Colorado · Nonprofit
FORNEY MUSEUM
FORNEY MUSEUM (Colorado) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,047 to it, the largest being THE CANDELARIA FUND ($20,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $20k
- Net assets
- $3.5M
What Forney Museum does
Mission
Antique transportation museum
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The museum operates as an educational institution to collect and preserve artifacts related to history and technology of all forms of transportation. The museum boasts a one- of-a-kind collection of more than 600 artifacts related to historical transportation. The museum is open to the general public, and people can experience exhibits featuring antique automobiles from 1899 to 1986, including amelia earhart's kissel car, carriages, bicycles, motorcycles, farm machinery, one of the world's largest steam locomotives, union pacific's "big boy", and much more.
$712,289 spent$268,105 earned by the program100% of program spendingThe Forney Museum gift shop offers a variety of items sure to please historic transportation fans of all ages and interests. Proceeds from the museum gift shop support the activities and exhibits of the Forney Museum of transportation.
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $712,289.
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 2017 to 2018, from $4.7M to $5.2M (+9%).
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: 2021 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
65% of FORNEY MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $20k → $0.
From the IRS filings of FORNEY MUSEUM’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
FORNEY MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 100% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 100% — broadly stable.
“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
FORNEY MUSEUM draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
FORNEY MUSEUM runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like FORNEY MUSEUM
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
47%
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 FORNEY MUSEUM: 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 FORNEY MUSEUM?
- FORNEY MUSEUM (Colorado) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,047 to it, the largest being THE CANDELARIA FUND ($20,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FORNEY MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $20,047 in grants to FORNEY MUSEUM, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FORNEY MUSEUM?
- THE CANDELARIA FUND is the largest funder on record, with $20,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FORNEY MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 Forney Museum →
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 2 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