The Richmond Freelance and Prototype Model Railroaders
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 541213244
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Ashland, VA, USA
- Phone
- 8046207892
- Rating
- 38
- Verdict
- REVIEW
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Recreation& Sports N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $67,638
- Expenses
- $58,032
- Assets
- $206,927
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Thomas Gilsdorf (President)
- Jon Hans Paul (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Thomas Gilsdorf (President)
- Robert Wingo (Treasurer)
- Brian Carlsen (Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The RF&PMR are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia dedicated to educating our members and the general public about the history, science, technology, and craftsmanship of model railroading. Through instructional programs, public exhibits, workshops, and community outreach, we promote hands-on learning, historical awareness, and STEM principles while preserving and sharing the rich heritage of rail transportation through scale modeling.
What it reported doing in 2025
Setup Layouts for display to the public at a Christmas Show in Blackstone Virginia and The Greenberg Train Show in Richmond Va, Covenant Wood Retirement Community, Hardywood Park Brewery, Legend Brewery, The Answer Brewpub, Ashland Fourth Friday
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
REVIEW - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 1
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 68
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0.7%; rating input score 1
- Program expense ratio: 0.9%; rating input score 1
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 14.2%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.57; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -194.6% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -22.3% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 0.7% of revenue deployed · 0.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 7 filed program accomplishments · $500 in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 9 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 1/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 1/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part III transfer expenses within program total did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.