North Carolina · Nonprofit
NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION
NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $776,083 to it, the largest being THE WILSON L SMITH FAMILY FOUNDATION THE SMITH FOUNDATION ($335,064). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.1M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $776k
- Net assets
- $12M
What Nc Transportation Museum Foundation does
Mission
Preserve and interpret the history of transportation in north carolina and present this history in a manner that allows visitors to enjoy their experience as well as learn from it.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Educational programs and events (train excursions, day out with thomas, polar express, at the throttle, boy scouts rail camp, fire truck festival, classic car shows, etc.) are held during the year to promote and educate the public of transportation and provide riding experiences
$5,012,495 spent$5,871,973 earned by the program72% of program spendingRailroad operations - opportunities for visitors to experience transportation via rail rides and rolling stock exhibits
$1,099,254 spent$11,940 earned by the program16% of program spendingGift station - presenting themed items that contributed to the history of transporation and/or current transportation related matters
$896,168 spent$1,024,836 earned by the program13% of program spendingHistoric buidlings & exhibits - restored and maintained historic buildings and exhibits on the musuem site
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,007,917.
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 2021 to 2022, from $8.7M to $11M (+31%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 44% · 2022 31% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
12% of NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $22k → $27k.
6 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM 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
NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
53% 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 NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2018 66% · 2019 88% · 2020 91% · 2021 60% · 2022 56% · 2023 86% — 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
33% of NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
52% of NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION'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 $369k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $407k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM 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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM 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.
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 NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION?
- NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $776,083 to it, the largest being THE WILSON L SMITH FAMILY FOUNDATION THE SMITH FOUNDATION ($335,064). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $776,083 in grants to NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION?
- THE WILSON L SMITH FAMILY FOUNDATION THE SMITH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $335,064 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NC TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 Nc Transportation 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 17 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