Illinois · Nonprofit
ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC
ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC (Illinois) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,472,943 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($338,232). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Illinois Railway Museum Inc does
Mission
The mission of the illinois railway museum is to educate the public as to our nation's railroad and railway history by collecting, preserving, and restoring rolling stock, artifacts, structures, and related transportation equipment for display to the public; exhibiting and operating restored rolling stock and equipment on a demonstration rail line; and collecting, preserving, and maintaining a reference library of publications, technical information, and other materials regarding railroads, railways, and related forms of transportation for research and other purposes.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Public opening, display, operation and interpretation of the museum's collection of railroad equipment and memorabilia to further public understanding of the role of railroads in the development of the country. Costs include those incurred by the electric car, diesel, steam, steam passenger coach and trolley bus departments in restoring and maintaining the collection as well as the maintenance of the site.
$2,164,481 spent$617,848 earned by the program100% of program spendingSpecial attractions and events, with a strong railroad theme, including "days out with thomas", "happy holiday railway and the "bunny trolley hop". Continued strong attendance at all events with significant evidence that people initially attending these events subsequently return for our core museum activities.
$0 spent$798,358 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,164,481.
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 $12M to $16M (+28%).
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: 2017 0% · 2021 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC’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. 1 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.
Chief executive
Nick Kallas
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $32k → $396k.
9 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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 ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM 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
ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC 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
55% 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 ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 86% · 2019 63% · 2020 43% · 2021 30% · 2022 39% · 2023 31% — 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
54% of ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
54% of ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM 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 $673k that is directly attributable, 53% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $800k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC is better cushioned than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM 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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
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 ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM 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 ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC?
- ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC (Illinois) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,472,943 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($338,232). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $1,472,943 in grants to ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $338,232 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM 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 Illinois Railway Museum →
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 25 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing