Texas · Nonprofit
Center for Transportation and Commerce
Center for Transportation and Commerce (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $299,120 to it, the largest being THE GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($200,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $299k
- Net assets
- $6.0M
What Center for Transportation and Commerce does
Mission
Operation of museum of transportation with emphasis on railroad transportation andartifacts, including rolling stock.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Maintain, improve, and promote the Museum Center for Transportation and Commerce with memorabilia and exhibits depicting the evolution of transportation in the Galveston area.
$3,489,494 spentof which $303,866 as grants$2,934,401 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,489,494.
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 2023 to 2024, from $7.2M to $1.7M (−76%).
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 13% · 2018 12% · 2019 6% · 2020 18% · 2021 6% · 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
10% of Center for Transportation and Commerce’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
David Robertson
Executive Director
Board chair
Dr John Bertini
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2022: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $13k → $235k.
1 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 67% 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 Center for Transportation and Commerce’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
Center for Transportation and Commerce leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
69% 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 Center for Transportation and Commerce.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 92% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 85% — 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
67% of Center for Transportation and Commerce'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 $99k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $200k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
Center for Transportation and Commerce has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Center for Transportation and Commerce
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 Center for Transportation and Commerce: 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 Center for Transportation and Commerce?
- Center for Transportation and Commerce (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $299,120 to it, the largest being THE GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($200,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Center for Transportation and Commerce have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $299,120 in grants to Center for Transportation and Commerce, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Center for Transportation and Commerce?
- THE GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Center for Transportation and Commerce find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Center for Transportation and Commerce →
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 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