Massachusetts · Nonprofit
BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION
BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,983 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($10,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $74k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $11k
- Net assets
- $37k
What Boston Street Railway Association does
Mission
Historic preservation and education
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
HISTORIC STREETCAR RESTORATION: Carbody work and exterior painting are completed. Work focuses now on undercar systems such as brakes and propulsion. Funding permitting, we hope to finish the project within the next two years. Expenses include contract labor, parts, storage container rental, and freight.
$69,890 spent81% of program spendingROLL SIGN: Published 5 issues of our magazine "RollSign", totaling 96 pages. Each issue was mailed to over 600 members, subscribers, and complimentary recipients. Copies are also sold individually.
$12,460 spent15% of program spendingLIBRARY: Rental of a room for our library collection, which includes historic photographs and archival material.
$2,668 spent3% of program spendingMONTHLY MEETINGS: We held 12 monthly meetings online, using the Zoom platform. Each meeting includes a historical and/or educational presentation. Meetings are open to the public with no admission charge; total attendance was 1,029 persons, from 22 states, plus 1 Canadian province. Expenses include fees for use of the Zoom online meeting platform.
$849 spent1% of program spendingEDUCATIONAL EXCURSIONS: From time to time the Association operates special trips using historic or modern transit equipment, often visiting historic sites or other places of interest. One such trip was operated near the end of the previous reporting period, with 136 seat reservations sold, and well over 100 people attending. (Income from that program was reported on last year's return.) Some monetary expenses were paid after the start of the current fiscal year.
$28 spent0% of program spendingPUBLICATIONS: Our volunteer staff continued planning, research, and writing for books to be issued in future years. Only minimal expenses were incurred this year, and costs were not tracked separately.
$0 spent0% of program spendingPUBLIC INQUIRIES: We respond to many historical inquiries from the public, including government agencies, the news media, and students. These inquiries are handled by our volunteer staff, and costs are not tracked separately.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $85,895.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $107k to $72k (−33%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
99% of BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $211 → $157.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 91% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 91% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
91% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 98% · 2021 97% · 2022 98% · 2023 90% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
91% of BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $952 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 1 state.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION has grown faster than half of the 2,277 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,277 public benefit nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION?
- BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,983 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($10,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $10,983 in grants to BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $10,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BOSTON STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Boston Street Railway Association →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 3 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing