Montana · Nonprofit
CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Montana) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $279,528 to it, the largest being MONTANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($134,536). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $449k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $280k
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Carter County Geological Society does
Mission
To increase and diffuse knowledge and appreciation of history, art and science; to discover, excavate and preserve fossils, fossil bones, and human artifacts; to advance the science of archaeology and paleontology; to collect and preserve objects of historic, artistic, and scientific interest; and to acquire and maintain a library to assist in the above purpose.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Educational programming is a central tenant of our mission. In 2024 we held a number of educational events, including the annual dino shindig, the junior scientist program, star parties and dark sky events, school tours, sewing soirees, yoga, and vaccine clinics in partnership with carter county public health. Humanities montana awarded us a grant for apsaalooke cultural programs in the amount of $2,176, which resulted in an audience served of 94. In 2024, for the 12th annual dino shindig we hosted 748 people over a three day period. Since 2013, the shindig has served 14,400 people. Donor restricted income included the junior scientist program ($3,620) with expenses. Approximately 20,809 people were reached through educational programming, including 1,039 on-site, 3,851 off-site, and 15,199 through virtual programming.
$5,208 spent$3,620 earned by the program4% of program spendingMuseum development - exhibitions at the carter county museum follow the narrative of the landscape through the deep past and its evolving relationship between a diverse group of indigenous and ranching cultures. Our collections were amassed over an 80+ year period and represent 90 million years of history and prehistory of southeastern montana and carter county. Contributions to this program service include the artist in residence program ($400) and the scope program ($6,000 income, $9,356.10 expenses). The museum continued the big sky seaway exhibition, which incurred expenses of $24,453.94, and installed a community garden with reimagining rural grant funds ($2,000). We also conducted an energy design study on the proposed museum renovation and expansion through a $20,000 grant from southeast electric cooperative. A total of 5,808 people attended the museum in 2024, which was an increase of 5.5% from 2023.
$71,299 spent$31,799 earned by the program56% of program spendingOutreach program services in 2024 include both virtual and in-person services. Participation by the museum director included involvement in the museum association of montana, visit southeast montana, the montana governor's tourism advisory council, the mt chapter of the international dark sky association, and national association for interpretation. The museum director and curator visited kumamoto, japan and signed a sister museum agreement with the amakusa museum of goshoura dinosaur island in march, giving lectures that resulted in outreach to 669 people throughout the country. Carter county museum hosted the montana dinosaur trail and visit southeast montana meetings and the curator attended the association of materials & methods in paleontology conference in manitoba, canada. The museum also participated in the miles city gem & mineral show. We finished the carter county talking trail project, incurring $1,200 in expenses through grant funds and continued work on the veteran's memorial park ($33,561 in income and $33,560) in expenses. A total of 63,802 people were served through in-person and virtual outreach programming in 2024.
$50,629 spent40% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $127,136.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $745k to $1.1M (+49%).
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 43% · 2021 24% · 2022 16% · 2023 38% · 2024 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 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.
Board chair
Llane Carroll
President/chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $4k → $24k.
2 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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 CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY’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
CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
86% 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 CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 70% · 2020 86% · 2021 74% · 2022 56% · 2023 57% — 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
25% of CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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
76% of CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY's grant income comes from Montana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $135k 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.
Government funding CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $580k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$550k
- Department of the Interior$20k
- Department of Agriculture$10k
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 CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
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 CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: 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 CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Montana) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $279,528 to it, the largest being MONTANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($134,536). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $279,528 in grants to CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- MONTANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $134,536 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 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 Carter County Geological Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 12 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