Connecticut · Nonprofit
BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC
BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $216,060 to it, the largest being CONNECTICUT HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC ($94,173). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $528k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $216k
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What Branford Electric Railway Assoc Inc does
Mission
The mission of the Branford Electric Railway Association, Inc. doing business as the Shore Line Trolley Museum is to share with a diverse audience the story of the trolley and related forms of public transportation in their historical context.In 1983, the railway, along with the entire museum collection, was recognized as a National Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places. BERA is the organization behind the Shore Line Trolley Museum.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
For the year ended December 31, 2024, BERA operated the following program areas:(i) Curatorial & Exhibits:BERA maintains an extensive collection that preserves the history and heritage of electric street railways and related forms of public transportation. The museum holds over 100 historic transit vehicles, including trolley cars, subway cars, electric freight and maintenance cars, and several motor buses. The collection spans the mid-19th century through the late 20th century and includes both operational and static exhibits.The museums archives include over 30,000 photographic images, more than 4,000 books, maps, manuals, and documents, and nearly 1,000 small artifacts such as tokens, hat badges, and fare equipment. The archive continues to serve as a research resource for educators, students, authors, and transit historians.Significant pieces in the collection include:The oldest surviving horse-drawn streetcar (Central Park, NYC, c.1851)One of only two subway cars to survive the September 11, 2001 attacks (PATH car 745)An 1873 cable car that survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquakeAugust Belmont Jr.s private IRT subway car from 1904And a wide array of one-of-a-kind trolleys…
$507,045 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $507,045.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2020 to 2021, from $2.5M to $2.8M (+15%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 14% · 2019 8% · 2020 25% · 2021 43% · 2022 14% · 2023 18% · 2024 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
59% of BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Lou Levinson
Trustees Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $18k → $36k.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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 BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC’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
BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2019 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 97% · 2022 61% · 2023 99% — growing more concentrated.
“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
84% of BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC's grant income comes from Connecticut funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $103k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC is better cushioned than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $827k on record.
- Pass thru Grant Non-State$827k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC
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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
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 BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC: 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 BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC?
- BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $216,060 to it, the largest being CONNECTICUT HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC ($94,173). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $216,060 in grants to BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC?
- CONNECTICUT HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC is the largest funder on record, with $94,173 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Branford Electric Railway Assoc →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 7 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