Skip to content
Montana Legal Services Association at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Montana Legal Services Association

To provide free legal assistance in non-criminal proceedings or matters to persons in the state of montana financially unable to afford legal assistance.

$2.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
20
Grants FY2024still arriving
19
States reached
$265k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2023 to 2024.

Crime & Legal$2.2M
02FY2024 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 20 grants below total $1,280,179, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,808,794 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,528,615 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k10 grants · $311k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $705k
  • $250k+1 grant · $265k
$52,306
Median grant
19
States reached
$3.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NAICJA$264,772
NEW MEXICO LEGAL AID$113,339
TEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID$100,881
DNA PEOPLE'S LEGAL SERVICES$96,405
LEGAL AID OF NEBRASKA$84,105
OKLAHOMA INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES$71,404
LEGAL AID SERVICES OF OREGON$63,437
IDAHO LEGAL AID SERVICES INC$62,014
ANISHINABE LEGAL SERVICES$60,946
DAKOTA PLAINS LEGAL SERVICES$52,306
CALIFORNIA INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES$45,406
WISCONSIN JUDICARE INCINDIAN LAW OFFICE$45,189
NEVADA LEGAL SERVICES$37,954
MICHIGAN INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES$34,758
UTAH LEGAL SERVICES$31,595
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY23–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 87% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%LEGAL AID OF NEBRASKA: $84k → 12%IDAHO LEGAL AID SERVICES INC: $62k → 8%ANISHINABE LEGAL SERVICES: $61k → 14%CALIFORNIA INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES: $26k → 11%TEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID: $108k → 27%NEW MEXICO LEGAL AID: $113k → 14%DNA PEOPLE'S LEGAL SERVICES: $96k → 32%OKLAHOMA INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES: $102k → 16%MICHIGAN INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES: $56k → 10%LEGAL AID SERVICES OF OREGON: $63k → 12%UTAH LEGAL SERVICES: $73k → 8%COLORADO LEGAL SERVICES: $21k → 12%NAICJA: $265k → 12%NORTHWEST JUSTICE PROJECT: $28k → 9%ALASKA LEGAL SERVICES: $38k → 10%LEGAL SERVICES OF NORTH DAKOTA: $17k → 10%LEGAL AID OF WYOMING INC: $23k → 10%DAKOTA PLAINS LEGAL SERVICES: $52k → 40%NEVADA LEGAL SERVICES: $86k → 13%LEGAL AID OF NEBRASKA: $77k → 12%IDAHO LEGAL AID SERVICES INC: $51k → 8%ANISHINABE LEGAL SERVICES: $34k → 14%TEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID: $101k → 27%NEW MEXICO LEGAL AID: $39k → 14%DNA PEOPLE'S LEGAL SERVICES: $71k → 32%OKLAHOMA INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES: $71k → 16%MICHIGAN INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES: $35k → 10%LEGAL AID SERVICES OF OREGON: $29k → 12%UTAH LEGAL SERVICES: $32k → 8%COLORADO LEGAL SERVICES: $19k → 12%NORTHWEST JUSTICE PROJECT: $20k → 9%ALASKA LEGAL SERVICES: $28k → 10%LEGAL SERVICES OF NORTH DAKOTA: $6k → 10%LEGAL AID OF WYOMING INC: $18k → 10%DAKOTA PLAINS LEGAL SERVICES: $41k → 40%NEVADA LEGAL SERVICES: $38k → 13%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
WA
ID
ND
MN
WI
MI
OR
NV
WY
SD
CA
UT
CO
NE
AZ
NM
OK
TX
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.0M · 19 repeat orgs$265k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +10% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

19 repeat relationships: 19 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
1

Total granted

$2.0M
$265k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+10%
0%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $265k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24
RenewedFirst-time
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • OI
    OKLAHOMA INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $174k · revenue +12%
  • DP
    DNA PEOPLES LEGAL SERVICES INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $167k · revenue +78%
  • LA
    LEGAL AID OF NEBRASKA
    2× · 2023–2024 · $161k · revenue +9%

Funded once

  • NA
    NATIONAL AMERICAN INDIAN COURT JUDGES ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2024 · $265k · revenue 0%
How this is measured

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

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Law Access New Mexico

Provide respectful high quality legal advice, counsel, brief services and referral to low-income New Mexicans and help remove barriers to the civil justice system.

—
2
Legal Services of Northern Michigan

To be a public law firm that knows, as well as understands, the problems of even the poorest in our communities and addresses these problems through education, and with creative legal advocacy of the highest distinction. LSNM will be seen…

Crime & Legal
3
Lakeshore Legal Aid

Standing with our neighbors, Lakeshore Legal Aid fights poverty and injustice through advocacy and by providing meaningful and dignified access to the legal system.

Crime & Legal
4
Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota

Our mission is to provide civil legal service to low-income clients. our legal services provide basic protection for our clients by enforcing the law when their rights have been violated, promote the self-sufficiency of individuals…

Crime & Legal
5
Peoples Legal Aid

People's Legal Aid is a non-profit legal organization providing free civil legal education, assistance and representation to any Utahn facing eviction and debt collections lawsuits.

Crime & Legal
6
Legal Aid of Manasota Inc

Legal aid of manasota provides legal services at no or low cost to those in need by partnering with local lawyers.

Crime & Legal
7
Northwestern Legal Services

Northwestern legal services assists low income individuals and families by guiding them through the legal system using advocacy and education to obtain justice with the goal of improving their quality of life and strengthening our…

Crime & Legal
8
Cowlitz-Wahkiakum County Legal Aid Program Inc

Cowlitz Wahkiakum Legal Aid seeks to assure justice for low income people in the civil courts. We provide access to legal help for people whose livelihood, family and wellness are threatened.

Crime & Legal
9
Texas Legal Services Center Inc

Texas Legal Services Center is a nonprofit legal aid organization whose mission is to serve the undeserved by making civil justice accessible to every Texan--no matter their ability to earn. We're a coalition of attorneys, paralegals, pro…

Crime & Legal
10
Linn County Advocate Inc

Linn County Advocate, Inc., provides quality legal representation for indigent clients in criminal and juvenile cases at the state court level in Linn, Johnson, Benton, and Jones Counties in the state of Iowa.

—
11
East River Legal Services Corporation

Providing civil legal services to low income individuals in 33 counties in eastern south dakota.

Crime & Legal
12
American Indian Law Centerinc

To assist native americans and native alaskans in the development of legal systems and educations.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Nevada Legal Services Inc; the most unlike its peers is National American Indian Court Judges Association. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

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

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/20
Grantees still filing
13/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATIONAL AMERICAN INDIAN COURT JUDGES ASSOCIATION: $264,772 · Crime & LegalNATIONAL AMERICAN INDIAN COURT JUDGES ASSOCIATIONTEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID INC: $209,241 · Crime & LegalTEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID INCOKLAHOMA INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES INC: $173,569 · Crime & LegalOKLAHOMA INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES INCLEGAL AID OF NEBRASKA: $160,782 · Crime & LegalLEGAL AID OF NEBRASKANEW MEXICO LEGAL AID INC: $151,842 · Crime & LegalNEW MEXICO LEGAL AID INCNEVADA LEGAL SERVICES INC: $124,263 · Crime & LegalNEVADA LEGAL SERVICES INCIDAHO LEGAL AID SERVICES INC IDAHO LEGAL AID SERVICES INC: $112,776 · Crime & LegalIDAHO LEGAL AID SERVICES INC IDAHO LEGAL AID SERVICES INCUTAH LEGAL SERVICES INC: $104,396 · Crime & LegalUTAH LEGAL SERVICES INCWISCONSIN JUDICARE INC: $93,277 · Crime & LegalLEGAL AID SERVICES OF OREGON: $92,349 · Crime & LegalMichigan Indian Legal Services: $90,812 · Crime & LegalCalifornia Indian Legal Services Inc: $71,750 · Crime & LegalAlaska Legal Services Corporation: $65,759 · Crime & Legal+3 more: $129,913 · Crime & Legal+3 moreDNA PEOPLES LEGAL SERVICES INC: $167,002 · OtherDNA PEOPLES LEGAL S…ANISHINABE LEGAL SERVICES: $94,953 · OtherANISHINABE LEGAL SE…DAKOTA PLAINS LEGAL SERVICES: $93,511 · OtherDAKOTA PLAINS LEGAL…LEGAL SERVICES OF NORTH DAKOTA: $22,925 · OtherLEGAL SERVICES OF N…
Crime & Legal$1,845,501Other$378,391

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNATIONAL AMERICAN INDIAN COURT JUDGES ASSOCIATION: $264,772 over 1y, 24% of budgetTEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID INC: $209,241 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetOKLAHOMA INDIAN LEGAL SERVICES INC: $173,569 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetDNA PEOPLES LEGAL SERVICES INC: $167,002 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetLEGAL AID OF NEBRASKA: $160,782 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetNEW MEXICO LEGAL AID INC: $151,842 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetNEVADA LEGAL SERVICES INC: $124,263 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetIDAHO LEGAL AID SERVICES INC IDAHO LEGAL AID SERVICES INC: $112,776 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetUTAH LEGAL SERVICES INC: $104,396 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetANISHINABE LEGAL SERVICES: $94,953 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetDAKOTA PLAINS LEGAL SERVICES: $93,511 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetWISCONSIN JUDICARE INC: $93,277 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetLEGAL AID SERVICES OF OREGON: $92,349 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetMichigan Indian Legal Services: $90,812 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetCalifornia Indian Legal Services Inc: $71,750 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetAlaska Legal Services Corporation: $65,759 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetNorthwest Justice Project: $48,894 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLEGAL AID OF WYOMING INC: $41,017 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetCOLORADO LEGAL SERVICES: $40,002 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLEGAL SERVICES OF NORTH DAKOTA: $22,925 over 2y, 0.5% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

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

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Legal Services Corpor…Native American Right…Equal Justice WorksAmerican College of B…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Legal Services CorporationDC45.2× affinity19 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Legal Services Corporation · Native American Rights Fund Inc · Equal Justice Works · American College of Bankruptcy Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Montana Legal Services Association funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Montana Legal Services Association. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 10%
  • Legal Aid Services of Oregon: 10% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
6report 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
How this is measured
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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 20 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Montana Legal Services Association’s filings →

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