Michigan · Nonprofit
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY (Michigan) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $105,086 to it, the largest being MICHIGAN HUMANITIES COUNCIL ($104,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $123k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $105k
- Net assets
- $441k
What Underground Railroad Society of Cass County does
Mission
Historic research, education and restoration.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Research the history of the underground railroad (ugrr) in cass county -- made a documentary "young's prairie-underground railroad in cass county, michigan" which is available for viewing on youtube and our website. Researched brownsville school #1 which was the first and longest integrated public school in michigan, and perhaps in the country. Honored by historical society of michigan as "best local society."
$161,751 spent100% of program spendingEducate the public about cass county and the underground railroad. --hosted ugrr wax museum in the spring, christmas at the bonine house attracted hundreds of visitors, public/private tours of the bonine house, carriage house, bogue house and brownsville school in june through september. Many school groups and organizations, with students and visitors of all ages, tour our buildings. Ugrr self guided 20 site driving tour is available all year and our website www.urscc.org reaches the world.
Restoration of ugrr buildings --added east porch to bonine house. Added displays in carriage house and restored eight windows. Restored the floor in "hannah's parlor." rebuilt the foundation at brownsville school.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $161,751.
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 2023 to 2024, from $648k to $565k (−13%).
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 19% · 2019 13% · 2020 30% · 2021 0% · 2022 18% · 2023 17% · 2024 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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 8 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 broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $15k → $40k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY’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
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 99% 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 UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 98% · 2022 84% · 2023 99% — 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 UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $936 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
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 3 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% 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 UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY: 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 UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY?
- UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY (Michigan) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $105,086 to it, the largest being MICHIGAN HUMANITIES COUNCIL ($104,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $105,086 in grants to UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY?
- MICHIGAN HUMANITIES COUNCIL is the largest funder on record, with $104,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SOCIETY OF CASS COUNTY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Underground Railroad Society of Cass County →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), 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