Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA
FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $98,992 to it, the largest being LANCASTER COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($56,095). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $99k
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What Friends of the Railroad Museum Pennsylvania does
Mission
The friends of the railroad museum's purpose is to aid, benefit, and help the railroad museum of pennyslvania located in strasburg, pa.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Museum tours - support the railroad museum of pa by conducting tours to enhance the public's enjoyment of the museum. The museum received approximately 86,300 visitors this year. 1,200 people participated in the school group eductional programs during the year.
$631,766 spent$386,965 earned by the program81% of program spendingRestoration & purchases of railroad equipment - support the railroad museum of pa by purchasing & restoring railroad equipment for donation to the museum. The museum is currently located on 18 acres of land, including over 100,000 square feet for an exhibit hall for the indoor display of over 50 locomotives and railroad cars. Additional displays are stored outside in the restoration yard and are available for viewing whenever weather, staffing, and safety conditions permit. In total, there are 95 locomotive and railroad cars.
$120,174 spent15% of program spendingFriends of the railroad museum membership - support the railroad museum of pa by providing museum education, news, and information to members of friends of the railroad museum. The milepost magazine is published 5 times a year by the friends of the railroad museum and distributed to all members of the friends of the railroad museum. During fiscal year 2024, there were 1,373 members.
$26,075 spent3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $778,015.
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 $1.8M to $2.2M (+20%).
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 12% · 2022 13% · 2023 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $6k → $7k.
4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 88% 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 FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA’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
FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
88% 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 FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 50% · 2019 57% · 2020 60% · 2021 94% · 2022 49% · 2023 96% — 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.
How long its funders stay
57% of FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
88% of FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA'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 $12k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 7 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $87k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA holds deeper cash reserves 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 FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 7 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA: 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 FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA?
- FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $98,992 to it, the largest being LANCASTER COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($56,095). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $98,992 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA?
- LANCASTER COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $56,095 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM PENNSYLVANIA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Friends of the Railroad Museum Pennsylvania →
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 11 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