California · Nonprofit
Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In
Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $420 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($320). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $163k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $420
- Net assets
- $216k
What Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In does
Mission
To preserve and distribute information related to the Southern Pacific Railroad and its subsidiaries.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Publishing The organizations publication activities included the release of three new, premium books that adds to the historical and technical record of the Southern Pacific Railroad and its subsidiaries. The book is rich in photographic content and its underlying research provides a worthy example of industrial archaeology.
$133,133 spent$78,325 earned by the program66% of program spendingTrainline Periodical During the year the organization published four quarterly issues of Trainline, a periodical devoted to the historical and technical record of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Each issue contains articles by regular and guest contributors as well as a readers forum. Trainline is distributed to each of approximately 1403 members as a membership benefit and additional copies are printed for sale on-line and through various retail outlets. The organization also distributed a quarterly newsletter to its members. The organization also published in digital form an archive of the first 80 issues of Trainline magazine.
$60,512 spent$26,239 earned by the program30% of program spendingArchival Activities Consistent with its mission of preserving information related to the Southern Pacific Railroad, the organization continued to acquire and maintain books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, blueprints, diagrams and artifacts of historical and technical value.
$7,815 spent$21,235 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $201,460.
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 2019 to 2020, from $281k to $357k (+27%).
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.
31% of Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In’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. 4 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
2018 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $100 → $69.
2 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 Pacific Historical & Technical Society In’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 Pacific Historical & Technical Society In 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
100% 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 Pacific Historical & Technical Society In.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
100% of Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $420 arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In is better cushioned 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 Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In: 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 Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In?
- Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $420 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($320). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $420 in grants to Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In?
- AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $320 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society In 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 Pacific Historical & Technical Society In →
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 2 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