Oregon · Nonprofit
WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY
WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY (Oregon) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,561 to it, the largest being UNION PACIFIC FOUNDATION ($10,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $18k
- Net assets
- $187k
What Western Railway Preservation Society does
Mission
Preservation of our western railway heritage by restoring and preserving railroad engines, cars, equipment, and materials. Also building a narrow gauge logging railroad.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Continue restoration of WSL #302 flat car. This is a unique equipment flatcar which will help show what logging with narrow gauge railroads was like. Participate in Youth Passport event during Steam-Up. Move Caboose #3 from Sumpter Valley RR yard to Brooks and work on restoring truck bolsters. Participate in Holiday Sparkle.
$250 spentof which $355 as grants100% of program spendingContinue laying narrow gauge track. With the goal of creating an early days narrow gauge logging railroad. Moved caboose #3 from Sumpter Valley rail yard to Baker. Start restoring Caboose #3 truck bolsters.
$0 spent0% of program spendingSet up #3010 D&RGW box car as better storage facility. Move dirt pile from access area of #3010. Add more lights for Christmas display.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $250.
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 2017 to 2018, from $105k to $161k (+54%).
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.
100% of WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (78% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $5 → $10k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY’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
WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% 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: 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
WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY draws 57% of its grant income from funders outside Oregon, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $61 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
WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY
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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
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 WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY: 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 WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY?
- WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY (Oregon) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,561 to it, the largest being UNION PACIFIC FOUNDATION ($10,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $17,561 in grants to WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY?
- UNION PACIFIC FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $10,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WESTERN RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 Western Railway Preservation Society →
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 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