Hawaii · Nonprofit
LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM
LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM (Hawaii) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,052 to it, the largest being THE MUSSER FUND ($25,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $140k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $33k
- Net assets
- $158k
What Laupahoehoe Train Museum does
Mission
History of railroads on Island of Hawaii
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Preserve, promote, and protect the historic, cultural, educational, social, civic & economic interests of the North Hilo & Hamakua Districts while highlighting the history of railroads on the Island of Hawaii
$44,596 spentof which $75,000 as grants43% of program spendingCommunity service - various projects to support the community's interests. Includes Honeybee Education Program
$58,997 spentof which $45,250 as grants57% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $103,593.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2024 to 2025, from $131k to $170k (+30%).
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.
48% of LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM’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. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $33k → $16.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN 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
LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% 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 76% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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
LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Hawaii, across 2 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $52 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
LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN 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 Hawaii
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
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 LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN 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 LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM?
- LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM (Hawaii) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,052 to it, the largest being THE MUSSER FUND ($25,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $33,052 in grants to LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM?
- THE MUSSER FUND is the largest funder on record, with $25,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Hawaii. 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 Laupahoehoe Train Museum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 3 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