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Utah · Nonprofit

Golden Spike Foundation

Golden Spike Foundation (Utah) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,718,500 to it, the largest being GEORGE S AND DOLORES DORE ECCLES FOUNDATION ($400,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$308k
Funders on record
13
Grants received
$1.7M
Net assets
$844k
4/13 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 43%
01What it does

What Golden Spike Foundation does

Mission

Through a series of activities amd events, the Spike 150 initiative aims to inspire, educate, and reflect on the Transcontinental Railroad legacy as it unifies Utahns to see that great things are possible with vision, hard-work, dedication, innovation, and collaboration.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. monument for donation to public location

    $1,600,000 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,600,000.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($955k) Expenses 100 ($504k) Net assets 100 ($451k)2019 Revenue 303 ($2.9M) Expenses 583 ($2.9M) Net assets 89 ($402k)2021 Revenue 78 ($747k) Expenses 147 ($741k) Net assets 73 ($330k)2022 Revenue 153 ($1.5M) Expenses 170 ($857k) Net assets 207 ($931k)2023 Revenue 164 ($1.6M) Expenses 212 ($1.1M) Net assets 317 ($1.4M)2024 Revenue 70 ($669k) Expenses 134 ($676k) Net assets 315 ($1.4M)2025 Revenue 32 ($308k) Expenses 175 ($884k) Net assets 187 ($844k)
2018201920212022202320242025
Revenue (32)Expenses (175)Net assets (187)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $330k to $931k (+182%).

$451k
$403k
$330k
$931k
$1.4M
$1.4M
$844k
2018201920212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2018 73% · 2019 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

85% of Golden Spike Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$451k
’18
−$49k
’19
$6k
’21
$601k
’22
$497k
’23
−$7k
’24
−$577k
’25
11
months of
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.

2018201920212022202320242025
Listed6666666
Joined·+0·+0+0+0+0
No longer listed·0·0000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $5k → $678k.

1 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 Golden Spike Foundation’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

Golden Spike Foundation has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

23%
largest funder
50%
top three
~8
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2021 53% · 2022 44% · 2023 59% — 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

25% of Golden Spike Foundation's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 31% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

100% of Golden Spike Foundation's grant income comes from Utah funders.

UT

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’21
’22
’23
Utah out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $210k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Golden Spike Foundation is better cushioned than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−187% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve11.4mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−15% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Golden Spike Foundation

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 Utah

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

96% of spending goes to programs.

Program 96%Management 3%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

99%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

UT

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Golden Spike Foundation: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Golden Spike Foundation?
Golden Spike Foundation (Utah) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,718,500 to it, the largest being GEORGE S AND DOLORES DORE ECCLES FOUNDATION ($400,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Golden Spike Foundation have?
IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $1,718,500 in grants to Golden Spike Foundation, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Golden Spike Foundation?
GEORGE S AND DOLORES DORE ECCLES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Golden Spike Foundation find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Utah. 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 Golden Spike →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 13 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