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· Community foundation

Missoula Community Foundation

To enhance community vitality by inspiring community giving and strengthening nonprofits

$899k
Granted FY2024still arriving
36
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$51k
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 FY2018–2024.

Arts & Culture$379kHuman Services$227kFood & Nutrition$223kReligion$195kEnvironment$176kHealth$155kHousing & Shelter$81kYouth Development$79kOther$0
02FY2024 · 36 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 36 grants below total $780,890 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $899,276 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $118,386 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $34k
  • $10k–50k28 grants · $646k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $101k
$20,213
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OPEN AIR$51,160
FRIENDS OF MISSOULA PARKS$50,000
MISSOULA FOOD BANK$47,839
FLORENCE CARLTON COMMUNITY CH$43,857
POSITIVELY COVID$40,000
MONTANA TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE$40,000
MISSOULA YOUTH FOR CHRIST$27,800
SOFT LANDING MISSOULA$26,039
POVERELLO CENTER$25,375
MISSOULA INTERFAITH COLLABORA$23,218
GARDEN CITY HARVEST$22,618
MISSOULA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$22,358
MONTANA FOOD BANK NETWORK$21,589
MISSOULA SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION$21,447
YWCA MISSOULA$21,325
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:

Your human-services grants (FY20–24, $140k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%MOUNTAIN HOME MONTANA: $21k → 9%MOUNTAIN HOME MONTANA: $12k → 9%Mountain Home Montana: $11k → 9%WATSON CHILDRENS CENTER: $7k → 9%WATSON CHILDRENS CENTER: $5k → 9%YWCA: $7k → 9%FAMILIES FIRST LEARNING LAB: $6k → 9%YWCA MISSOULA: $21k → 9%YWCA MISSOULA: $18k → 9%EMPOWER MT: $15k → 9%EMPOWER MT: $11k → 9%EMPOWER MT: $5k → 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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.5M · 28 repeat orgs$299k to everyone else

28 repeat relationships — 26 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
13

Total granted

$1.5M
$118k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+45%

Still filing today

82%
85%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $181k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEnvironmentHuman ServicesFood & NutritionEducationCommunity ImprovementOther

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

  • BM
    BLUE MOUNTAIN CLINIC INC
    5× · 2018–2024 · $110k · revenue +31%
  • MF
    MISSOULA FOOD BANK & COMMUNITY CENTER
    4× · 2018–2024 · $96k · revenue +56%
  • WM
    WESTERN MONTANA CREATIVE INITIATIVES
    3× · 2020–2024 · $81k · revenue +535% · 35% of their budget

Funded once

  • GC
    GARDEN CITY BALLET COMPANY
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue -4%
  • TU
    TELL US SOMETHING
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue +11%
  • NC
    NORTH-MISSOULA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $12k · revenue +104%

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
Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce

An association providing community leadership and business advocacy sustaining economic vitality.

—
3
Missoula Art Museum

Public art exhibitions and education. missoula art museum serves the public by engaging audiences and artists in the exploration of contemporary art relevant to the community, state, and region.

Arts & Culture
4
The Montana Land Reliance

The mission of the montana land reliance (mlr) is to partner with landowners to provide permanent protection for private lands that are significant for agricultural production, fish and wildlife habitat, and open space.

Environment
5
Run Wild Missoula Inc

Our mission is to empower and support runners and walkers of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds in Missoula. With a vibrant community of over 2,400 members, we provide a welcoming space for like-minded individuals to connect and explore…

Recreation & Sports
6
Montana Conservation Corps Inc

Montana Conservation Corps (MCC) inspires young people through hands-on conservation service to be leaders, stewards of the land and engaged citizens who improve their communities.

Civil Rights
7
Montana Chamber of Commerce

To create and sustain an optimal business climate, business prosperity and a strong montana economy through advocacy, education and collaboration, working to provide an empowered and educated workforce, reduce business growth obstacles,…

—
8
Missoula Electric Cooperative Inc

Missoula Electric Cooperative, Inc. strives to uphold a commitment to service excellence, while delivering safe, affordable and reliable electricty to its members.

—
9
Montana Business Leadership Council

The mblc exists to encourage and enact business-friendly policies that create good-paying jobs and make montana a better place to live. the primary purpose of the mblc is to educate the public on important business issues, enable citizens…

Community Improvement
10
Montanas Outdoor Legacy Foundation

To collectively serve as a catalyst for engagement and bonding of people to our wildlife and public lands in montana through a sense of place, education, access, research and stewardship.

Environment
11
Montana Budget and Policy Center

To advance responsible tax, budget, and economic policies through credible research and analysis in order to promote opportunity and fairness for all Montanans.

Public Benefit
12
Montana Policy Action Inc

To promote public policy solutions that provide increased access to economic opportunities, greater individual freedoms and encourage greater participation in public matters by providing research and recommendation on public policy

Social Science

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ywca Missoula and the most unlike its peers is International Rescue Committee Inc. 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 27 years old; the field is 19. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%5%<5yr13%10%5–10yr19%18%10–20yr21%33%20–35yr17%21%35–55yr12%13%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%4%<5yr13%9%5–10yr19%16%10–20yr21%24%20–35yr17%27%35–55yr12%20%55yr+

The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 4% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 2% lost their exemption, against 9% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
2%1/51
the rest of the field
9%
78/913

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

45 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. 45 of the 51 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/45
Grantees still filing
29/45
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

MOREL SOCIETY — $159,225 · OtherMOREL SOCIETYFLORENCE CARLTON COMMUNITY CHURCH — $93,857 · OtherFLORENCE CARLTON COMMUNITY CHURCHTELL US SOMETHING — $87,287 · OtherTELL US SOMETHINGMISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS — $66,447 · OtherMISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLSGREATER MISSOULA YOUTH FOR CHRIST — $72,600 · OtherGREATER MISSOULA YOUTH FOR CHRISTPOVERELLO CENTER INC — $46,594 · OtherPOVERELLO CENTER INCMISSOULA INTERFAITH COLLABORATIVE — $35,778 · OtherMISSOULA INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION — $33,164 · OtherInternational Rescue Committee INC — $31,560 · OtherCATALYST MONTANA — $31,448 · Other+13 more — $154,135 · Other+13 moreWESTERN MONTANA CREATIVE INITIATIVES — $81,114 · Arts & CultureWESTERN MONTANA …MISSOULA WRITING COLLABORATIVE — $58,921 · Arts & CultureMISSOULA WRITING…MISSOULA CULTURAL COUNCIL dba ARTS MISSOULA — $42,212 · Arts & CultureMISSOULA CULTURA…ZOOTOWN ARTS COMMUNITY CENTER — $31,860 · Arts & CultureZOOTOWN ARTS COM…MISSOULA CIVIC SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $21,447 · Arts & CultureMISSOULA CIVIC S…TELL US SOMETHING — $14,655 · Arts & CultureSPARK ARTS IGNITE LEARNING — $10,538 · Arts & CultureFRACTURED ATLAS INC — $10,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $5,121 · Arts & CultureMISSOULA FOOD BANK & COMMUNITY CENTER — $95,585 · Food & NutritionMISSOULA FOOD…GARDEN CITY HARVEST INC — $48,690 · Food & NutritionGARDEN CITY H…MONTANA FOOD BANK NETWORK INC — $39,727 · Food & NutritionMONTANA FOOD …COMMUNITY FOOD AND AGRICULTURE COALITION — $39,328 · Food & NutritionCOMMUNITY FOO…MISSOULA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $109,937 · Community ImprovementMISSOULA CO…ACCELERATE MONTANA — $62,895 · Community ImprovementACCELERATE …NORTH-MISSOULA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $12,000 · Community ImprovementNORTH-MISSO…BLUE MOUNTAIN CLINIC INC — $109,909 · HealthPOSITIVELY COVID — $40,000 · HealthYWCA MISSOULA — $46,599 · Human ServicesMOUNTAIN HOME MONTANA INC — $43,505 · Human ServicesEMPOWER MT — $31,564 · Human ServicesWATSON CHILDREN'S SHELTER INC — $11,561 · Human ServicesFAMILIES FIRST — $6,342 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF MISSOULA PARKS INC — $50,000 · EnvironmentSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC — $39,591 · EnvironmentHOME RESOURCE INC — $10,981 · EnvironmentFIVE VALLEYS LAND TRUST — $10,102 · EnvironmentTHE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK — $5,000 · Environment
Other$812,095Arts & Culture$275,868Food & Nutrition$223,330Community Improvement$184,832Health$149,909Human Services$139,571Environment$115,674

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 budgetMISSOULA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $109,937 over 2y, 14% of budgetBLUE MOUNTAIN CLINIC INC — $109,909 over 5y, 2.4% of budgetMISSOULA FOOD BANK & COMMUNITY CENTER — $95,585 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetWESTERN MONTANA CREATIVE INITIATIVES — $81,114 over 3y, 35% of budgetGREATER MISSOULA YOUTH FOR CHRIST — $72,600 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetACCELERATE MONTANA — $62,895 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetMISSOULA WRITING COLLABORATIVE — $58,921 over 3y, 6.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF MISSOULA PARKS INC — $50,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetGARDEN CITY HARVEST INC — $48,690 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetYWCA MISSOULA — $46,599 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetPOVERELLO CENTER INC — $46,594 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetMOUNTAIN HOME MONTANA INC — $43,505 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetMISSOULA CULTURAL COUNCIL dba ARTS MISSOULA — $42,212 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetPOSITIVELY COVID — $40,000 over 1y, 100% of budgetMONTANA FOOD BANK NETWORK INC — $39,727 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC — $39,591 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOOD AND AGRICULTURE COALITION — $39,328 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetMISSOULA INTERFAITH COLLABORATIVE — $35,778 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetMISSOULA INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION — $33,164 over 3y, 10% of budgetZOOTOWN ARTS COMMUNITY CENTER — $31,860 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetEMPOWER MT — $31,564 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC — $31,560 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCATALYST MONTANA — $31,448 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetMISSOULA BUTTERFLY HOUSE AND INSECTARIUM — $25,089 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY MISSOULA INC — $22,358 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetMISSOULA CIVIC SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $21,447 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetGARDEN CITY BALLET COMPANY — $15,249 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetMONTANA LEGAL SERVICES ASSOCIATION — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTELL US SOMETHING — $14,655 over 1y, 23% of budgetNORTH-MISSOULA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $12,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetWATSON CHILDREN'S SHELTER INC — $11,561 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNORTHERN ROCKIES RESEARCH & EDUCATIONAL SERVICES INC — $11,495 over 2y, 5.9% of budgetHOME RESOURCE INC — $10,981 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSPARK ARTS IGNITE LEARNING — $10,538 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetFIVE VALLEYS LAND TRUST — $10,102 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCLAY STUDIO OF MISSOULA — $10,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBig Brothers Big Sisters Of NORTHWEST MONTANA — $6,798 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetFAMILIES FIRST — $6,342 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetMISSOULA MOUNTAIN BIKE COALITION — $6,089 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMISSOULA DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICE CORP — $5,168 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBARE BAIT DANCE — $5,121 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetThe West Central Montana Avalanche Foundation — $5,069 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetTHE WATERSHED EDUCATION NETWORK — $5,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetWOMENS OPPORTUNITY AND RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT INC — $5,000 over 1y, 1.9% 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.

Dennis & Phyllis Wash…Headwaters Health Fou…Montana Community Fou…First Interstate Banc…The Bill & Rosemary G…Town Pump Charitable …Max and Betty Swanson…Sample Foundation IncThe High Stakes Found…Otto Bremer TrustUnited Way of Missoul…The Llewellyn Foundat…
Dennis & Phyllis Washington FoundationMT48.5× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation · Headwaters Health Foundation of Western Montana · Montana Community Foundation Inc · First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc · The Bill & Rosemary Gallagher Foundation · Town Pump Charitable Foundation · Max and Betty Swanson Foundation · Sample Foundation Inc · The High Stakes Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · United Way of Missoula County · The Llewellyn Foundation

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 Missoula Community 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%6%25%56%100%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
    12report 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 Missoula Community Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Missoula Community 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 51 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. 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 endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home