California · Nonprofit
Golden State Model Railroad Museum
Golden State Model Railroad Museum (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,957 to it, the largest being THE NEEL FOUNDATION ($2,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2019
- $31k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $3k
- Net assets
- $26k
What Golden State Model Railroad Museum does
Mission
GSMRM displays and operates model railroad layouts in three model scales, showing historical and current railroad scenes from the Bay Area, California, and other areas.
As stated on its FY2019 Form 990-EZ.
Program
The museum is open to the public from April-December on Wednesdays, as well as Saturdays and Sundays. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, the displays are accessible for viewing, and some of our volunteers are on site to answer questions. On Sundays, larger crews of volunteers are present to operate all three model train layouts. We charge a small admission fee on those days to help offset our operating costs.On the weekend before and after Christmas we run trains on both Saturdays and Sundays, as we welcome many more visitors than on a typical Sunday. Our last run day of the years traditionally has the best attendance. This year a TV crew from San Franciscos ABC7 visited us and we were featured on the 5pm and 6pm news.In 2019, a total of 7410 individuals visited the museum. This was our 7th highest number since the beginning of recording visitor numbers in 1993.
The first program described on its most recent Form 990-EZ.
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 $279k to $42k (−85%).
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.
17% of Golden State Model Railroad Museum’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $106 → $586.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 State Model Railroad 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
Golden State Model Railroad Museum leans on a few funders — its largest provides 85% 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: 2020 100% · 2021 79% · 2022 100% · 2023 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
Golden State Model Railroad Museum draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 1 state in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $457 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
Golden State Model Railroad Museum's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 2 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,361 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2019
Organizations like Golden State Model Railroad 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
64%
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 Golden State Model Railroad 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 Golden State Model Railroad Museum?
- Golden State Model Railroad Museum (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,957 to it, the largest being THE NEEL FOUNDATION ($2,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Golden State Model Railroad Museum have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $2,957 in grants to Golden State Model Railroad Museum, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Golden State Model Railroad Museum?
- THE NEEL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Golden State Model Railroad Museum find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 State Model Railroad Museum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2019 (financials across 2017–2019), 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