Montana · Nonprofit
BEAR CREEK COUNCIL
BEAR CREEK COUNCIL (Montana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $105,320 to it, the largest being PARK COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($57,820). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $24k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $105k
- Net assets
- $70k
What Bear Creek Council does
Mission
Bear Creek Council, based in Gardiner, Montana, is a local grassroots organization. We work to protect our unique environment and preserve the quality of life in our small community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Bear Aware Gardiner: This program served to minimize conflicts between wildlife and residents through the distribution of bear-proof trash cans and removing or securing attractants. The successful incubation and program development from our organization helped the program launch as a separate entity with a broader, regional scope.
$59,525 spent58% of program spendingSupport for wildlife conservation groups: We donated to the Save the Yellowstone Grizzly's work to protect grizzly bears from anti-conservation policies. We made memorial contributions to the Gateway Hose Company and the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Foundation.
$20,000 spent20% of program spendingFencing Project: We contributed to a community effort initiated by the North Yellowstone Education Foundation to fence the school athletic field at the Gardiner School to keep a safe distance between wildlife (bears, wolves, bison, elk, and deer) and the children and community members who use the space.
$10,000 spent10% of program spendingOther: We supported and participated in the broader regional and state-wide work of the Northern Plains Resource Council, continued our ongoing work to develop leadership skills in our members, and deepen connection and cooperation among community members. We awarded our annual scholarship to a local high school graduate who is pursuing higher education and a career in a field that is complementary to our mission and goals.
$12,855 spent13% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $102,380.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 2024 to 2025, from $151k to $72k (−52%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Board chair
Barbara Ulrich O'Grady
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $10k → $38k.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% 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 BEAR CREEK COUNCIL’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
BEAR CREEK COUNCIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 55% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 BEAR CREEK COUNCIL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2023 41% — 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.
Where its funders are
93% of BEAR CREEK COUNCIL'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 $8k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Montana, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $98k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.
Organizations like BEAR CREEK COUNCIL
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.
Public support
100%
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 BEAR CREEK COUNCIL: 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 BEAR CREEK COUNCIL?
- BEAR CREEK COUNCIL (Montana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $105,320 to it, the largest being PARK COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($57,820). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BEAR CREEK COUNCIL have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $105,320 in grants to BEAR CREEK COUNCIL, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BEAR CREEK COUNCIL?
- PARK COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $57,820 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BEAR CREEK COUNCIL 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 Bear Creek Council →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 3 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