$10,000
SAN BERNARDINO RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY$10,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY21–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 67% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%RAILROADING HERITAGE OF MIDWEST AMERICA INC: $31k → 6%LAKE SUPERIOR RAILROAD MUSEUM: $15k → 15%COLEBROOKDALE RAILROAD PRESERVATION TRUST: $15k → 11%BELLEFONTE HISTORICAL RR SOCIETY INC: $13k → 12%RAILWAY RESTORATION PROJECT #113: $25k → 12%EBT FOUNDATION INC: $16k → 13%IRON HORSE SOCIETY AT STEAMTORN INCORPORATED: $15k → 13%PACIFIC LOCOMOTIVE ASSOCIATION INC: $30k → 10%SAN BERNARDINO RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $15k → 14%GULF COAST CHAPTER NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $21k → 16%NRHS WASHINGTON DC CHAPTER: $12k → 14%MICHIGAN STATE TRUST FOR RAILWAY PRESERVATION INC: $15k → 12%HEART OF DIXIE RAILROAD MUSEUM INC: $12k → 7%ABILENE SMOKY VALLEY RAILROAD ASSOCIATION: $20k → 10%OREGON RAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $27k → 16%IRON MOUNTAIN RAILWAY: $15k → 14%MID-CONTINENT RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $15k → 9%FRIENDS OF SP 4449 INC: $15k → 12%SUMPTER VALLEY RAILROAD RESTORATION INC: $15k → 16%RAILROAD MUSEUM OF NEW ENGLAND INC: $19k → 9%TENNESSEE VALLEY RAILROAD MUSEUM INC: $20k → 12%NASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION: $29k → 14%NICKEL PLATE HERITAGE RAILROAD INC: $15k → 5%FORT WAYNE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $15k → 12%CUYAHOGA VALLEY PRESERVATION AND SCENIC RAILWAY ASSOCIATION: $15k → 13%MIDWEST RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCITY INC: $15k → 17%ENGINE 557 RESTORATION COMPANY: $36k → 10%ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM: $25k → 7%TRI-STATE RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $15k → 4%WESTERN MARYLAND SCENIC RAILROAD DEVELOP CORP: $50k → 18%KENTUCKY RAILWAY MUSEUM INC: $23k → 21%RAILROADING HERITAGE OF MIDWEST AMERICA INC: $25k → 6%LAKE SUPERIOR RAILROAD MUSEUM: $15k → 15%COLEBROOKDALE RAILROAD PRESERVATION TRUST: $15k → 11%EAST BROAD TOP RAILROAD FOUNDATION INC: $15k → 13%PACIFIC RAILROAD SOCIETY INC: $15k → 14%ABILENE SMOKY VALLEY RAILROAD ASSOCIATION: $15k → 10%TENNESSEE VALLEY RAILROAD MUSEUM INC: $20k → 12%NASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION: $15k → 14%FORT WAYNE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $15k → 12%MIDWEST RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $15k → 17%UNITED RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NJ INC: $15k → 4%WESTERN MARYLAND SCENIC RAILROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $15k → 18%KENTUCKY STEAM HERITAGE CORP: $15k → 21%PACIFIC RR PRESERVATION ASSN INCORPORATED: $35k → 12%UNITED RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NJ INC: $15k → 4%PACIFIC RAILROAD PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED: $29k → 12%UNITED RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NJ INC: $15k → 4%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

AK
ME
WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
OR
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
MO
KY
VA
MD
NM
KS
TN
DC
AL
GA
TX
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 6% of The Rail Heritage Trust First Option Bank Trustee’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Rail Heritage Trust First Option Bank Trusteelessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

61%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$865k · 26 repeat orgs$560k to everyone else

26 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 16 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
31

Total granted

$865k
$451k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+2%

Still filing today

92%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $109k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CulturePublic BenefitHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • WM
    WESTERN MARYLAND SCENIC RAILROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
    2× · 2021–2025 · $65k · revenue +104%
  • FW
    FORT WAYNE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
    3× · 2022–2025 · $40k · revenue +74%
  • AA
    ABILENE AND SMOKY VALLEY RAILROAD ASSOCIATION
    3× · 2022–2024 · $40k · revenue +94%

Funded once

  • NS
    NASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETY
    one grant, 2021 · $40k
  • E5
    ENGINE 557 RESTORATION COMPANY
    one grant, 2022 · $36k · revenue +5% · 27% of their budget
  • PR
    PACIFIC RR PRESERVATION ASSN INCORPORATED
    one grant, 2021 · $35k
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
Bricktown Model Railroaders Association

Provide a museum of local railroads

Arts & Culture
2
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.

—
3
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
4
Back Mountain Railroad Club
Arts & Culture
5
WesternMD Railway Historical Society

To encourage the collection & preservation of historical material associated with the Western MD Railway and American Railway system.

—
6
Arizona Railroad Historical Society
Arts & Culture
7
Lake Shore Railway Historical Society Inc

Maintaining the Lake Shore Railway Museum and all exhibits

—
8
Ridgway Railroad Museum

Promote railroading history, with an operating railroad and operating museum

Arts & Culture
9
Minnesota Streetcar Museum

The Museums mission is to preserve and communicate to the public the experience of Minnesotas electric street and interurban railway history.

Arts & Culture
10
Colafax Railroad Museum Inc

A nonprofit museum dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and interpretive display of western wisconsins railroad heritage. this is accomplished through restoration of historic railroad artifacts, operation of a library and video…

Arts & Culture
11
Bridgton & Saco River Railroad Museum Inc

Preserving and teaching the history of the B&SR Railroad

Arts & Culture
12
Lakes Region Model Railroad Museum Inc

To provide a museum depicting the importance of the railroad industry to the economic development of the lakes region of new hamphire. the museum will display a model railroad and its routes within caroll county, new hampshire.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Railroad Museum Inc; the most unlike its peers is Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

52 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. 52 of the 65 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
52/52
Grantees still filing
24/52
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

RAILROADING HERITAGE OF MIDWEST AMERICA INC: $66,000 · Arts & CultureRAILROADING HERITAGE OF MIDWEST AMERICA INCFRIENDS OF SP4449 INC: $47,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF SP4449 INCUnited Railroad Historical Society of NJ Inc: $44,500 · Arts & CultureFORT WAYNE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $40,000 · Arts & CultureABILENE AND SMOKY VALLEY RAILROAD ASSOCIATION: $40,000 · Arts & CultureTENNESSEE VALLEY RAILROAD MUSEUM INC: $40,000 · Arts & CultureILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC: $36,000 · Arts & CultureENGINE 557 RESTORATION COMPANY: $36,000 · Arts & CultureKENTUCKY RAILWAY MUSEUM INC: $35,000 · Arts & CultureRAILROAD MUSEUM OF NEW ENGLAND INC: $33,500 · Arts & CulturePacific Locomotive Association Inc Niles Canyon Railway: $31,000 · Arts & CultureColebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust: $30,000 · Arts & CultureLAKE SUPERIOR RAILROAD MUSUEM: $30,000 · Arts & CultureOREGON RAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $29,000 · Arts & Culture+26 more: $322,400 · Arts & Culture+26 moreNASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION: $44,000 · OtherNASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION ASSOCIA…NASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETY: $40,000 · OtherNASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETYMIDWEST RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $40,000 · OtherMIDWEST RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY…PACIFIC RAILROAD PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED: $39,500 · OtherPACIFIC RAILROAD PRESERVATION ASSOCI…PACIFIC RR PRESERVATION ASSN INCORPORATED: $35,000 · OtherPACIFIC RR PRESERVATION ASSN INCORPO…SAN BERNARDINO RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $25,000 · OtherSAN BERNARDINO RAILROAD HISTORICAL S…MID-CONTINENT RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $25,000 · OtherMID-CONTINENT RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOC…RAILWAY RESTORATION PROJECT 113: $25,000 · OtherRAILWAY RESTORATION PROJECT 113GULF COAST CHAPTER NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $21,000 · OtherWEST CHESTER RR HERITAGE ASSN: $20,000 · Other+12 more: $142,600 · Other+12 moreWESTERN MARYLAND SCENIC RAILROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $65,000 · Public BenefitFRIENDS OF GA STATE PARKS & HISTORI: $27,500 · Human ServicesTHE IRON HORSE SOCIETY AT STEAMTOWN INC: $15,000 · Recreation & Sports
Arts & Culture$860,400Other$457,100Public Benefit$65,000Human Services$27,500Recreation & Sports$15,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetRAILROADING HERITAGE OF MIDWEST AMERICA INC: $66,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetWESTERN MARYLAND SCENIC RAILROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $65,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF SP4449 INC: $47,000 over 3y, 52% of budgetUnited Railroad Historical Society of NJ Inc: $44,500 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetFORT WAYNE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $40,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetABILENE AND SMOKY VALLEY RAILROAD ASSOCIATION: $40,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetMIDWEST RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $40,000 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetTENNESSEE VALLEY RAILROAD MUSEUM INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetPACIFIC RAILROAD PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED: $39,500 over 2y, 45% of budgetILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC: $36,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetENGINE 557 RESTORATION COMPANY: $36,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetKENTUCKY RAILWAY MUSEUM INC: $35,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetRAILROAD MUSEUM OF NEW ENGLAND INC: $33,500 over 2y, 11% of budgetPacific Locomotive Association Inc Niles Canyon Railway: $31,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetColebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust: $30,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLAKE SUPERIOR RAILROAD MUSUEM: $30,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetOREGON RAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $29,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF GA STATE PARKS & HISTORI: $27,500 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetSAN BERNARDINO RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $25,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetMID-CONTINENT RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $25,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetBLACK RIVER RAILROAD HISTORICAL TRUST INC: $23,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetAustin Steam Train Association: $21,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetWATAUGA VALLEY RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY & MUSEUM: $20,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetIRON MOUNTAIN RAILWAY: $17,100 over 2y, 8.0% of budgetMICHIGAN STATE TRUST FOR RAILWAY PR: $16,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetEBT FOUNDATION INC: $15,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCUYAHOGA VALLEY PRESERVATION AND SCENIC RAILWAY ASSOCIATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNickel Plate Heritage Railroad Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSumpter Valley Railroad Restoration Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetKENTUCKY STEAM HERITAGE CORPORATION: $15,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetPacific Railroad Society: $15,000 over 1y, 40% of budgetRoanoke Chapt Natl RR Hist Society: $15,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetLake Superior and Mississippi Railroad: $12,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetHEART OF DIXIE RAILROAD MUSEUM INC: $12,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetDANBURY RAILWAY MUSEUM INC: $12,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetRochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum: $11,500 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetEAST TROY RAILROAD MUSEUM INC: $11,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetRAILROADERS HERITAGE CORPORATION: $11,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetB&O RAILROAD MUSEUM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTHERN MICHIGAN RAILROAD SOCIETY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetADIRONDACK RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEW MEXICO STEAM LOCOMOTIVE & RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetDOWNEAST RAIL HERITAGE PRESERVATION TRUST INC: $9,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetNATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D: $8,800 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetNATIONAL RAILROAD MUSEUM INC: $8,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC: $6,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNew York Museum of Transportation: $5,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetSmoky Hill Railway & Historical: $1,000 over 1y, 0.8% 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.

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 Candelaria FundCA17.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Candelaria Fund · Bnsf Railway Foundation · The Rebensdorf Family Foundation · Tom E Dailey Foundation Inc · Xcel Energy Foundation · Union Pacific Foundation · Ibm International Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · 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 Rail Heritage Trust First Option Bank Trustee funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Rail Heritage Trust First Option Bank Trustee. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 17%
  • Pacific Railroad Preservation Association Incorporated: 38% of income from government
  • Branford Electric Railway Assoc Inc: 17% of income from government
  • B&o Railroad Museum Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Sumpter Valley Railroad Restoration Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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.

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 65 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

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