The Candelaria Fund
Little River, CA · EIN 94-3246086. Reported 87 grants totalling $3,127,500 to 44 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. The Candelaria Fund did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $15,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $50,000; the smallest was $2,500 and the largest $200,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Broad Top Foundation | Rock Hill Furnace, PA | $700,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Bay Area Electric Railroad Association | Suisun City, CA | $375,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Center of Southwest Culture | Albuquerque, NM | $350,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington Rr | Alma, ME | $175,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Nashville Steam Preservation Society | Nashville, TN | $172,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Rr Commission | Antonito, CO | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Railroaders Memorial Museum | Altoona, PA | $150,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Congress of Country Music | Philadelphia, MS | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation | Portland, OR | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Historic Pullman Foundation | Chicago, IL | $95,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| San Francisco Chronicle Season of Sharing | San Francisco, CA | $70,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| The Community Foundation of Mendocino County | Ukiah, CA | $65,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Friends of the East Broad Top | Cincinnati, OH | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Oregon Rail Historical Foundation | Portland, OR | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Rr | Albuquerque, NM | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pacific Locomotive Society | Sunol, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Archaeological Consevancy | Albuquerque, NM | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Chinese Historical Society of America | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New Mexico Steam Locomotive and Railroad Historical Society | Albuquerque, NM | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Railroading Heritage of Midwest America | Inver Grove Heights, MN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society | San Bernardino, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Salvation Army Del Oro Division | Sacramento, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Think New Mexico | Santa Fe, NM | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum | Alan, ME | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| American Red Cross Gold Country Region | Sacramento, CA | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| California Budget & Policy Center | Sacramento, CA | $20,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Forney Museum of Transportation | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New Mexico Heritage Rail | Albuquerque, NM | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Tucumcari Main Street | Tucumcari, NM | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Archaeological Conservancy | Albuquerque, NM | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Durango Railroad Historical Society | Durango, CO | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Nevada Northern Railway Foundation | Ely, NV | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Sf Chronicle Season of Sharing | San Francisco, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Salvation Army Golden State Division | San Francisco, CA | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Colorado Railroad Museum | Golden, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of the East Broad Top | Sarver, PA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Friends of the Railroad Museum | Strasburg, PA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Indiana University Press | Bloomington, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| John W Barriger III National Railroad Library-University of Missouri St L | St Louis, MO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Mendocino County Healthcare Foundation | Fort Bragg, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Oakland Museum of California | Oakland, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| The Salvation Army Golden Gate Division | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| American Red Cross | San Francisco, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Beltrami County Historical Society | Bemidji, MN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
18 of 44 (41%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 58%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 51 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | $300,000 | $15,000 |
| 2022 | 21 | $675,000 | $15,000 |
| 2023 | 15 | $660,000 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 20 | $815,000 | $20,000 |
| 2025 | 15 | $677,500 | $15,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Where its money goes
28% of its giving went to organizations in Pennsylvania. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $15,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Pennsylvania.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Candelaria Fund's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: P O Box 398, Little River, CA, 95456. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 94-3246086 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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