Vermont · Nonprofit
SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC
SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC (Vermont) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,216 to it, the largest being The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc ($8,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $135k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $9k
- Net assets
- $737k
What Springfield Telescope Makers Inc does
Mission
Springfield Telescope Makers, Inc. operates as an educational institution, formed to archive, teach and impart knowledge in the field of optics and mechanics, as it relates to telescopes. The organization also operates a museum dedicated to preserving the history of amateur telescope making.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Stellafane Convention is an annual forum featuring exhibits of telescopes made by attendees, lectures on the science and technology of telescopes, and a judged competition for the title of "Best Optical & Mechanical Telescope", as well as discussion of the latest innovations in the field of telescope making. The Stellafane Convention occurs nearest to the new moon at the end of July.
$42,139 spent$91,914 earned by the program97% of program spendingSpringfield Telescope Makers, Inc. conducts an annual educational forum on practical optical and mechanical fabrication techniques, by an experienced telescope makers. Attendees learn the accumulated knowledge of hand crafting telescopes, thereby allowing attendees to make usable telescopes for their own purposes, as well as preserving and extending the knowledge of practical fabrication of precision optics and mechanics.
$1,259 spent$1,245 earned by the program3% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $43,398.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $675k to $737k (+9%).
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.
25% of SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC’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. 1 of the last 6 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 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $1k → $2k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS 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
SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 87% 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: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 92% · 2021 88% · 2022 90% · 2023 96% — 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
SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Vermont, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $416 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
SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC runs a healthier operating margin 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 SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS 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 Vermont
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
51% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS 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.
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 SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC?
- SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC (Vermont) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,216 to it, the largest being The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc ($8,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $9,216 in grants to SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC?
- The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $8,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPRINGFIELD TELESCOPE MAKERS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Vermont. 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 Springfield Telescope Makers →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), 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