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· Private foundation

The Flathead Beacon Foundation Inc

Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$49k
Granted FY2020
20
Grants FY2020
2
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What you fund
0191% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172020.

Food & Nutrition$20kRecreation & Sports$17kHuman Services$16kEducation$10kHousing & Shelter$10kYouth Development$10kHealth$9kAnimals$7kOther$0
02FY2020 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2020

  • Under $10k19 grants · $39k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$2,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FLATHEAD VALLEY FOOD BANK$10,000
KIDSPORTS$5,500
FLATHEAD YOUTH HOME$3,500
SPARROWS NEST$3,000
ABBIE SHELTER$3,000
NORTH VALLEY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$2,500
KALISPELL REGIONAL HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION$2,500
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$2,000
NORTH VALLEY FOOD BANK$2,000
SPECIAL FRIENDS ADVOCACY PROGRAM$2,000
MONTANA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION HOTLINE$2,000
MONTANA FOOD BANK$2,000
SWING FOR A SISTER$2,000
Individual grant recipient$1,500
LITERACY VOLUNTEERS OF FLATHEAD COUNTY$1,500
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 (FY20–20, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MY GLACIER VILLAGE: $1k → 11%NORTH VALLEY FOOD BANK: $2k → 11%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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$111k · 20 repeat orgs$14k to everyone else

20 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2020, 4 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
2

Total granted

$111k
$7k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+95%
+200%

Still filing today

35%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20
Human ServicesEnvironmentRecreation & SportsCrime & LegalArts & CulturePublic Safety & DisasterOther

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

  • VF
    VIOLENCE FREE CRISIS LINE
    2× · 2017–2018 · $4k · revenue +95%
  • FL
    FLATHEAD LAND TRUST
    4× · 2017–2020 · $4k · revenue ×18
  • MF
    MONTANA FREE PRESS
    2× · 2018–2019 · $3k · revenue +635%

Funded once

  • KP
    KALISPELL PUBLIC LIBRARY
    one grant, 2017 · $6k
  • FO
    Friends of Bigfork Fire Departmentgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $1k · revenue +200%

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
Montana Healthcare Foundation
Philanthropy
2
Scenic Montana Trails
3
The Greater Montana Foundation
Philanthropy
4
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
5
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
6
Montana Freshwater Partners Inc

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

Environment
7
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
8
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
9
Logan Health - Whitefish

Logan health whitefish is a 501(c)(3), non-profit community critical access hospital located in whitefish, montana. the hospital and its outreach clinics serve flathead and lincoln counties, providing emergency care, acute and critical…

Health
10
Flathead Food Bank Inc

The Flathead Food Bank strives to elimnate hunger in the Flathead Valley through collaborative partnerships creating effective solutions to connect and strengthen individuals, families and the community through access to healthy nutritious…

Food & Nutrition
11
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
12
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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Montana Free Press and the most unlike its peers is Friends of Bigfork Fire Department. 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

12 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 12 of the 26 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
9/12
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

FLATHEAD VALLEY FOOD BANK — $16,300 · OtherFLATHEAD VALLEY FOOD BANKFLATHEAD YOUTH HOME — $9,500 · OtherFLATHEAD YOUTH HOMESPARROWS NEST — $7,200 · OtherSPARROWS NESTSWING FOR A SISTER — $7,000 · OtherSWING FOR A SISTERNORTH VALLEY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $6,500 · OtherNORTH VALLEY HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONKALISPELL PUBLIC LIBRARY — $5,500 · OtherKALISPELL PUBLIC LIBRARYABBIE SHELTER — $5,500 · OtherABBIE SHELTERIndividual grant recipient — $5,250 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSPECIAL FRIENDS ADVOCACY PROGRAM INC — $4,500 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITY — $4,000 · OtherLITERACY VOLUNTEERS OF FLATHEAD COUNTY — $4,000 · Other+6 more — $10,000 · Other+6 moreKIDSPORTS — $16,500 · Recreation & SportsKIDSPORTSVIOLENCE FREE CRISIS LINE — $4,000 · Human ServicesNORTH VALLEY FOOD BANK — $2,000 · Human ServicesMY GLACIER VILLAGE — $1,000 · Human ServicesFLATHEAD LAND TRUST — $3,800 · EnvironmentWHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC — $2,500 · EnvironmentMONTANA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION HOTLINE INC — $4,750 · Crime & LegalMONTANA FREE PRESS — $3,000 · Arts & CultureKALISPELL REGIONAL HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION — $2,500 · Philanthropy
Other$85,250Recreation & Sports$16,500Human Services$7,000Environment$6,300Crime & Legal$4,750Arts & Culture$3,000Philanthropy$2,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetKIDSPORTS — $16,500 over 3y, 3.4% of budgetNORTH VALLEY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $6,500 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetVIOLENCE FREE CRISIS LINE — $4,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetFLATHEAD LAND TRUST — $3,800 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetMONTANA FREE PRESS — $3,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetKALISPELL REGIONAL HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION — $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC — $2,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNORTH VALLEY FOOD BANK — $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMONTANA FOOD BANK NETWORK INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of Bigfork Fire Department — $1,000 over 1y, 2.4% 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.

  • Who funds KIDSPORTS
  • Who funds NORTH VALLEY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
  • Who funds MONTANA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION HOTLINE INC
  • Who funds VIOLENCE FREE CRISIS LINE
  • Who funds FLATHEAD LAND TRUST
  • Who funds MONTANA FREE PRESS
  • Who funds KALISPELL REGIONAL HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION
  • Who funds WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC
  • Who funds NORTH VALLEY FOOD BANK
  • Who funds MONTANA FOOD BANK NETWORK INC
  • Who funds MY GLACIER VILLAGE
  • Who funds Friends of Bigfork Fire Department

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.

Whitefish Community Foundation IncMT22× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Whitefish Community Foundation Inc · Roundup for Safety Inc · First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc · The Angora Ridge Foundation · The High Stakes Foundation · Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 The Flathead Beacon Foundation Inc 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.

2023
202122232425
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 The Flathead Beacon Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to The Flathead Beacon Foundation Inc 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 26 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 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2023) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2020, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

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