Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D
NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $98,450 to it, the largest being BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($62,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $285k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $98k
- Net assets
- $963k
What National Railway Historical Society Washington D does
Mission
To expand public appreciation of railroads and their history through preservation and education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Historic railroad and railcar trips, tours, and excursions operation. We operated charters to Pittsburgh and New Orleans. We also operated public trips between New York and Albany, New York and Washington, Boston and Albany and Washington, D.C. and Roanoke We also operated two tours of the VRE shops and two of the Amtrak shops and a day of rides and tours on the East Broad Top Railroad. We also took the car on a public trip to an open house at Pullman National Historical Site (trip was NY-Chicago-Washington-NY)
$136,975 spent$219,402 earned by the program63% of program spendingRailcar Maintenance and Preservation. including maintaining 1 to Amtrak specifications. Approximate number of direct participants: 25. Heavily focus on in FY2025 to the air and water raising systems of DOVER HARBOR, kitchen repainting, roof repairs. We use volunteers as much as we can.
$76,319 spent35% of program spendingEducational programs, including Member and public meetings (on-line) on topics of railway history and railway preservation, monthly newsletter publication, and Library Operation. Approximate number of Direct participants: 80 (on-line programs) + newsletter readership of 425 per month (on-line monthly programs). Train Day was held at the Library the Sunday after Thanksgiving and about 20 participants came and checked out the library and watched the Amtrak trains roll by on the busiest day of the year on the Northeast Corridor. Also held a book sale and open house at the library.
$3,222 spent1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $216,516.
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 2022 to 2023, from $678k to $1.0M (+48%).
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% · 2018 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
21% of NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $11k → $43k.
3 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 91% 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 NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D’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
NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% 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
91% 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 NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 65% — 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
91% of NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D'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 $9k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $90k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters 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 NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D: 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 NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D?
- NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $98,450 to it, the largest being BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($62,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $98,450 in grants to NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D?
- BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $62,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON D find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 National Railway Historical Society Washington D →
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 4 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