Montana · Nonprofit
BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP
BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP (Montana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,900 to it, the largest being MONTANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($22,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.5M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $32k
- Net assets
- $19M
What Bear Paw Development Corp does
Mission
The company's primary function is the encouragement of economic development in hill, blaine, liberty, phillips and chouteau counties of montana.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Economic development program activities. Bear Paw Development Corporation works with local and tribal government officials, and private interests, on individual projects in a number of areas, including community planning, value-added agriculture and infrastructure development. In 2025, these efforts contributed substantially to the economic vitality of the region, underscoring bear paw's pivotal role in advancing development in this rural area.
$254,222 spent10% of program spendingBear paw development's brownfields program that started in 2009 has been funded by a total of $5.45 million in grants from the epa. $1.8 million of this amount is associated with performing environmental assessments on properties in the bear paw district that are contaminated or perceived to be contaminated. $3.65 million is associated with the establishment of a brownfields revolving loan fund to make low or no interest loans to businesses and other entities wishing to cleanup contamination on their property. To date, 98 assessments and 19 cleanups have been completed.
$477,882 spent19% of program spendingAdministration of loan programs for economic development. Through bear paw development's loan department, $5.4 million was loaned to small businesses in 2025 for start-up or expansion opportunities. These loans were for businesses that could not receive financing from conventional bank sources. This loan activity resulted in the creation or retention of 30 jobs.
$1,677,036 spent66% of program spendingSmall business development center activities. Bear Paw Development Corporation serves as the host for one of ten small business development centers located throughout montana. Funding through a variety of sources allows bear paw development to hire an individual responsible for assisting small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs with assistance in developing business plans, finance strategies, and marketing opportunities. In 2025 the sbdc at bear paw development counseled 68 distinct clients, which resulted in over $627,160 in financing from local banks and other sources. This funding helped to start 3 new businesses, while supporting 57 jobs.st. Mary rehabilitation working group activities. Bear Paw Development Corporation serves as fiscal agent for this group of concerned entities in the milk river basin that has organized to expedite the rehabilitation of the st. Mary conveyance works and canal system, which delivers water for irrigation, recreation, and municipal use to a broad area of northern montana. The group consists of representatives from municipalities, conservation groups, irrigation districts, and others, and works with the state and federal officials, in an…
$131,372 spent$140,792 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,540,512.
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 2023 to 2024, from $13M to $18M (+37%).
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 47% · 2018 36% · 2019 40% · 2020 58% · 2021 70% · 2022 45% · 2023 75% · 2024 88% · 2025 84%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
2020 → 2022: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $1k → $18k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP’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 PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% 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
97% 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 PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 54% — 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
71% of BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP'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 $9k that is directly attributable, 89% of it comes from Montana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $23k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,299 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,299 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP
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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
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 PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP: 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 PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP?
- BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP (Montana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,900 to it, the largest being MONTANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($22,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $31,900 in grants to BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP?
- MONTANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $22,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BEAR PAW DEVELOPMENT CORP 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 Paw Development →
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 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing