Illinois · Nonprofit
FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC
FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $227,514 to it, the largest being SOUTHEASTERN ILLINOIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($207,037). 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 FY2024
- $305k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $228k
- Net assets
- $323k
What Fox River Trolley Association Inc does
Mission
Preserve, advance and disseminate knowledge of the history of railway transportation. Accordingly, the Corporation shall operate and maintain a museum, which features historic railway equipment. The Corporation shall engage in those activities necessary for the successful management of the museum, these activities including acquisition, preservation, display and operation of historic railway vehicles for the public.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The museum preserves, interprets, and operates historic railway vehicles on its demonstration electric railway, over the Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Electric route at South Elgin, Illinois. Furthermore, the museum preserves, displays and interprets smaller artifacts, photos, oral histories, and documents which help relate the importance of electric transport in and around the Chicago Metropolitan Area, putting them in context with their surroundings and era. Over 6,800 visitor rides were provided for this experience in 2024.
$334,215 spent$199,777 earned by the program100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $334,215.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $497k to $653k (+31%).
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: 2020 9% · 2021 6% · 2022 9% · 2023 3% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
33% of FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION 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. 3 of the last 5 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
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income fell $60k → $41k.
2 of 4 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 FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION 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
FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC 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
96% 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 FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 99% · 2023 75% — 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 FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC'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 $20k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 2 states.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $208k 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
FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC has grown faster than three-quarters 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
Organizations like FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION 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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
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 FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION 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 FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC?
- FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $227,514 to it, the largest being SOUTHEASTERN ILLINOIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($207,037). 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 FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $227,514 in grants to FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC?
- SOUTHEASTERN ILLINOIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $207,037 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOX RIVER TROLLEY ASSOCIATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Fox River Trolley Association →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 4 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