Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION
TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,202 to it, the largest being BOSSE FOUNDATION ($5,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $12k
- Net assets
- $6.8M
What Train Collectors Association does
Mission
To develop an appreciation of and to preserve an imortant segment of history - tinplate toy trains - through research, education, community outreach, fellowship, establishment of collecting standards, and to promote the growth and enjoyment of collecting and operating toy, model, and scale trains
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The tca created and distributed publications to over 25,000 members in twenty divisions in the us and internationally. These publications are educational in nature and promote tinplate toy train collecting.
$135,424 spent$18,964 earned by the program22% of program spendingThe tca incurred operating costs to maintain and expand the museum's displays and collections of tinplate toy trains. Visitors to the museum numbered approximately 22,100.
$470,306 spent$77,265 earned by the program77% of program spendingThe tca operates a library for the education and preserving the history of tinplate train collecting.
$2,220 spent$5,005 earned by the program0% of program spendingThe association is organized for the purpose of collecting and operating tinplate trains, preserving and exhibiting these items for their historic value, and providing educational and informational materials to members, historians, and the public.
$4,642 earned by the program
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $607,950.
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 $5.6M to $6.6M (+18%).
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: 2021 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
63% of TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (13% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 6 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $10k → $948.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION’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
TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 51% · 2021 86% · 2022 85% · 2023 53% — 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
TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION draws 55% of its grant income from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2k 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
TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,623 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,623 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
47% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION: 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 TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION?
- TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,202 to it, the largest being BOSSE FOUNDATION ($5,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $12,202 in grants to TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION?
- BOSSE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Train Collectors Association →
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 6 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