Montana · Nonprofit
ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY
ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY (Montana) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,636,241 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($369,559). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 82% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.7M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $5.0M
What Arts Council of Big Sky does
Mission
To enrich the big sky community through artistic experiences.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Music in the mountains: a summer series of free concerts held on thursdays in the local community park. Average attendance of 3,000 people who come to hear up and coming, nationally touring bands with local and regional opening artists.
$398,686 spent$22,537 earned by the program44% of program spendingArt classes: classes in a variety of mediums are held in our education classroom. Subjects include pottery, painting, kids classes, mosaic, etc. Classes range from 5-20 people.
$144,220 spent$62,597 earned by the program16% of program spendingPublic art program: installation of new sculptures in public community spaces, as well as managing an existing collection of 13 sculptures and more than 40 utility box wraps.
$64,357 spent$654 earned by the program7% of program spendingOther events and programs include the artventure program, which includes youth education outreach throughout the community, adult art workshops, and international guitar night. The arts council also offers artist workshops and does various outreach efforts in the local schools.
$305,757 spent$55,745 earned by the program33% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $913,020.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $1.4M to $8.0M (+483%).
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: 2017 29% · 2018 16% · 2019 35% · 2020 23% · 2021 16% · 2022 18% · 2023 21% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Brian Hurlbut
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $41k → $160k.
14 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 82% 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 ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY’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
ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
82% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 38% · 2019 32% · 2020 34% · 2021 31% · 2022 29% · 2023 31% — diversifying over time.
“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
39% of ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
82% of ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $288k that is directly attributable, 94% of it comes from funders outside Montana, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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.
Government funding ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $25k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$25k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
42%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Big Sky Arts Center · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY: 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 ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY?
- ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY (Montana) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,636,241 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($369,559). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 82% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $1,636,241 in grants to ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $369,559 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY 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 Arts Council of Big Sky →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 30 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