Montana · Nonprofit
A RAY OF HOPE
A RAY OF HOPE (Montana) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $214,823 to it, the largest being GIANFORTE FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST ($130,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $413k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $215k
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What A Ray of Hope does
Mission
A Ray of Hope shall provide a safe harbor for those in the community with nowhere else to turn. It will provide those who seek help not only with food, clothing and shelter; but with knowledge and an avenue to develop competency in meeting lifes financial, emotional, family legal and rehabilitation challenges. A Ray of Hope will offer a "hand up," rather than a "hand out" in order to build self-respect and dignity.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
A Ray of Hope received many requests for assistance in 2025 from needy individuals and families. There were 525 requests for a hand up - 372 requests for housing, 54 were for those with children and 25 children stayed. There were also 454 requests for benevolence and other support including clothing and showers. Sadly, 194 were denied assistance due to lack of funding or space or other. The organization is looking for land in the county areas to build a family shelter complex. Aroh provides a shelter for the homeless and a place for people to rehabilitate from drug and alcohol use. The organization also provides funds to families with children for utilities, rent, and other items in order for them to maintain a safe home. The organization provides counseling and referral services to aid people to gain self sufficiency.
$305,657 spentof which $101,459 as grants$123,147 earned by the program100% of program spendingThe organization operates a thrift store to provide occupational training to clients and to support the mission of the organization by providing needed clothing and household items.
The organization built a garage/education center to provide job training and has an apartment over it at 46 5th ave w. The automotive repair garage provides repairs to help clients, training to help clients maintian their automobiles.
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $305,657.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $693k to $897k (+29%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of A RAY OF HOPE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $25k → $20k.
4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of A RAY OF HOPE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
A RAY OF HOPE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 80% · 2019 100% · 2020 37% · 2021 80% · 2022 92% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
50% of A RAY OF HOPE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 30% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
93% of A RAY OF HOPE's grant income comes from Montana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $35k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
A RAY OF HOPE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,936 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,936 food & nutrition nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like A RAY OF HOPE
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Montana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for A RAY OF HOPE: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds A RAY OF HOPE?
- A RAY OF HOPE (Montana) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $214,823 to it, the largest being GIANFORTE FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST ($130,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does A RAY OF HOPE have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $214,823 in grants to A RAY OF HOPE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of A RAY OF HOPE?
- GIANFORTE FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $130,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like A RAY OF HOPE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Montana. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds A Ray of Hope →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 10 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing