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California · Nonprofit

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $114,894 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($58,355). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$2.5M
Funders on record
7
Grants received
$115k
Net assets
$6.3M
4/7 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 2%
01What it does

What Southern California Railway Museum Inc does

Mission

To acquire, preserve, maintain, operate and display, in the public interest, documents, artifacts and equipment associated with transportation, and in the course thereof to operate one or more museums where members of the public may obtain experience, education and information relative thereto.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Museum: costs of operating museum. Includes the upkeep of various exhibits, including: traincars, trolley cars, steam engines, locomotives and the facility.

    $1,733,939 spent$2,005,310 earned by the program
    90% of program spending
  2. Logistic supports and plant maintenance: costs incurred in connection with operation of trains and other equipment during the year.

    $190,362 spent$105,713 earned by the program
    10% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,924,301.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.2M) Expenses 100 ($2.1M) Net assets 100 ($5.6M)2018 Revenue 39 ($850k) Expenses 48 ($1.0M) Net assets 99 ($5.5M)2019 Revenue 61 ($1.3M) Expenses 45 ($940k) Net assets 107 ($5.9M)2020 Revenue 34 ($751k) Expenses 62 ($1.3M) Net assets 97 ($5.4M)2021 Revenue 28 ($626k) Expenses 55 ($1.1M) Net assets 99 ($5.5M)2022 Revenue 84 ($1.8M) Expenses 75 ($1.6M) Net assets 101 ($5.6M)2023 Revenue 101 ($2.2M) Expenses 116 ($2.4M) Net assets 102 ($5.7M)2024 Revenue 144 ($3.2M) Expenses 149 ($3.1M) Net assets 108 ($6.0M)2025 Revenue 115 ($2.5M) Expenses 120 ($2.5M) Net assets 114 ($6.3M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (115)Expenses (120)Net assets (114)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $6.0M to $5.5M (−9%).

$5.7M
$5.6M
$6.0M
$5.5M
$5.6M
$5.6M
$5.8M
$6.1M
$6.4M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

12% of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$115k
’17
−$157k
’18
$393k
’19
−$537k
’20
−$515k
’21
$274k
’22
−$200k
’23
$80k
’24
$33k
’25
1.6
months of
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

Michael Vargas

President/CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed121313121212161616
Joined·+3+3+0+2+1+4+4+0
No longer listed·23121040
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $2k → $48k.

6 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 97% 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 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 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

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

97% 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 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC.

51%
largest funder
83%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 77% · 2021 74% · 2022 91% · 2023 46% — 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

97% of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 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 $3k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 1 state.

TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’20
’21
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $111k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $115k to it.

Operating margin1% · below the median
Months of reserve1.6mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)2% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 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 California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

77% of spending goes to programs.

Program 77%Management 20%Fundraising 3%

Governance

13
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

96%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 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.

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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 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC?
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $114,894 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($58,355). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC have?
IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $114,894 in grants to SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC?
NETWORK FOR GOOD is the largest funder on record, with $58,355 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY MUSEUM INC 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 Southern California 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 7 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