Montana · Nonprofit
GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION
GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION (Montana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $186,000 to it, the largest being JOHN S AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION ($100,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $104k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $186k
- Net assets
- $5k
What Getting Better Foundation does
Mission
Our mission is to promote trust through education about positive trends in human behavior.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
In 2024, Getting Better Foundation accomplished the following: a) continued distribution of the film trust me on a global scale; b) hosted numerous film screenings and conferencies at varied locations throughout the world; c) partnered with government, other media literacy organizations and experts; d) received numerous national and international awards; and e) improved website and researched launch of newsletter related to world progress made in key areas.
$432,772 spent$104,097 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $432,772.
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 2019 to 2020, from $887k to $1.5M (+70%).
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: 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 8 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
Joe Phelps
CEO/president
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $100k → $36k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION’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
GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% 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
46% 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 GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% — broadly stable.
“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
GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $50k 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
GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 7,117 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,117 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $135k on record.
- Department of State$135k
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 GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION: 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 GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION?
- GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION (Montana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $186,000 to it, the largest being JOHN S AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION ($100,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $186,000 in grants to GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION.
- Who is the largest funder of GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION?
- JOHN S AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GETTING BETTER FOUNDATION 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 Getting Better →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), 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