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· Private foundation

Jerry Metcalf Foundation

Its FY2021 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$5k
Granted FY2021
1
Grants FY2021
1
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0198% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2021.

Arts & Culture$80kEnvironment$44kPublic Benefit$11kPublic Safety & Disaster$11kHealth$10kYouth Development$9kAnimals$8kFood & Nutrition$6kOther$0
02FY2021 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$224k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL$5,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–21) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 28% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%The Paradise Center: $2k → 11%Montana Legal Services Association: $5k → 9%YELLOWSTONE BIGHORN RESEARCH: $3k → 9%MONTANA FOOD BANK NETWORK: $3k → 9%NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL: $5k → 9%BRIDGERCARE: $4k → 10%BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF PARK & SWEET GRASS COUNTIES: $3k → 10%Range Riders Museum: $5k → 11%HAMILTON PLAYERS INC: $2k → 11%POWDER RIVER FIRST RESPONDERS: $5k → 12%Centennial Valley: $5k → 12%CITY OF LEWISTOWN: $5k → 12%CARTER COUNTY GEO SOCIETY: $2k → 13%ART SPOT: $2k → 15%PHOENIX ARTS ALLIANCE: $3k → 16%BLAINE COUNTY FAIR FOUNDATION: $3k → 17%PARADISE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRESERVATION COMMITTEE: $5k → 17%ROOSEVELT MEDICAL CENTER: $2k → 24%HOLTER MUSEUM OF ART: $5k → 9%FORWARD MT FOUNDATION: $4k → 9%Northern Plains Resource council: $5k → 9%YELLOWSTONE ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH: $4k → 10%BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS: $3k → 10%MILES CITY ACADEMYCONVENT KEEPERS: $4k → 11%POWDER RIVER FIRST RESPONDERS: $4k → 12%CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $1k → 13%Archie Bray Foundation: $5k → 9%NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $4k → 9%NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL: $4k → 9%HOLTER MUSEUM OF ART: $5k → 9%GREAT BURN STUDY GROUP: $3k → 9%HELENA CIVIC TELEVISION: $4k → 9%POVERELLO CENTER INC: $2k → 9%HOLTER MUSEUM OF ART: $4k → 9%MYRNA LOY CENTER: $4k → 9%Roxy Theatre: $5k → 9%THE MYRNA LOY: $4k → 9%SOFT LANDING MISSOULA: $4k → 9%FRIENDS OF THE MISSOURI BREAKS MONUMENT: $3k → 9%FORWARD MONTANA FOUNDATION: $4k → 9%Holter Museum of Art: $3k → 9%SOFT LANDING MISSOULA: $4k → 9%MT HISTORY FOUNDATION: $2k → 9%BLUE MOUNTAIN CLINIC: $3k → 9%THE MONTANA HISTORY FOUNDATION: $2k → 9%UPPER MISSOURI WATERSHED ALLIANCE: $3k → 9%ARCHIE BRAY FOUNDATION: $5k → 9%ARCHIE BRAY FOUNDATION: $4k → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

42%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$83k · 10 repeat orgs$117k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +121% since the first grant, against +44% for the ones you funded once.

10 repeat relationships — 1 still active in FY2021, 9 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
40

Total granted

$83k
$117k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+121%
+44%

Still filing today

80%
53%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21
Arts & CultureEnvironmentHealthCommunity ImprovementFood & NutritionEducationOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • HM
    HOLTER MUSEUM OF ART
    4× · 2017–2020 · $17k · revenue +43%
  • NP
    NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL
    3× · 2017–2021 · $14k · revenue +66%
  • AB
    ARCHIE BRAY FOUNDATION
    3× · 2017–2019 · $14k · revenue +30%

Funded once

  • RR
    Range Riders Museum
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
  • TR
    THE ROXY THEATERgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +99%
  • ML
    MONTANA LEGAL SERVICES ASSOCIATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +244%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Scenic Montana Trails
—
2
Montana Preservation Alliance Inc

The montana preservation alliance (mpa) saves and protects montana's historic places, traditional landscapes, and cultural heritage. we are the only statewide, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing montanans with the resources…

—
3
Montana Conservation Elders
Environment
4
Bitterroot Water Partnership

BWP leads reliable and intentional conservation initiatives that promote and provide clean, ample water for people and habitats by working with key partners and our communities

Environment
5
The Greater Montana Foundation
Philanthropy
6
Montana State Parks Foundation

The montana state parks foundation raises private support to enhance the visitors experience and build advocates for montanas state parks and recreation heritage.

Recreation & Sports
7
Montana Healthcare Foundation
Philanthropy
8
Montana Freshwater Partners Inc

To restore, enhance, and preserve Montana's aquatic resources to maximize their ecological function into the future.

Environment
9
Missoula Midtown Foundation

Funding and conducting research on issues associated with the ongoing development, infrastructure, historical preservation, and planning of Missoula Midtown and operating educational programs to educate the public about these issues.

Community Improvement
10
Montana Trout Unlimited

To conserve, protect and restore montana's coldwater fisheries and watersheds.

Recreation & Sports
11
Bitterrooters for Planning

Responsible county planning

Environment
12
Montana Wildlife Federation

The montana wildlife federation is a statewide conservation organization dedicated to protecting wildlife, wildlife habitat, and public access for outdoor recreation.

Animals

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc and the most unlike its peers is National Wildlife Federation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 38 years old; the field is 21. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%0%<5yr12%4%5–10yr19%20%10–20yr16%20%20–35yr19%40%35–55yr16%16%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%0%<5yr12%2%5–10yr19%16%10–20yr16%21%20–35yr19%42%35–55yr16%19%55yr+

The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 3% lost their exemption, against 9% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%1/32
the rest of the field
9%
291/3,364

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

32 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 32 of the 50 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
29/32
Grantees still filing
24/32
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Range Riders Museum — $5,000 · OtherRange Riders MuseumTHE ROXY THEATER — $5,000 · OtherTHE ROXY THEATERMONTANA LEGAL SERVICES ASSOCIATION — $5,000 · OtherMONTANA LEGAL SERVICES ASSOCIATIONCentennial Valley — $5,000 · OtherCentennial ValleyIndividual grant recipient — $5,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientMILES CITY ACADEMYCONVENT KEEPERS — $4,200 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $4,000 · OtherMISSOULA BUTTERFLY HOUSE — $4,000 · OtherBRIDGERCARE — $4,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $4,000 · OtherBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF PARK AND SWEET GRASS COUNTIES — $3,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $3,000 · OtherBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS — $3,000 · OtherGARDEN CITY HARVEST INC — $3,000 · OtherMONTANA FOOD BANK NETWORK INC — $3,000 · OtherNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $4,000 · OtherBLAINE COUNTY FAIR FOUNDATION — $3,000 · Other+13 more — $22,258 · Other+13 moreHOLTER MUSEUM OF ART — $16,500 · Arts & CultureHOLTER MUSEUM OF ARTTHE MYRNA LOY — $8,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MYRNA LOYThe Paradise Center — $5,000 · Arts & CultureThe Paradise CenterORPHAN GIRL CHILDRENS THEATRE — $3,500 · Arts & CultureORPHAN GIRL CHILDRENS …Phoenix Arts Alliance Inc — $2,500 · Arts & CulturePhoenix Arts Alliance …MONTANA HISTORY FOUNDATION — $1,970 · Arts & CultureHAMILTON PLAYERS INC — $1,500 · Arts & CultureSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC — $8,010 · EnvironmentSOCIAL AND E…Montana Environmental Information Center — $4,000 · EnvironmentMontana Envi…CLARK FORK COALITION — $3,000 · EnvironmentCLARK FORK C…FRIENDS OF THE MISSOURI BREAKS MONUMENT — $2,500 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF T…GREAT BURN STUDY GROUP dba Great Burn Conservation Alliance — $2,500 · EnvironmentGREAT BURN S…UPPER MISSOURI RIVER WATERSHED ALLIANCE — $2,500 · EnvironmentUPPER MISSOU…NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL — $14,000 · Community ImprovementBUTTE AMERICA FOUNDATION — $500 · Community ImprovementARCHIE BRAY FOUNDATION — $13,590 · EducationFORWARD MT FOUNDATION — $8,000 · HealthBLUE MOUNTAIN CLINIC INC — $3,000 · HealthPONDERA HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION — $1,000 · HealthPOWDER RIVER FIRST RESPONDERS LTD — $9,000 · Public Safety & Disaster
Other$89,458Arts & Culture$38,970Environment$22,510Community Improvement$14,500Education$13,590Health$12,000Public Safety & Disaster$9,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetHOLTER MUSEUM OF ART — $16,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetNORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL — $14,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetARCHIE BRAY FOUNDATION — $13,590 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPOWDER RIVER FIRST RESPONDERS LTD — $9,000 over 2y, 8.6% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC — $8,010 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MYRNA LOY — $8,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetFORWARD MT FOUNDATION — $8,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetTHE ROXY THEATER — $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMONTANA LEGAL SERVICES ASSOCIATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetThe Paradise Center — $5,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetBRIDGERCARE — $4,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMontana Environmental Information Center — $4,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetORPHAN GIRL CHILDRENS THEATRE — $3,500 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF PARK AND SWEET GRASS COUNTIES — $3,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetGARDEN CITY HARVEST INC — $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCLARK FORK COALITION — $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBLUE MOUNTAIN CLINIC INC — $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMONTANA FOOD BANK NETWORK INC — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE MISSOURI BREAKS MONUMENT — $2,500 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetPOVERELLO CENTER INC — $2,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPhoenix Arts Alliance Inc — $2,500 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetGREAT BURN STUDY GROUP dba Great Burn Conservation Alliance — $2,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetUPPER MISSOURI RIVER WATERSHED ALLIANCE — $2,500 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetEDUCATION FOUNDATION FOR BILLINGS PUBLIC SCHOOLS — $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBig Hole River Foundation Inc — $2,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetMONTANA HISTORY FOUNDATION — $1,970 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHAMILTON PLAYERS INC — $1,500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetCARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY — $1,020 over 1y, 0.8% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Treacy FoundationMontana Community Fou…Dennis & Phyllis Wash…Town Pump Charitable …Sample Foundation IncThe Kendeda FundM J Murdock Charitabl…PatagoniaorgThe High Stakes Found…The Steele-Reese Foun…First Interstate Banc…Elizabeth Wakeman Hen…
Treacy FoundationMT32.4× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Treacy Foundation · Montana Community Foundation Inc · Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation · Town Pump Charitable Foundation · Sample Foundation Inc · The Kendeda Fund · M J Murdock Charitable Trust · Patagoniaorg · The High Stakes Foundation · The Steele-Reese Foundation Xxxxx1004 · First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc · Elizabeth Wakeman Henderson Charitable Foundation Xxx-Xx-Xxxx

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Jerry Metcalf Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Jerry Metcalf Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Jerry Metcalf Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 50 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines