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Montana · Nonprofit

Big Hole River Foundation Inc

Big Hole River Foundation Inc (Montana) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $268,006 to it, the largest being G HARBAUGH FOUNDATION ($105,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$22k
Funders on record
16
Grants received
$268k
Net assets
$0
7/16 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 95%
01What it does

What Big Hole River Foundation Inc does

Mission

Enhance the Big Hole River and surrounding area.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

Program

  1. The Big Hole River Foundation projects were set up to preserve, protect, educate and enhance the Big Hole River and Surrounding Area. The Foundation encouraged, solicited donations, grants and contributions from the general public. During 2025, and after more than three decades of dedicated work on behalf of the Big Hole River, the Big Hole River Foundation ended operating under its own entity. It's program and its Executive Director moved under the umbrella of Upper Missouri Waterkeeper Inc. and its program Save Wild Trout; a move driven by the need to expand its water quality monitoring model to all four rivers of the Jefferson Basin: the Big Hole, Beaverhead, Ruby, and Jefferson. The Big Hole River Foundation transferred its assets to Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, Inc., a 501(c)(3) entity that shares a similar purpose. The Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, Inc.'s program Save Wild Trout will continue the mission of the Big Hole River Foundation.

    $477,417 spentof which $424,710 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $477,417.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($89k) Expenses 100 ($112k) Net assets 100 ($379k)2018 Revenue 127 ($114k) Expenses 106 ($118k) Net assets 98 ($370k)2019 Revenue 98 ($87k) Expenses 92 ($103k) Net assets 99 ($374k)2020 Revenue 151 ($135k) Expenses 103 ($115k) Net assets 107 ($403k)2021 Revenue 148 ($132k) Expenses 78 ($87k) Net assets 120 ($456k)2022 Revenue 92 ($82k) Expenses 72 ($80k) Net assets 111 ($421k)2023 Revenue 149 ($133k) Expenses 88 ($98k) Net assets 119 ($450k)2024 Revenue 116 ($104k) Expenses 100 ($111k) Net assets 122 ($463k)2025 Revenue 25 ($22k) Expenses 435 ($485k) Net assets 0 ($0)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (25)Expenses (435)Net assets (0)

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 $477k to $0 (−100%).

$381k
$371k
$377k
$411k
$461k
$426k
$456k
$477k
$0
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$22k
’17
−$5k
’18
−$15k
’19
$20k
’20
$45k
’21
$2k
’22
$35k
’23
−$8k
’24
−$463k
’25

Leadership and staff

Board chair

Sarah Ashworth

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $14k → $5k.

6 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 Big Hole River Foundation Inc’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

Big Hole River Foundation Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

36% 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 Big Hole River Foundation Inc.

39%
largest funder
71%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 59% · 2019 67% · 2020 82% · 2021 73% · 2022 86% · 2023 59% — 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

27% of Big Hole River Foundation Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

Big Hole River Foundation Inc draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 9 states in all.

MT
MI
CA
CO
AZ
TN
LA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Montana out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $96k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Organizations like Big Hole River Foundation Inc

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Public support

78%

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 Big Hole River Foundation Inc: 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.

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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 Big Hole River Foundation Inc?
Big Hole River Foundation Inc (Montana) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $268,006 to it, the largest being G HARBAUGH FOUNDATION ($105,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Big Hole River Foundation Inc have?
IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $268,006 in grants to Big Hole River Foundation Inc, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Big Hole River Foundation Inc?
G HARBAUGH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $105,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Big Hole River Foundation Inc 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 Big Hole River →

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 16 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