Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
481136101
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Abilene, KS, USA
Phone
7852631077
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,027,135
Expenses
$1,108,248
Assets
$614,227
Liabilities
$355,039

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROSS BOELLING (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ROSS BOELLING (PRESIDENT): $20,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Promote and preserve the railroad history of the area through tourist train rides and membership dues and donations.

What it reported doing in 2025

Promote and preserve the railroad history of the area through tourist train rides and membership dues and donations. In 2025 we hosted 14,970 riders from 50% of Kansas' communities, 45 states and over 10 foreign countries. Our market area stretches from denver to omaha to st. Lous to Oklahoma city. We operated over 220 trains in 2025 from our historic 1887 rock island depot in abilene. We continued an aggressive marketing and branding effort through a number of social media, publications, and radio platforms. We continued our relationship with heritage rail management, durango, co. We expended our seasonal event trains, "pumpin harvest express- and "cowtown santa express" trains with positive results. We continued developing an enhanced eductional program plan to tie railroads, our operating replica hoffman grist mill and general store, and the crop scenery along our right of way, into an exclusive oppoertunity for riders to experience the entire farm to table agricultural process during a single trip on our railroad. We have a dedicated working board that meets monthly to oversee the operations of the organization and assist our general manager with a variety of critical tasks. In 2024, asvrr was named the official Kansas heritage railroad by the Kansas legislature through k.s.a. 73-4401. Our iconic 1919 steam locomotive atsf3415 was likewise named the official Kansas steam locomotive through k.s.a. 73-4301.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 97
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 56
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 95%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $260.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.9%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.58; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.8%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.5% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 95% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $20K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.