Montana · Nonprofit
BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE
BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE (Montana) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $337,671 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($71,000). 11 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 FY2024
- $488k
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $338k
- Net assets
- $712k
What Bighorn River Alliance does
Mission
To protect, preserve and enhance the long-term health and viability of the bighorn river recognizing its significance to the wild trout fishery, the agricultural community and the crow nation through which it flows.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Outreach: Bighorn River Alliance reaches its membership and the community at large to provide education and awareness of the bighorn river and the work of the organization through numerous outlets including: an annual report, bi-annual newsletters, monthly email updates, social media exposure and an interactive website that contains blogs, and an interactive river conditions tools feature of which current and historical river data can be found. Other outreach efforts include signage at specific geographic locations and informational brochures placed at local businesses. Bighorn River Alliance interacts with its membership and other watershed stakeholders through community forums, presentations and events, and bighorn basin interagency meetings.
$246,189 spent79% of program spendingResearch initiative: the Bighorn River Alliance recognizes that the health of the bighorn river fishery is dependent on the ecological health of the entire river corridor. The research initiatve program works to better understand the health of the river and how it responds to natural and human factors, through in depth scientific inquiry that can lead to projects that protect and preserve the resource. Components of this program include the annual long-term monitoring of water quality and macroinvertebrate communities, monitoring of rainbow trout spawning grounds, large scale side channel restoration work that restores connection between the bighorn river and its side channels, and monitoring of habitats post restoration. To date, Bighorn River Alliance has restored 9 side channels.
$64,060 spent21% of program spendingCrow youth fishing engagement: a youth educational fishing program to introduce local crow youth to fly-fishing in their local reservation waters as a form of positive recreation. Through one-on-one instruction, youth learn about the sport while also learning about the bighorn and little bighorn rivers.
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $310,249.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $449k to $659k (+47%).
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 8% · 2023 15% · 2024 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 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
Anne Marie Emery
Executive director
Board chair
John Sindland
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $26k → $29k.
9 of 21 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 BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE’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
BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% 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
71% 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 BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 100% · 2019 33% · 2020 38% · 2021 34% · 2022 55% · 2023 47% — 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
44% of BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
71% of BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE'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 $99k that is directly attributable, 90% of it comes from funders outside Montana, across 11 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $239k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,264 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE
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
82%
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 BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE: 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 BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE?
- BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE (Montana) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $337,671 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($71,000). 11 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 BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $337,671 in grants to BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $71,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BIGHORN RIVER ALLIANCE 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 Bighorn River Alliance →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 21 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