New York · Nonprofit
CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC
CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC (New York) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $162,414 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC ($68,278). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $778k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $162k
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What Carousel Society of the Niagara Frontier Inc does
Mission
The herschell carousel factory museum, operated by the carousel society of the niagara frontier, is a premier national historic site and community resource for family recreation that fosters an appreciation for the unique heritage of the carousel and related industries in the niagara region through educational, cultural, and recreational programming, visitors will experience the places, people, stories, and artifacts associated with the production of carousels, band organs, and other amusement devices. The organization conducted a stem program and in-school classes.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Public programming/outreach - presented several sessions of beginning and intermediate woodcarving and "carousel chats" of mission-related topics, continued demonstrations of woodcarving and music roll making, presented family oriented events which included an education and entertainment component, and presented "school break" activity days for children.
$379,892 spent$118,037 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $379,892.
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 2024 to 2025, from $1.8M to $2.7M (+53%).
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 22% · 2018 23% · 2019 19% · 2020 20% · 2021 10% · 2022 6% · 2023 18% · 2024 9% · 2025 66%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
77% of CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 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.
Chief executive
Ian Seppala
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $11k → $15k.
2 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER 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
CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
42% 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 CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 55% · 2019 69% · 2020 58% · 2021 90% · 2022 65% · 2023 98% — 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.
How long its funders stay
60% of CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
73% of CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $69k 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
CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER 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 CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC?
- CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC (New York) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $162,414 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC ($68,278). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $162,414 in grants to CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC is the largest funder on record, with $68,278 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CAROUSEL SOCIETY OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Carousel Society of the Niagara Frontier →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 8 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